The San Francisco Shock earned their second win in as many days on Friday to start Summer Stage qualifying action in the Overwatch League’s West Region at 2-0.
The Shock battled the Washington Justice and emerged with a 3-2 victory. Also Friday, the Los Angeles Valiant rallied past the Los Angeles Gladiators 3-2, and the New York Excelsior swept the Vegas Eternal 3-0.
Summer Stage Qualifiers in the West run through Sept. 4, with each team in the region playing a total of eight best-of-five matches. The top three teams will advance to the playoffs, while the fourth- through 10th-ranked squads will be sent to the play-ins.
East Region qualifying will run through Aug. 6. All matches will also be best-of-five in a single round-robin format, with all 10 teams moving on to the Summer Stage Knockouts. Matches between the three teams based in Korea (Dallas Fuel, Seoul Dynasty, Seoul Infernal) will all be offline.
On Friday, the Shock jumped out to a 2-0 lead on the Justice by taking Oasis 2-0 and Midtown 3-2. Washington made a push for a reverse sweep, winning 3-2 on Route 66 and 1-0 on New Queen Street to even the match. But San Francisco pulled out a 2-1 win on Busan on the decisive fifth map.
The Valiant, meanwhile, did pull off the reverse sweep of their L.A. rivals. The Gladiators moved ahead early with a 2-1 triumph on Antarctic Peninsula and a 3-2 win on Numbani. That’s when the Valiant came back by prevailing 2-0 on Watchpoint: Gibraltar, 1-0 on Esperanca and 2-1 on Lijiang Tower.
The Excelsior stifled the Eternal 2-0 on Lijiang Tower, 2-1 on Midtown and 1-0 on Circuit Royal.
Qualifying action continues on Saturday with four matches in the West and four in the East:
West
–Toronto Defiant vs. Vancouver Titans
–Atlanta Reign vs. Washington Justice
–Boston Uprising vs. Houston Outlaws
–London Spitfire vs. New York Excelsior
East
–Guangzhou Charge vs. Hangzhou Spark
–Dallas Fuel vs. Poker Face
–Seoul Dynasty vs. PANTHERA
–Dreamers vs. Shanghai Dragons
West Region standings (win-loss record, map differential):
1. San Francisco Shock, 2-0, plus-4
T2. Atlanta Reign, 1-0, plus-3
T2. Florida Mayhem, 1-0, plus-3
T2. New York Excelsior, 1-0, plus-3
5. Los Angeles Valiant, 1-0, plus-1
T6. Boston Uprising, 0-0, 0
T6. Toronto Defiant, 0-0, 0
T6. Vancouver Titans, 0-0, 0
9. Washington Justice, 0-1, minus-1
T10. Houston Outlaws, 0-1, minus-3
T10. London Spitfire, 0-1, minus-3
T10. Vegas Eternal, 0-1, minus-3
13. Los Angeles Gladiators, 0-2, minus-4
East Region standings (win-loss record, map differential):
1. Seoul Infernal, 1-0, plus-3
T2. Guangzhou Charge, 1-0, plus-2
T2. Shanghai Dragons, 1-0, plus-2
T4. Dallas Fuel, 0-0, 0
T4. Dreamers, 0-0, 0
T4. PANTHERA, 0-0, 0
T4. Poker Face, 0-0, 0
T8. O2 Blast, 0-1, minus-2
T8. Seoul Dynasty, 0-1, minus-2
10. Hangzhou Spark, 0-1, minus-3
–Field Level Media