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2022 Overwatch League Grand Finals

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2022 OWL Grand Finals
San Francisco Shock Dallas Fuel
3 4
DateNovember 4, 2022
VenueAnaheim Convention Center,
Anaheim, California
Purse$1.5 million
Attendance6,000[1]
MVPLee "Fearless" Eui-seok
Live Broadcast
Broadcast(s)YouTube
Bilibili
← 2021
2023 →

The 2022 Overwatch League Grand Finals was the fifth championship match of the Overwatch League (OWL), taking place on November 4, 2022. The series was the conclusion of the 2022 Overwatch League playoffs and was played between the Dallas Fuel and the San Francisco Shock at the Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California.

Dallas qualified for the season playoffs as the top seed and defeated the Hangzhou Spark, Seoul Dynasty, and Houston Outlaws all in the upper bracket to qualify for the Grand Finals. San Francisco qualified as the second seed and was defeated in their first playoff match to the Outlaws but went on to defeat the Shanghai Dragons, Los Angeles Gladiators, Dynasty, Spark, and Outlaws in the lower bracket to qualify for the Grand Finals.

In the Grand Finals match, Fuel defeated the Shock by a score of 4–3 to win their first OWL championship.

Road to the Grand Finals

[edit]

The Grand Finals are the post-season championship series of the Overwatch League (OWL), a professional international esports league; the teams in the 2022 Grand Finals match competed for a US$1.5 million prize pool, where the winners received $1 million.[2] The 2022 season was the fifth season in OWL history and consisted of twenty teams. The playoffs were contested by twelve teams – eight from the league's West region and four from the league's East region.[3]

The finalists, the San Francisco Shock and the Dallas Fuel, finished the regular season with records of 20–4 each, with the Fuel claiming the top seed of the playoffs and the Shock taking the second by way of league tiebreaking rules.[4] Both the defending Overwatch League champions and runners-up, the Shanghai Dragons and Atlanta Reign, respectively, were eliminated in the first round of the lower bracket of the playoffs.[5]

San Francisco Shock

[edit]
Support player Viol2t

The Shock entered the league in 2018 as one of the twelve founding franchises. Following the 2021 season, the Shock parted ways with their entire roster, aside from support player Park "Viol2t" Min-ki. The team picked up five rookies to fill their squad: damage players Jung "Kilo" Jin-woo, Kim "Proper" Dong-hyun, and Samuel "s9mm" Santos, tank player Colin "Coluge" Arai, and support player Oh "FiNN" Se-jin.[6]

The Shock began their 2022 season with a 3–0 win over the Paris Eternal.[7] In the first tournament cycle of the season, the Kickoff Clash, the Shock went undefeated in the qualifiers, going 6–0, and qualified for the Western Kickoff Clash tournament as the top seed.[8] In the tournament, the team ultimately lost to the Fuel in the lower bracket.[9] Prior to the start of the second tournament cycle, the Midseason Madness, they picked up tank player Michael "mikeyy" Konicki.[10] The Shock went undefeated in the Midseason Madness qualifiers, improving their record to 12–0, and qualified as the top seed in the tournament.[11] After winning every match in the upper bracket, the Shock faced the Los Angeles Gladiators in the Midseason Madness finals.[12] However, they lost in the finals by a score of 2–4.[13] The Shock broke the OWL record for most consecutive regular season wins in the following tournament cycle, the Summer Showdown, winning 20 matches in a row, spanning back to the 2021 regular season.[14] The team had their first regular season loss of the season on September 2, after they were defeated by the Fuel.[15] With a 5–1 record in the qualifiers, the Shock advanced to the Western Summer Showdown tournament as the second seed.[16] In the tournament, the Shock lost to the Fuel in the upper bracket and were sent to the lower bracket. They reached the finals through the lower bracket, where they once again faced the Fuel. The Shock lost the match, 0–4, finishing in second place for the second tournament in a row.[17] Prior to the end of the regular season, the Shock picked up damage player Kwon "Striker" Nam-joo, who had been a part of the Shock's championship seasons in 2019 and 2020.[18] The team finished the regular season as the second seed in the Western region with 26 league points, 20 wins, and 4 losses.[19][4] Proper received numerous accolades for his performance in the regular season, being commentated as a Role Star for damage, being named the Alarm Rookie of the Year, and earning the Most Valuable Player award.[20]

As the second seed in the playoffs, the team received a bye into the second round of the upper bracket. For their first opponent, the Shock selected the sixth-seeded Houston Outlaws; however, they lost to the Outlaws, 2–3, and were sent to the lower bracket.[21] From there, San Francisco made a run through the lower bracket, defeating the fifth-seeded Shanghai Dragons,[22] third-seeded Los Angeles Gladiators,[23] fourth-seeded Seoul Dynasty,[24] and the twelfth-seeded Hangzhou Spark,[24] to reach the lower bracket finals. The Shock took down the Outlaws, who had also been knocked down to the lower bracket, by a score of 3–0 to advance to the Grand Finals.[25]

Dallas Fuel

[edit]
Tanks Hanbin (left) and Fearless (right)

The Dallas Fuel entered the league in 2018 as one of the twelve founding franchises. In the offseason preceding the 2022 season, the team made several roster changes. They elected not to exercise their option to retain support player Lee "Jecse" Seung-soo and hitscan specialist Kim "Pine" Do-hyeon, and support player Kim "Rapel" Jun-keun retired from professional Overwatch.[26] They signed three free agents: support player Han "ChiYo" Hyeon-seok, damage player Kang "guriyo" Min-seo, and hitscan specialist Kim "Edison" Tae-hoon.[27]

The Fuel's first match of the 2022 season resulted in a loss to the Houston Outlaws in the Kickoff Clash qualifiers.[28] Throughout the Kickoff Class qualifiers, the Fuel found success running a team composition around Choi "Hanbin" Han-been on Zarya and Edison on Reaper, allowing them to win their next five matches and claim the second seed in the Western Kickoff Clash tournament.[29][30] The Fuel dropped to the lower bracket of the double-elimination tournament but ran through the lower bracket and reached the finals, where they ultimately lost to the Los Angeles Gladiators.[31] In the second tournament cycle of the season, the Midseason Madness, the Fuel were swept in their first two qualifying matches, as their Zarya-Reaper composition from the Kickoff Clash was no longer viable due to a balance patch that shifted the meta.[32] However, the team went on to win their next four matches and claimed the third seed, and a first-round bye, in the Midseason Madness tournament.[33] However, Dallas made an early exit from the tournament after losing to the Shanghai Dragons and Philadelphia Fusion in their first two matches.[34][35] In the Summer Showdown, the third tournament cycle of the season, the league saw another meta shift with the release of Overwatch 2's newest hero, Junker Queen. With Hanbin playing as one of the league's best Junker Queens,[36] the Fuel finished the Summer Showdown qualifiers snapping the San Francisco Shock's 20-game regular season winning streak and claiming the top seed in the Western Summer Showdown tournament with a perfect 6–0 record in the qualifiers.[15] The Fuel went undefeated in the tournament, finishing it with a 4–0 win over the Shock in the finals, and claimed their first tournament title of the season.[17] The team finished the regular season as the top seed in the Western region with 26 league points, 20 wins, and 4 losses.[19][4] Additionally, Kwon "Fielder" Joon, ChiYo and Hanbin were awarded Role Star commendations at the end of the regular season for the support, support, and tank roles, respectively.[37]

In the playoffs, the league saw another meta shift, with the release of the hero Kiriko, and Dallas elected to bring back Lee "Fearless" Eui-seok into the starting roster over Hanbin, with Fearless playing Winston.[38] With a bye to the second round of the upper bracket, the Fuel selected the twelfth-seeded Hangzhou Spark as their first opponent; Dallas defeated them by a score of 3–1.[21] Next, they swept the fourth-seeded Seoul Dynasty, 3–0, in the upper bracket semifinals.[39] In the upper bracket finals, the Fuel faced their in-state rivals, the Outlaws. Dallas lost the first map of the match but went on to win the following three, defeating the Outlaws, 3–1, and advanced to the Grand Finals.[24]

Summary of results

[edit]
Qualified playoff teams
Seed Team Region Points Record MR MD
1 Dallas Fuel West 26 20–4 61–26–0 +35
2 San Francisco Shock West 26 20–4 65–27–0 +38
3 Los Angeles Gladiators West 25 18–6 64–29–0 +35
4 Seoul Dynasty East 25 19–5 62–24–0 +38
5 Shanghai Dragons East 23 18–6 57–30–0 +27
6 Houston Outlaws West 19 16–8 56–42–0 +14
7 Atlanta Reign West 16 13–11 51–42–0 +9
8 London Spitfire West 16 14–10 50–41–0 +9
9 Philadelphia Fusion East 15 11–13 50–50–0 ±0
10 Florida Mayhem West 15 12–12 46–45–0 +1
11 Toronto Defiant West 15 12–12 48–49–0 -1
12 Hangzhou Spark East 13 11–13 46–49–0 -3
San Francisco Shock playoffs matches
Round Opponent Score
Upper round 2 (6) Houston Outlaws 2–3
Lower round 1 (5) Shanghai Dragons 3–1
Lower round 2 (3) Los Angeles Gladiators 3–1
Lower round 3 (4) Seoul Dynasty 3–0
Lower round 4 (12) Hangzhou Spark 3–1
Lower final (6) Houston Outlaws 3–0
Dallas Fuel playoffs matches
Round Opponent Score
Upper round 2 (12) Hangzhou Spark 3–1
Upper round 3 (4) Seoul Dynasty 3–0
Upper final (6) Houston Outlaws 3–1

Venue

[edit]
The 2022 Grand Finals were played at the Anaheim Convention Center.

The Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, California was announced as the 2022 OWL Grand Finals host venue on September 19, 2022. It was the first time that the Grand Finals had been held live since the 2019 Grand Finals in Philadelphia.[40][41] The Anaheim Convention Center opened in 1967 and is the largest exhibit facility on the West Coast.[42] Its arena has a seating capacity of 7,500 seats.[43] Since opening, the center has been the site of a number of other notable events, including VidCon, BlizzCon, Anime Expo, D23 Expo, WonderCon, and NAMM Show.[44]

Broadcast

[edit]

The Grand Finals match was live-streamed on YouTube.[45] The 2022 season was the first time that the OWL had allowed co-streams of their matches, where select streamers were able to stream OWL broadcasts simultaneously with their own, and co-streams were restricted to only be broadcast on YouTube.[46] TimTheTatman, who is also a YouTube exclusive streamer, held a co-stream of the match.[47] Players who watch the live broadcast of the Grand Finals can earn League Tokens, an Overwatch 2 in-game currency that allows them to purchase in-game cosmetics, as well as three Overwatch League skins.[2]

During the broadcast, prior to the match, Blizzard showcased Overwatch 2's newest playable character Ramattra.[48] Additionally, there was an interview with lead hero designer Alec Dawson and art director Dion Rogers.[49]

The Grand Finals saw a peak viewership on YouTube of 350,000 on the main Overwatch League channel and saw an average viewership of around 300,000 for a majority of the match.[1]

Match summary

[edit]
Grand Finals November 4 San Francisco Shock 3 – 4 Dallas Fuel Anaheim, CA
7:00 pm PDT    Details Anaheim Convention Center
1 Lijiang Tower 2
2 King's Row 1
3 Dorado 2
0 Esperança 1
2 Oasis 1
1 Route 66 2
0 Colosseo 1

Rosters

[edit]

San Francisco Shock

[edit]
2022 San Francisco Shock roster
Players Coaches
Role No. Handle Name Nationality
Damage 37 Kilo Jung Jin-woo South Korea
Damage 88 Striker Kwon Nam-joo South Korea
Damage 77 Proper Kim Dong-hyun South Korea
Damage 13 s9mm Santos, Samuel United States
Tank 7 Coluge Arai, Colin United States
Tank 3 Mikeyy Konicki, Michael United States
Support 17 Viol2t Park Min-ki South Korea
Support 99 FiNN Oh Se-jin South Korea
Head coach
  • Park "Crusty" Dae-hee
Assistant coach(es)
  • Cas "Casores" van Andel
  • Kim "NineK" Bum-hoon
Legend:
  • (I) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • (2W) Two-way player
  • Substitute player Substitute
  • Injured Injury / Illness
  

Latest roster transaction: September 29, 2022.

Dallas Fuel

[edit]
2022 Dallas Fuel roster
Players Coaches
Role No. Handle Name Nationality
Damage 20 Doha Kim Dong-ha South Korea
Damage 1 Sp9rk1e Kim Yeong-han South Korea
Damage 7 Edison Kim Tae-hoon South Korea
Damage 26 guriyo Kang Min-seo South Korea
Tank 8 Fearless Lee Eui-seok South Korea
Tank 11 Hanbin Choi Han-been South Korea
Support 9 ChiYo Han Hyeon-seok South Korea
Support 31 Fielder Kwon Joon South Korea
Head coach
  • Yun "RUSH" Hee-won
Assistant coach(es)
  • Go "Aid" Jae-yoon
  • Kim "Rascal" Dong-jun
Legend:
  • (I) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • (2W) Two-way player
  • Substitute player Substitute
  • Injured Injury / Illness
  

Latest roster transaction: October 22, 2021.

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Miller, Hawken (November 5, 2022). "Dallas Fuel beat San Francisco Shock 4-3 in Overwatch League Grand Final". The Washington Post. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
  2. ^ a b Mejia, Ozzie (November 3, 2022). "Overwatch League 2022 Grand Finals: Prize pool, schedule, and how to watch". Shacknews. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  3. ^ Lyons, Ben (October 24, 2022). "The Overwatch League Playoffs bracket is set". Gamereactor UK. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  4. ^ a b c Lyons, Ben (October 10, 2022). "Dallas Fuel have secured the number one seed in the West OWL division". Gamereactor UK. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  5. ^ Field Level Media (November 2, 2022). "Shock, Gladiators stay alive in Overwatch League playoffs". The Victoria Advocate. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  6. ^ Richardson, Liz (May 2, 2022). "New kids on the throne: San Francisco Shock 2022 Overwatch League team preview". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
  7. ^ Lyons, Ben (May 6, 2022). "Los Angeles Gladiators, San Francisco Shock, and Atlanta Reign start their 2022 Overwatch League season off strong". Gamereactor UK. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
  8. ^ Czar, Michael (May 31, 2022). "Everything to know about the OWL Kickoff Clash playoffs". Upcomer. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
  9. ^ Garcia, Ethan (June 5, 2022). "Hanbin surges through the San Francisco Shock, Dallas Fuel advance in OWL Kickoff Clash". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
  10. ^ Richardson, Liz (June 10, 2022). "San Francisco Shock adds tank mikeyy to Overwatch League roster". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
  11. ^ Field Level Media (July 9, 2022). "Shock improve to 12-0 in West at Midseason Madness qualifying". Reuters. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
  12. ^ Richardson, Liz (July 23, 2022). "San Francisco Shock earns spot in the Midseason Madness tournament finals and other OWL results". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
  13. ^ Parrish, Ash (July 25, 2022). "Overwatch League team loses tournament in embarrassingly hilarious way". The Verge. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
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  15. ^ a b Czar, Michael (September 8, 2022). "Dallas Fuel end San Francisco Shock's undefeated 2022 regular season". Upcomer. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  16. ^ Sacco, Dom (September 5, 2022). "Overwatch League 2022 Summer Showdown teams confirmed as London Spitfire qualify for Toronto event". Esports News UK. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
  17. ^ a b Czar, Michael (September 11, 2022). "'It felt almost too easy': Dallas Fuel are the 2022 Summer Showdown champs". Upcomer. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  18. ^ Richardson, Liz (September 29, 2022). "San Francisco Shock signs Striker—again". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
  19. ^ a b "Standings - 2022 Regular Season". Overwatch League. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  20. ^ Garcia, Ethan (November 5, 2022). "The rookie stands tall: Proper earns the MVP award for 2022 Overwatch League season". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
  21. ^ a b Field Level Media (November 1, 2022). "Outlaws, Spitfire pull off Overwatch League playoff upsets". Scranton Times-Tribune. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
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  24. ^ a b c Field Level Media (November 4, 2022). "Fuel advance to Overwatch League's grand final". KPVI. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  25. ^ Angeles, Zen (November 5, 2022). "Overwatch League 2022 Grand Finals Day Results". ClutchPoints. Retrieved November 5, 2022.
  26. ^ Collins, Sean (October 1, 2021). "Dallas Fuel not exercising options for 'Jecse' and 'Pine' in offseason roster shakeup". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  27. ^ Collins, Sean (October 26, 2021). "Dallas Fuel coach 'RUSH' on potential in team's three new Overwatch League players". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  28. ^ Collins, Sean (May 7, 2022). "Nap time: 4 takeaways from Dallas Fuel's 2022 OWL debut loss to Houston Outlaws". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  29. ^ Czar, Michael (May 23, 2022). "Dallas Fuel lead the Reaper and Zarya meta in the Overwatch League". Upcomer. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  30. ^ Collins, Sean (June 1, 2022). "Dallas Fuel's 'Edison' believes he's the best Reaper in Overwatch League". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  31. ^ Collins, Sean (June 5, 2022). "Los Angeles Gladiators stomp Dallas Fuel in Kickoff Clash championship". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  32. ^ Collins, Sean (June 19, 2022). "Dallas Fuel have to create own 'color' in Overwatch League again". The Dallas Morning News. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  33. ^ Field Level Media (July 11, 2022). "Fuel notch first-round bye to wrap up Midseason Madness qualifying". Reuters. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  34. ^ Field Level Media (July 19, 2022). "Dragons, Outlaws open Midseason Madness with sweeps". Reuters. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  35. ^ Richardson, Liz (July 21, 2022). "Four teams eliminated from the Overwatch League Midseason Madness tournament". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  36. ^ Gao, Emerald (August 16, 2022). "Grav Bag: Shifting the Balance of Power - Article Metadata Detail | The Overwatch League". Overwatch League. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  37. ^ Czar, Michael (November 3, 2022). "Here are your Overwatch League 2022 Role Stars". Upcomer. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  38. ^ Czar, Michael (November 3, 2022). "Both Texas teams win on Day 4 of the Overwatch League 2022 playoffs". Upcomer. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  39. ^ Field Level Media (November 3, 2022). "Fuel, Outlaws lone unbeatens left in Overwatch League playoffs". Scranton Times-Tribune. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
  40. ^ Czar, Michael (September 19, 2022). "Overwatch League 2022 season playoffs and finals will be live in Anaheim". Upcomer. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  41. ^ Richardson, Liz (September 19, 2022). "Overwatch League 2022 Grand Finals headed to Anaheim Convention Center later this fall". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  42. ^ Carpenter, Eric (December 19, 2012). "Anaheim clears way for resort-area expansion". Orange County Register. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  43. ^ "Exhibit Hall Capacities". Visit Anaheim. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  44. ^ "Suites near Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA". Capri Suites Anaheim. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  45. ^ Parrish, Ash (November 2, 2022). "How (and why) to watch the Overwatch League grand finals". The Verge. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  46. ^ Garcia, Ethan (April 20, 2022). "Overwatch League debuts YouTube co-streaming for upcoming season". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  47. ^ Robertson, Scott (November 2, 2022). "TimTheTatman to host special OWL Grand Finals co-stream on YouTube". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 3, 2022.
  48. ^ McWhertor, Michael (November 4, 2022). "Overwatch 2's new tank hero is part robot freedom fighter, part Hulk". Polygon. Retrieved November 6, 2022.
  49. ^ Wheeler, C. J. (November 4, 2022). "Overwatch 2 will reveal a new hero at today's Overwatch League Grand Finals". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved November 4, 2022.
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