The penultimate day of Overwatch League 2021 playoffs has come to a close, and it saw the most surprising outcomes of any day so far. The Atlanta Reign came bursting out of the gates, dispatching the San Francisco Shock in their first match before doing it again to the Dallas Fuel immediately after. This sends them careening into the grand finals tomorrow, where they will face off against the Shanghai Dragons.
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 4 scorelines
- Atlanta Reign – 3 San Francisco Shock – 1
- Atlanta Reign – 3 Dallas Fuel – 1
Top two moments of Overwatch League 2021 playoffs: Day 4
We’ve chosen to only do two moments for Day 4, because frankly, it was all about the Reign. They seemed nearly unstoppable, with every player better than we’d ever seen them. There were plenty of clutch moments to go around, but we’ve narrowed it down to the two that were the most impactful across both Reign matches.
Hawk eats back-to-back blizzards to win Havana and eliminate the Shock
Facing the San Francisco Shock on the way to get their three-peat, Xander “Hawk” Domecq helped secure the win for the Atlanta Reign on their fourth map, Havana. After the Shock had pushed to the third section of the map quickly, a recent Choi “ChoiHyoBin” Hyo-bin Blizzard eat on D.va was fresh in their minds. The Reign held close to their spawn, killing a lot of time, as Hawk ate Charlie “nero” Zwarg’s blizzard to win a fight. Then, as the Shock progressed towards the end, it was all came down to one fight.
As the Shock team teleported behind the Reign, they tried to use their ultimates to secure a pick and win the final fight. But, Hawk saw the move and reacted quickly, eating Nero’s second blizzard in a row and slowly winning the fight afterwards. Two clutch eats by Hawk secured that map, the series win and knocked the Shock out of the tournament.
— Mike Czarnowski
Kai’s Symmetra holds back the Fuel’s recontest
The Reign then faced the Dallas Fuel. The two were 1-1 after the first two maps and played on King’s Row for the third. The Reign had previously defeated the Shock on the same map. Both teams completed the map on their attack, with the Fuel getting an extra nine seconds. After holding the Fuel on their short attack, the Reign just needed a third of the capture to win. As the team pushed up, a quick coordinated attack led Kai “Kai” Collins to get a pick on the enemy’s Symmetra early. The rest of the Reign pushed in, and as the fight got scrappy, Kai managed to stay alive.
With the Symmetra beam growing in strength over time, the Reign cleared the point after losing a couple of players. They had won their second map in a row and put the Fuel on match point on their own map pick. The same happened on the next map, with the Fuel choosing Dorado and losing, leaving the Atlanta Reign as the ones facing the Shanghai Dragons in the Overwatch League 2021 grand finals.
— Czarnowski
Who gamed the hardest?
Once again, every player gave it their all, but it was the Reign who flourished in the end. All six of them were on fire, and all of them deserve recognition, but some deserve it slightly more than the others. Here are our two best players of the day.
Kim “Ir1s” Seung-hyun (Atlanta Reign)
The Atlanta Reign were able to pull off two massive wins yesterday, including an upset over tournament favorite Dallas Fuel. Much praise has been given to the team’s damage lineup (with good reason), but their support line was unflinching, especially flex support Ir1s. Ir1s’ Baptiste play was pitch perfect all day, seamlessly switching between damage and healing to keep his team alive and keep the other team pinned down.
— Bonnie Qu
Xander “Hawk” Domecq (Atlanta Reign)
Continuing the trend of giving praise to underserved roles, Atlanta flex tank Hawk had a tremendous day as well. In the mirror matchup against the San Francisco Shock, in which both teams relied heavily on Mei compositions, he was able to deny many Blizzards from the opposing Mei, leading to a victory. He remained oppressive in the next series against the Dallas Fuel, cementing himself as one of the best D.Vas in the league this season.
— Qu
Overwatch League 2021 grand finals
It all ends here. Two teams are left standing in the Overwatch League 2021 season. Only one will be crowned champion – the last champion that this iteration of Overwatch will ever have.
Atlanta Reign vs. Shanghai Dragons
Saturday two teams will meet in the Overwatch League 2021 grand finals: the Shanghai Dragons, which was expected, and the Atlanta Reign, which was wholly unexpected. The Reign’s back-to-back wins against the two-time champions and the top-seeded West Division team came as a total surprise, and they’re heading into grand finals looking hot.
But their opponents tomorrow are the Shanghai Dragons, who have proven to be a cut above the rest all through playoffs and the entire year. The Dragons breezed through the Shock, Gladiators and Fuel to make it to the grand finals through the winner’s bracket. The Reign, however, aren’t far behind; they’re riding the momentum of three stunning victories against the exact same teams.
Will the Shanghai Dragons secure the win and solidify their status as the best team of 2021? Or will the Atlanta Reign’s miracle run through the lower bracket culminate in success? We’ll just have to wait and see how it shakes out.
— Qu
