Dallas Fuel to Play in Overwatch League Stage Four Title Matches
Losses from both the Houston Outlaws and Seoul Dynasty on Friday helped push the Philadelphia Fusion into the last Overwatch League playoff spot. This took a lot of pressure off Fusion in their match against the London Spitfire on Saturday, but it didn’t mean the match was meaningless. A spot in the Stage Four title matches was still on the line.
After Dallas Fuel defeated the Los Angeles Valiant in a 3-1 upset on Friday, Fusion needed a clean 4-0 sweep in order to take Fuel’s spot in the Stage Four title matches. Despite some good gameplay from Fusion on Saturday, they just weren’t able to close out the sweep they needed.
Fusion won the first three maps against Spitfire, proving they deserved their season playoff spot. But the 3-1 win only boosted their Stage Four map differential to positive four, a map behind the Dallas Fuel. Hence, Fuel will compete in the stage’s title matches instead of Fusion.
But this isn’t really all that grim for Fusion, since they still have a chance to win the entire Overwatch League in the playoffs in July and the Fuel have long been out of that race.
For Dallas, though, making it to the final stage’s title matches demonstrates just how much the team has improved over the course of the season. In Stage Four, Fuel had a 6-4 record and were ranked fourth in the league. This is an impressive feat for a team that has posted a 6-24 score throughout the rest of the season and it further shows its players can hold their own on the OWL stage.
Fuel’s win this week over the Los Angeles Valiant, Valiant’s only loss in Stage Four, demonstrated the team’s capability of not only putting up a fight in the title matches, but winning them too.
Philadelphia’s match was surprising for Dallas, since Fusion was dominating throughout most of the series. They even seemed to have the sweep all wrapped up on the final map, Watchpoint: Gibraltar, when Spitfire only had two players alive on the payload in overtime a few meters away from Fusion’s spawn. But London somehow survived and were able to win the map, thereby granting Fuel their spot in the title games.
Missing out on these stage title games must be disappointing for Philadelphia, but the team has already played in the title games back in Stage Two. Now it’s time for Fusion to set their eyes on a bigger prize: the Overwatch League playoffs.