We’re down to six teams in the Overwatch League 2021 playoffs. Washington Justice and Philadelphia Fusion couldn’t swing it in the losers bracket and got knocked out early, but there is still plenty of action to come now that Day 2 is behind us.
Our team at Upcomer will be breaking down all the action — including the best players and moments — each and every day of the postseason, all the way up to the grand finals. We’ll also have quick previews of all the upcoming matches.
Overwatch League 2021 playoffs day 2 scorelines
- Atlanta Reign – 3 Washington Justice – 0
- San Francisco Shock – 3 Philadelphia Fusion – 2
- Dallas Fuel – 3 Chengdu Hunters – 0
- Shanghai Dragons – 3 Los Angeles Gladiators – 1
Read on for Fuel boops, damning defenses and spicy previews of the winners final, and the losers bracket matches, coming on Thursday, Sept. 23 at 4 p.m PT.
Top three moments of Overwatch League 2021 playoffs: Day 2
We thought the matchup between the Los Angeles Gladiators and Shanghai Dragons was going to be a series, until Shanghai took control after losing Hanamura. That map may have seen the spiciest action on Day 2, outside Dallas’ domination of Chengdu. Everything else wasn’t worth bringing up.
Hanbin and Jesce throw the Hunters off the Eichenwalde bridge
On the classic bridge before the third point of Eichenwalde, players often fall to their death. In what turned out to be a rout of the Chengdu Hunters, both Choi “Hanbin” Han-been and Lee “Jecse” Seung-soo followed up their EMP. Little to Chengdu’s knowledge, both Hanbin’s D.Va boosters and Jesce’s boops cleaned up the fight. It’s not common to see D.Va boop people off the map, but in coordination with their Lúcio, it’s even rarer. Those boops were the main kills of the EMP, leading to a clean map win in a clean series win for Dallas.
– Mike Czarnowski
Shanghai Dragons’ defense on Numbani
The Shanghai Dragons and Los Angeles Gladiators seemed evenly matched, after an astounding defense from the Gladiators saw the Dragons failing to pick up a point on Hanamura. The series was at 1-1 heading into Numbani, and it seemed like the series might pick up from there.
The Dragons, however, seemed utterly unfazed by their failure to cap on Hanamura. In fact, they began to play better than ever, with MVP candidate Lee “LIP” Jae-won in particular becoming an unstoppable force that the Gladiators just couldn’t get past. After being full held on Hanamura, the Dragons immediately retaliated with one of the most brutal full holds in recent memory, a terrifying portent for the other teams – especially considering the Gladiators were a favorite to contend for the championship.
– Bonnie Qu
Shanghai are unstoppable! The Gladiators' shields break against @Void_OW's pressure! 🌠#ShanghaiDragons | #OWL2021
🐉 https://t.co/tbTGBrUfiE pic.twitter.com/zwyKBzI3zW
— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) September 23, 2021
…and Havana
It’s one thing to stop a team in its tracks on a map they’re known to perform poorly on, but to then do it again on their own map pick? Someone nerf Shanghai please because I don’t see how that was fair. Kang “Void” Jun-woo’s Sigma was confident in punishing LA’s support line early on, then sealing the deal during the Gladiators’ desperate pushes in overtime.
“We didn’t prepare anything specific for the Gladiators,” Void said. “We just played the way we normally play.”
If that’s the way they’ll “normally play” against Dallas later today then I’m not sure how well the West Division will fare in the winners finals.
– Aron Garst
Who gamed the hardest?
We can’t mention the best players of the day without Xin “leave” Huang. The MVP’s Tracer play was the silver lining in a shutout loss to Dallas. Unfortunately for him, there were too many amazing moments on the opposite side of the payload, and the point.
Blake “Gator” Scott (Atlanta Reign)
Out of the two sweeps that happened during Day 2, the level of main tank difference was extraordinary in the Atlanta Reign vs. Washington Justice game. Gator was the driving force in Atlanta Reign’s popular Reinhardt-focused rush compositions. With the Justice mirroring their composition on every map, Gator outplayed his Reinhardt counterpart Kim “Mag” Tae-sung every time it mattered. The match was filled with moments where Gator landed big Earthshatters or shielded the right damage to win crucial fights. In a league full of great main tanks, Gator stepped up today.
– Czarnowski
Lee “Jecse” Seung-soo (Dallas Fuel)
The entire Fuel squad was excellent in their sweep of the Chengdu Hunters. The broadcast highlighted Lee “Fearless” Eui-seok, but we think that main support Jecse deserves some recognition too. His Lúcio play kept his teammates alive and enabled the team’s fast-paced tempo, which overwhelmed the Hunters. He also, as mentioned earlier, pulled off some crucial environmental kills that led to the Fuel storming through Eichenwalde. Jecse has been a core part of the roster for a long time, and now that he’s back on his signature hero, his influence is clearer than ever.
– Qu
Kim “Fleta” Byung-sun (Shanghai Dragons)
Everyone on Shanghai played on another level compared to the Los Angeles Gladiators, but Fleta was on a higher plane. LIP may have been the key to the Dragons’ domination on Numbani, but his stellar Ashe was always a given. Fleta was a mad man on Ilios, and he then anchored his team on two back-to-back defensive stomps that made no one question why the Dragons are the best team in the league. I don’t see anyone on the Fuel matching up to him. The only chance he’ll lose is to top-tier opponent coordination.
– Garst
Upcoming Overwatch League 2021 playoffs matchup previews
We’ve got two loser bracket matchups and the winners final kicking off soon. Everyone’s looking forward to watching the second and first seed duke it out for a spot in the grand final. Only two teams from the losers bracket will live to see another day.
Dallas Fuel vs. Shanghai Dragons
Chengdu was no match for Dallas and Los Angeles was no match for Shanghai. After disappointing performances for both contenders in the Countdown Cup, they aren’t skipping a beat in the playoffs. The winner of this winners final will most likely be our 2021 Overwatch League champions, but we’ve seen this matchup multiple times before, during the Summer Showdown and the May Melee.
Fleta and Lip look like they are on a whole other level and I’m not sure Fearless and Kim “SP9RK1E” Yeong-han can matchup with the Dragons firepower. Dallas’ coordination looked near-perfect on Eichenwalde. They’ll need to replicate that performance and add a scoop of something special on top to keep up when the point opens up today.
– Garst
Atlanta Reign vs. Los Angeles Gladiators
The battle of the Countdown Cup Western Division teams is returning in the playoffs, but who stays in the hunt for the 2021 championship? Those winners finals led to Atlanta Reign getting swept, but they have the momentum — and Rookie of the Year Oh “Pelican” Se-hyun on good ping — this time around. The Gladiators were handed a tough loss to top seed Shanghai Dragons, but they did take a map and prove their worth.
With the difference in opposition that these teams faced to get to this point, the Gladiators are the favorites here. If anything, their flexibility led to them taking a map off the Dragons. This game is a litmus test for the Atlanta Reign, to see if they can manage against one of the hottest teams right now.
– Czarnowski
San Francisco Shock vs. Chengdu Hunters
Once again, we have an orange team vs. orange team matchup in the lower bracket. This one wasn’t a surprise, exactly — the Hunters weren’t favored against the Fuel — but the way the Hunters were knocked down to the losers bracket is some cause for concern. They looked utterly lost against the Fuel, totally unlike the team that made it to the grand finals during the Countdown Cup, and that could prove troublesome for their match against the defending champions.
On the other hand, the Shock’s victory against the Philadelphia Fusion was a narrow one, too. The relative power level of all these teams is a bit unclear, but one thing’s for certain: at the start of the day, this matchup would’ve seemed like an easy win for the Hunters. Now, though, it seems like it’s anyone’s for the taking.
– Qu
