Despite an initial stumble in the West play-ins against the Boston Uprising, Spitfire’s tenacity shone through. After defeating the San Francisco Shock in the upper bracket, they masterfully navigated the lower bracket, with their journey seeing them edge out both the Washington Justice and Vancouver Titans with a tight 3-2 score.

This was followed by a decisive 3-1 win against Toronto Defiant on Sunday, cementing their position in the Overwatch League Playoffs.

The Spitfire will be joined by seven other formidable teams in the OWL playoffs, with these being: Boston Uprising, Hangzhou Spark, Seoul Infernal, Dallas Fuel, Houston Outlaws, Florida Mayhem, and Atlanta Reign.

Esports betting sites are yet to launch markets for the OWL playoffs, although Atlanta Reign and Florida Mayhem look to be the teams to beat.

Last year, Dallas Fuel defeated San Francisco Shock in the final of the Overwatch League, with Fuel ace Lee “Fearless” Eui-seok named finals MVP.

Fearless, regarded as one of the best Overwatch players, has now moved to Houston Outlaws who are right in the mix to win the 2023 OWL.

The first round of the OWL League Playoffs on September 28 look like this:

Hangzhou Spark vs Atlanta Reign
Dallas Fuel vs Seoul Infernal
Boston Uprising vs London Spitfire
Houston Outlaws vs Florida Mayhem

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San Francisco Shock lost 1-3 against London Spitfire last week, but they might have a chance to bounce back this weekend. The Shock aren’t that bad, but they don’t have an identity or a set way of playing the game. The more you watch them play, the clearer it becomes that this team lacks stability.

Vancouver Titans were reverse-swept by Toronto Defiant on Sunday in a match that could’ve easily ended in their favour. Even though the Titans lost the Canadian Derby, they showed improvement, partly because the current meta seems to favour their preferred heroes.

The offered OWL esports betting odds on this match look fair. Even though San Francisco are not terrible, they should not be able to beat Vancouver with how they’ve been playing. The Shock lost 1-3 against the Titans at the start of August, which makes it hard to take the underdogs.

London Spitfire started the Overwatch League 2023 Play-Ins strong, crushing San Francisco Shock with 3-2 on Hybrid (Midtown), 3-0 on Flashpoint (Suravasa), and 120.9-82.75 on Push (Esperan?a). Unfortunately, the Spitfire lost 1-3 to Boston Uprising in the second round, but that’s not that worrying given how good the Uprising are.

Washington Justice defeated New York Excelsior 3-1 in the opening round of the play-ins but went down 0-3 to Toronto Defiant in the upper-bracket quarterfinals. This team has looked decent over the last couple of months, particularly DPS players Kim “AlphaYi” Jun and Lim “Flora” Young-woo. The only problem is the tank position, which the Justice need to figure out if they want to produce a deep run.

As the latest Overwatch betting odds suggest, London Spitfire should have no real issue beating the Justice this weekend. They know how they want to play and they’re good at executing their strategy. Even though the Spitfire lack top-tier talent and will struggle against teams with better individuals, this one shouldn’t be a problem.

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New York Excelsior ended the OWL Summer Stage Qualifiers with a 3-2 victory against the Vancouver Titans, which was somewhat surprising knowing how much the Excelsior struggled in the current meta. They played a good game, but there’s still the question of how long this will last and whether the Excelsior truly have figured things out.

Washington Justice squeezed their way into the play-ins despite losing against Toronto Defiant (1-3) on the final day of the qualifiers, marking their third consecutive loss and eighth over a nine-game stretch. Interestingly, the only win over their last nine games came against New York Excelsior (3-1) a month ago.

On one side, we have a team that has struggled with the current meta, and on the other side, a team that is 1-8 since June but are 2-0 in the head-to-head against the Excelsior. This doesn’t make picking a winner any easier; however, at +200 with Overwatch betting sites, Excelior to win with at least two maps to spare looks like a solid value play.

Even though the Excelsior don’t have a clear idea of how they want to play, they’re still in a much better spot than the Justice, who might have a strong head-to-head record, but form-wise, they’re not in a much better spot than New York Excelsior.

It’s very tough to feel optimistic about London Spitfire and their chances to make it to the OWL 2023 Playoffs, mainly due to their concerning results leading into the play-in stage. The Spitfire have won five of their last six games but choked in a very winnable game against Houston Outlaws (2-3).

Choking has become a theme for London, who have otherwise played well this season but could’ve accomplished much more. The Spitfire have the talent to make it through the play-ins, but they have some things to figure out.

San Fransisco Shock drew a lot of attention with their incredible performance against Atlanta Reign (2-3) on Sunday, and even though the game didn’t mean much, the Shock stepped up and delivered.

That performance alone is enough to consider San Fransisco Shock as the better team, but if we zoom out and compare the teams based on what they’ve shown this season, the Spitfire have a higher ceiling. It should be a competitive series, but as long as the Spitfire don’t slip again, they should have an excellent chance to take down the Shock.

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Los Angeles Valiant enter Week 5 of Overwatch League 2023 Summer Stage Qualifiers in shaky form. They’ve won just two games this stage, and even those were five-map games against two of the weakest OWL esports squads of the Summer Stage: Las Vegas Eternal and Los Angeles Gladiators.

The expectations for Los Angeles Valiant were never high, and even though they’re not playing well, the Valiant are at least in a better spot than the Gladiators and Eternal.

Their next opponents, London Spitfire, haven’t looked good this season but have shown improvement over the last month. They kicked off the Spring Stage Qualifier with losses against New York Excelsior (0-3) and Atlanta Reign (0-3) but quickly got back on their feet and strung together four wins against San Francisco Shock (3-1), Los Angeles Valiant (3-1), Los Angeles Gladiators (3-0) and Vegas Eternal (3-1).

London Spitfire have a lot more to prove, and their four-game win streak doesn’t instantly make them a great team. But they’ve been playing much better than the Valiant and are in excellent form, so barring any surprises, the Spitfire should win comfortably this weekend.

Los Angeles Gladiators have fallen apart at the start of the Summer Stage Qualifiers, and even though they didn’t look great before that, the Gladiators enter this match in the worst form they’ve been this season. With eight straight losses to their name, it’s clear that the roster changes backfired badly, and it might be too late to bounce back.

New York Excelsior are not one of the top OWL teams in the West, but they’ve looked much better than the Gladiators throughout the Summer Stage Qualifiers. They’ve won half of their six series (3-3), which includes a close 3-2 victory against LA Gladiators three weeks ago.

A lot of time has passed since, giving the Gladiators enough time to stabilise. But after seeing them struggle so much, it’s very tough to believe that the Los Angeles Gladiators can do much better in the rematch.

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Poko has been with the team since November 2021 and competed in the inaugural Overwatch tournament in 2017-2018, in which he was famed for his spectacular bomb kills, which fans called the “Poko Bombs”. This limelight came during his stint with Philadelphia Fusion, who finished the season in second place.

Kaan is a 22-year-old German player who only just joined London Spitfire in August of this year and has played for other teams such as Paris Eternal and Obey Alliance. The organization also acknowledged the time spent with Kaan, and noted that he was a valuable contributor to the team.

“You joined the team at a critical juncture and stepped up when we needed you most. It takes grit and skill to execute under pressure, but you never broke a sweat! Thank you for everything, @Kaan_ow – we wish you all the best,” said London Spitfire in a tweet.

Among the three players exiting the team, Shax has had the longest stint. The 23-year-old Danish player joined the team in February 2021, having previously represented the Copenhagen Flames, Orgless and Hungry, Mayhem Academy, and a few others. Shax has also participated in countless Overwatch tournaments, such as the 2020 North American Overwatch League, in which Shax and the Los Angeles Valiant finished in fifth-sixth place in the playoffs.

The player also expressed his gratitude to the team and stated that he is rooting for the other players on the team as well.

“Thankful for my time on spitfire these past two years, love everyone on this team and hope they go win it all, as for me will see what happens,” said Shax.

The team also recently parted ways with William “SparkR” Andersson, who revealed that his contract with the organization had expired and he’s looking forward to representing a new organization.

Hence, the London Spitfire team currently includes DPS Jamie “Backbone” O’Neill, who has been with the team since last year; support player Oliver “Admiral” Vaharand; American support player Landon “Landon” McGee; and German national Hadi “Hadi” Bleinagel, who plays the tank role.

This year, the Spitfire have had a good run in tournaments. The team finished in fifth-sixth place in the playoffs of the just concluded 2022 Overwatch League, where Dallas Fuel emerged as champions.

The UK team’s success can also be attributed to their coach, Christopher “ChrisTFer” Graham, who was named Coach of the Year.

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Kaan’s introduction to the team will enable some of the London Spitfire’s older players to cut back on taking on multiple roles. The team’s flex DPS, Jamie “Backbone” O’Neil, previously had to take up the extra responsibility of the squad’s flex support occasionally.

While the player is efficient in both roles, having Kaan relieve him would enable him to put more effort into dealing damage in his usual role. The team’s previous flex support was Owen “Prov1de” Warner. However, the player was let go in April after participating in an act that breached the organization’s code of conduct.

The player was previously known as Slur and, in 2019, was a well-known name in the European Overwatch Contenders scene. After being a part of the Los Angeles Valiant team before the 2020 season, Prov1de was dropped after a controversial issue.

He retired from professional play in August of that year, but returned earlier this year after being cleared to be a part of the Contenders Circuit. The London Spitfire parted ways with the player barely a month before the Overwatch League season started and revealed the decision was reached mutually.

Kaan previously played with the Paris Eternal as the team’s flex support. However, his move to the London Spitfire would be effective for the rest of the season. The Paris Eternal released four of its players earlier this week, barely a day after the conclusion of the first weekend of the Summer Showdown qualifier matches.

The players dropped included Kaan, Dani?l “Daan” Scheltema, the team’s main tank, and the support players, Emir “Kaan” Okumus and Arthur “dridro” Szanto. Only the DPS duo of Jesse “Dove” Palermo and Cameron “wub” Johnson were left after the drop.

The players were released in the middle of the OWL season, and several new players from Odyssey, the North American Overwatch Contenders team, were signed to the Paris Eternal. The new players include Domenic “Krawi” Akrawi, Josh “MaltheL” Gonzales, Luke “Lukemino” Fish, and Kyle “Rakattack” Rakauskas.

OWL players who were not on active contracts with Overwatch League teams were reportedly free to be signed on by other organizations in the league. The London Spitfire’s general manager, Ysabel “Noukky” Müller, revealed that soon the team’s newest player, Kaan, would physically be a part of the training held in the franchise’s Los Angeles facility.

While in Paris Eternal, the flex support did not particularly show impressive gameplay. However, he was an integral part of the organization in the 2021 season during their continuous improvement.

Despite this, the team will carry a 1-13 record into the upcoming games this weekend. Shortly before taking off its previous players, the Paris Eternals recorded an additional loss at the hands of the Vancouver Titans.

The London Spitfire will face off with the Houston Outlaws in its next outing in the Overwatch League 2022 – Summer Showdown Qualifiers. The game will be played later today, with Spitfire as the underdog with odds of $3.08 at GG.BET and the Outlaws as the favorite with odds of $1.35.

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Los Angeles Valiant are a team no one expects to shine this season, which to some degree holds true for Guangzhou Charge as well. Both sides enter this match with a 0-2 record, but the Valiant hold a slightly better map differential due to their four-map series against Chengdu Hunters (1-3).

LA have not looked as bad as we thought they would, but that doesn’t mean we believe they’re a good team. The Charge are in the same boat, but they have as higher ceiling despite going 0-6 on the season.

We would have sided with the Charge at more appealing odds, but at this price, it makes more sense to take the Valiant with a map handicap.

New York Excelsior looked awful in their 0-3 loss against Chengdu Hunters, but they seemed much improved in their 3-1 win against the Spark. Seoul Dynasty, on the other side, had a solid performance against Guangzhou Charge (3-0) but disappointed in their 1-3 loss against Philadelphia Fusion.

What might make the Dynasty a more appealing pick is that they forced the Fusion to match point on all four maps. However, there is something about their playstyle that leads us to believe this one could end in favour of the Excelsior.

At the offered OWL betting odds, you have to take a shot with the outsiders.

The OWL betting odds suggest this will be an extremely one-sided affair, but we have reason to doubt that. On paper, Hangzhou Spark look extremely weak, but they did not perform too poorly in their bout with Philadelphia Fusion last week.

Even though the Spark lost 1-3, they still took the series lead and held the Fusion to match point on all maps. They followed that up with a very poor showing against New York Excelsior (1-3), so they might not be a very consistent team.

It will all depend on which version of Hangzhou we get here. Shanghai Dragons aren’t as good as last year, so there is a world where the Spark steal at least two maps.

Boston Uprising are priced as -188.68 favourites for this match, which may seem fair, but we weren’t convinced with their recent performances.

Both of these teams faced Los Angeles Gladiators last week, and they both lost 0-3. Boston won four rounds (4-7), whereas London Spitfire won only two (2-7).

Regardless of what those results might suggest, it’s the performances these two sides have shown on the final day of the week that makes us trust the Spitfire more. This could be a close one, but there is no denying London are more consistent.

Florida Mayhem are a weird team. Even though they are winning games (2-0), they are also showing weaknesses – most notably in their 3-1 win against Vancouver Titans.

San Francisco Shock are an entirely different story. They played well in their 2-3 loss against Houston Outlaws, and it was ultimately a poor coaching decision that lost them the game.

Florida might steal one map, but they seem far too shaky for us to believe they can achieve much more. Expect a straightforward win for the reigning OWL champions.

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?The Vancouver Titans are likely the weakest team in the Overwatch League, but there is a chance the Titans could pick up a win on Friday. We haven’t seen the Paris Eternal in action yet, so there’s a lot of guesswork that goes into figuring out how well they will perform, but it looks as though this team won’t be very successful this season.

Dani?l “Daan” Vincentius Paulus Scheltema is the only player on the Eternal roster that we have high expectations for. Rookies make up a significant portion of this squad, so while Paris might have a high ceiling, they likely won’t reach their full potential for a while yet.

Even though we believe the Eternal are slightly stronger, betting at these odds on a team that has yet to play a single match makes no sense. Vancouver should be competitive enough to win at least two maps.

?The last two years were a little rough for the London Spitfire, yet we can’t help but be optimistic about this team heading into the 2021 OWL season. They have a lot of upside, but it’s hard to say whether the Brits will reach their potential this year.

Most of London’s roster is the British Hurricane squad from Overwatch Contenders, but that’s hardly a bad thing. It’s no secret the Cloud9-owned team are putting a lot of resources into developing young talent, and they’re doing a great job. Whether they can compete in at the highest level, however, remains to be seen.

The Los Angeles Gladiators were regarded as one of the strongest OWL teams ahead of this season, but they have so far failed to live up to the hype. Losses to the San Francisco Shock and the Dallas Fuel leave them in a precarious position heading into their third fixture of the May Melee.

While we believe the Gladiators have a lot more to show, we can’t agree with their short price in the OWL betting markets. The Spitfire’s roster might be inexperienced, but this squad lost only one out of 15 Contenders tournaments in 2020, so they’re clearly good enough to compete with the top dogs.

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With the 2021 OWL closing in, we are slowly getting a clearer picture of how the teams will look like and which names will be competing for the title of Season 3 champions.

There has been major roster moves with some organisations splashing out big to form super teams, while others opted for more audacious changes, but it was the Spitfire that stole the narrative.

After falling short of winning their second OWL title in the past two years, the UK-based team decided to make drastic changes ahead of the 2021 season and released their entire coaching staff at the start of October.

Only a couple weeks later, Spitfire also cut ties with seven of their players, with the remaining four getting the boot in the months that followed, which validated the rumour of a complete roster rebuild.

London Spitfire’s new venture centred around Ysabel “Noukky” Müller, who got promoted to a position of a general manager, while also keeping her job as at the Spitfire’s academy team manager – the British Hurricane.

With Noukky taking over the reins of the entire Overwatch project, Spitfire drew out their plans for the future and revealed they will be stepping away from fielding an all-Korean roster, in favour of Western players, while taking advantage of Hurricane’s ability to develop world-class talent.

From November until the end of the year, Spitfire continued to make slight adjustments to their Overwatch League team, creating a strong foundation for the future. They signed former Delta Phoenix team owner Justin “reprize” Hand as their new head coach, and he will work alongside Xavier “CommanderX” Hardy and Mads “fischer” Jehg, who will be his assistants.

But it was the roster people are most inerested in and earlier this week when Spitfire slowly started to unveil the names that will represent their 2021 OWL roster. Those include DPS Jeffrey “Blasé” Tsang, William “SparkR” Andersson and Dominic “Hybrid” Grove, supports Riku “Ripa” Toivanen and Kristian “Kellex” Keller, as well as two tanks in Hadi Daniel “Hadi” Bleinagel and Mikkel “Molf1g” Djernes.

Blasé arrived at the team as the first signing of Spitfire’s 2021 project in December after he spent one year at Houston Outlaws. Ripa, SparkR, Kellex, Hadi and Molf1g, meanwhile, are all a product of Spitfire’s academy team, where they helped write one of the most dominant storylines in the league’s history, by winning all but one regional Contenders tournament in 2020 – including the Overwatch Contenders 2020: The Gauntlet: Europe.

SparK and Hybrid were announced as Spitfire’s latest additions on Wednesday, January 6. Hybrid will – like Hadi and Molf1g – make his debut in the OWL next season, whereas SparK will have to wait until his 18th birthday on June 10, before he can step into the arena and compete with the best Overwatch players in the world.

Spitfire currently field only six members on their active OWL roster, however, they have more than enough time to fill in the gaps, since the start date of the 2021 season was pushed back to spring as announced by the Vice President of the Overwatch League Jon Spector in November.

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The reports of the teams’ relocation surfaced on Tuesday, March 24, when multiple sources unveiled Vancouver Titans were already in the process of moving their staff and players to the Korean Peninsula. The claims were later confirmed by a Titans spokesperson.

“The team is currently in Vancouver but I can confirm that we are working on relocating them back to South Korea imminently,” said the spokesperson.

On Wednesday, London Spitfire released a statement on their Twitter account confirming they will follow suit and move their team to Seoul.

“For the well-being of our players, the London Spitfire has relocated our team to South Korea. We plan to play our upcoming Overwatch League matches from the Cloud9 facility in Seoul,” read the announcement.

Both teams are assembled entirely from Korean esports players, meaning the move will allow them to return to their home country.

The coronavirus has already infected more than 55,000 people in the United States, making it the second-worst hit country in the world behind Italy (70,000+) and China (80,000+). Meanwhile, South Korea has reported just over 9,000 cases despite its proximity to China.

The relocation of Spitfire and Titans could result in a changed schedule for the 2020 Overwatch League season, as noted by Toronto Defiant coach Félix “Féfé” Münch on one of his streams. That is because the newly implemented online OWL schedule is based on the physical location of the teams in a bid to avoid connectivity issues.

Overwatch League’s decision to divide teams into regions saw the Asian teams numerically underrepresented, as there are only four teams who remained in Asia since Seoul Dynasty relocated to Los Angeles. This resulted in an asymmetric season schedule, with Asian teams forced to play each other repetitively. The decision by Titans and Spitfire to relocate to South Korea will bring the region up to six teams, which should help Overwatch improve its competitive schedule for the region.

London Spitfire are scheduled to play Paris Eternal and Toronto Defiant this weekend, while Vancouver Titans are slated to meet Dallas Fuel on Sunday. Titans have yet to officially address whether they will participate in their scheduled fixtures, while Spitfire have confirmed they are planning on playing their upcoming OWL matches from the Cloud9’s facility in Seoul. This, however, raises concerns with latency issues that will surely occur since Spitfire will have to play teams based in Europe and North America.

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