The Dallas Fuel and Houston Outlaws are each one win away from the Overwatch League grand final, as both breezed to the upper-bracket final with convincing semifinal wins Wednesday at the Overwatch League playoffs.
Earlier in the day, the San Francisco Shock and Hangzhou Spark stayed alive in the lower bracket, eliminating the Los Angeles Gladiators and Florida Mayhem, respectively.
The $2.5 million season-ending playoffs — which began with 12 of the 20 OWL teams — now move to Anaheim, Calif., for the OWL’s first in-person playoffs in three years. The upper-bracket final, lower-bracket quarterfinals and lower-bracket semifinal and will all be played Thursday, setting the pairing for Friday’s lower-bracket final and then the Grand Final.
The championship side will earn $1 million, and the runner-up will pocket $500,000.
The Fuel, the top-seeded team following a 20-4 regular season, were the first to advance to the upper-bracket final, sweeping the Seoul Dynasty 3-0. Dallas won 2-1 on Nepal, 2-1 on King’s Row and 3-2 on Dorado.
The Outlaws followed suit with a 3-0 sweep against the London Spitfire, taking Ilios 2-1, Eichenwalde 3-1 and Circuit Royal 3-1.
In Wednesday’s first elimination match, the Shock took Oasis 2-0 before the Gladiators answered with a 4-3 win on King’s Row. San Francisco bounced back 3-2 on Circuit Royal before closing out the match 1-0 on Esperanca.
The Mayhem opened the other elimination match with a 2-1 win on Busan, but the Spark swept the next three maps — 3-2 on Paraiso, 3-2 on Dorado and 1-0 on Esperanca.
The Shock and Dynasty will face off in Thursday’s first lower-bracket quarterfinal, followed by the Spark facing the Spitfire. Dallas will then face Houston in the upper-bracket final for a spot in the Grand Final.
The winners of the lower-bracket quarters will face off in the lower-bracket semi to finish off the day.
Overwatch League playoffs prize pool
1. $1 million
2. $500,000
3. $350,000
4. $250,000
5-6. $100,000
7-8. $55,000 — Los Angeles Gladiators, Florida Mayhem
9-12. $35,000 — Philadelphia Fusion, Shanghai Dragons, Atlanta Reign, Toronto Defiant
–Field Level Media