Overwatch League: All you need to know about the playoffs

(Image: overwatchleague.com)
(Image: overwatchleague.com)

The Overwatch League is an international esports league that will have 20 city-based teams competing against each other in a 280-match series. The tournament holds a grand prize pool of $3.5 million. The playoffs of the tournament begin this Thursday, September 5, 2019, in Los Angeles, USA.

Teams that have qualified for the playoffs include Vancouver Titans, New York Excelsior, San Francisco Shock, Hangzhou Spark, Los Angeles Gladiators, Atlanta Reign, London Spitfire, and Seoul Dynasty.


The Format

The playoffs of 2019 will be following a double-elimination bracket. This means that the format will have two different brackets- one for the winners and one for the losers. Therefore, every winning team will move into a winners' bracket and compete against a winner and the losing teams will be moved to a losers' bracket in the first round.

While the four winning teams compete against each other, the winners of the two matches would qualify for round three while the two losing teams will play again with the winners from the losing bracket and so on. The image above below can be referred to, for more clarity. In simple words, every losing team is given a second chance.

Overwatch League Playoffs Schedule (Source: overwatchleague.com)
Overwatch League Playoffs Schedule (Source: overwatchleague.com)

The Schedule

The playoffs schedule of the Overwatch League 2019 has Seoul Dynasty playing against the Vancouver Titans on Thursday, September 5, 2019, at Los Angeles, USA. Los Angeles Gladiators will be playing against Hangzhou Spark on the same day. On the following day, September 6, 2019, London Spitfire will be competing with New York Excelsior and Atlanta Reign will be playing against San Francisco Shock.

The winners' and losers' bracket tournaments will have two matches each taking place on Saturday, September 7 and Sunday, September 8. Two more matches will take place on Thursday, September 12 while a match each will take place on Friday, September 13 Saturday, September 14 and Sunday, September 15.

The Grand Finals of Overwatch League 2019, will take place on Sunday, September 29 in Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Center.


Where to watch the Overwatch League 2019 playoffs and Grand Finals?

The Overwatch League 2019 playoffs will be streamed live on Twitch. It will also be available on the ESPN app, the Overwatch League website, and the Overwatch League app. Full VODs will be available after the event. Besides these platforms, the Grand Finals will be aired in the U.S. on the ABC network at 3 PM ET.


Stick with Sportskeeda for more news on Overwatch and other video games by clicking here.