The 2019 New York Excelsior season was the second season of New York Excelsior's (NYXL) existence in the Overwatch League. The season saw NYXL looking to bounce back from a disappointing loss to the Fusion in the semifinals of the 2018 playoffs after the team finished with the best regular season record, 34–6, of the 2018 season.
New York went a perfect 7–0 in Stage 1, giving them the top seed in the Atlantic Division for the Stage 1 playoffs, but a lost 1–3 to the Seoul Dynasty eliminated them in the quarterfinals. NYXL posted a 5–2 record for Stage 2 and the fifth seed for the Stage 2 Playoffs but lost in the semifinals to the Vancouver Titans by a score of 1–4. Another perfect 7–0 record in Stage 3 gave New York the top seed in the Stage 3 playoffs, but the team fell 1–3 to the Dragons in the quarterfinals. Following a 3–1 victory over the Paris Eternal on August 2, the Excelsior clinched the second seed – and the top seed in the Atlantic Division – in the 2019 playoffs. The team finished the regular season with a 22–6 record.
NYXL opened their playoffs with a decisive 4–1 victory over the London Spitfire on September 6. For their next match, they took down the Atlanta Reign, 4–2, and advanced to the winners' finals, where they faced the Vancouver Titans. A 2–4 loss to the Titans dropped New York to the lower bracket of the tournament. The Excelsior's playoff run ended in the lower bracket finals, as they were defeated by the San Francisco Shock, 0–4.
Preceding offseason
Player re-signings
From August 1 to September 9, 2018, all Overwatch League teams that competed in the 2018 season could choose to extend their team's players' contracts. In this period, Excelsior released player Song "Janus" Jun-hwa and assistant coach Kim "WizardHyeong" Hyeong-seok, both of whom went on to sign with expansion team Washington Justice.[1]
Free agency
All non-expansion teams could not enter the free agency period until October 8, 2018; they were able to sign members from their respective academy team and make trades until then. NYXL did not make any free agency signings in the offseason but did promote two of their academy team players. Excelsior promoted Hwang "Fl0w3R" Yeon-oh and Jeong 'Nenne" Yeon-kwan from XL2 Academy on October 29 and November 8, respectively.[2][3]
Regular season
Stage 1
NYXL opened their first week of the 2019 season with a match against the Boston Uprising on February 14. The teams split the first two maps to head into halftime 1–1; New York then tied map three and won map four to begin their season with a 2–1 victory.[4] Two days later, the team took on the Washington Justice. NYXL jumped to a quick 2–0 lead after winning Ilios and King's Row but were subsequently full-held on the third map Horizon Lunar Colony. However, with the help of some crucial plays from New York's Kim "MekO" Tae-hong on D.Va, NYXL took the last map Rialto to win the series 3–1.[5] The following week, the Excelsior faced the Los Angeles Valiant on February 22. After four maps of play, the series was tied up 2–2, forcing the match into a fifth tiebreaker map, Ilios. Despite the Valiant taking control of the point first in each round, New York managed to ultimately win the map in two rounds, defeating the Valiant 3–2.[6] New York next took on the Houston Outlaws two days later. NYXL dominated the Outlaws the entire match. With multiple maps being completed with an excess of 5 minutes in the time-bank while subsequently full-holding Houston, the Excelsior swept the Outlaws 4–0.[7]
New York's first match of week three was against the Toronto Defiant on March 1. After a close map one win on Busan, the Excelsior took map two King's Row to enter halftime up 2–0. NYXL took map three Temple of Anubis to take the series, but they dropped map four Dorado to ultimately win the match 3–1.[8] The team then took on the Seoul Dynasty two days later. After splitting Ilios and Numbani in the first two maps of the match, New York full-held Seoul in maps three and four to take the series 3–1. The win secured NYXL the first playoff spot for the Stage 1 Playoffs.[9] Looking to maintain a perfect Stage 1 record, New York faced the San Francisco Shock in their final match of Stage 1 on March 8. New York was able to sweep San Francisco 4–0, but the match was much closer than the map score showed – Busan was pushed to three rounds, Numbani was pushed to a second attack phase, Volskaya Industries was also pushed to a third attack phase, and Dorado was pushed to three rounds. With the win, New York completed a perfect 7–0 stage.[10]
Prior to their quarterfinal playoff match, New York transferred Hong "ArK" Yeon-jun, who had played less than 30 minutes for NYXL in the entirety of Stage 1, to Washington Justice.[11]
Although New York went undefeated in Stage 1, the Vancouver Titans completed the same feat but with a better map differential, so NYXL was awarded the second seed in the Stage 1 Playoffs.[12] Excelsior faced the seventh-seeded Seoul Dynasty in the Stage 1 Quarterfinals on March 21. With strong performances by the Dynasty's main tank Hwang "Marve1" Min-seo and off-tank Kim "Zunba" Joon-hyeok, New York quickly lost the first map Ilios. The Dynasty then substituted four of their players and proceeded to take map two Hollywood, putting NYXL down 0–2 going into halftime.[13] Map three was played on Volskaya Industries. The map went to overtime rounds, as both teams completed the map on their attacks; needing the map win to avoid losing the match, NYXL off-tank Kim "MekO" Tae-hong clutched out well-timed D.Va self-destruct in the final moments of the match to secure the map win and close the gap to a 1–2 match score.[14] Seoul was able to complete the fourth map, Rialto, on their attack; NYXL needed to do the same or else they would lose the match. New York pushed their attack past the second point with over four minutes to spare, but was consistently pushed back by Seoul. In their final chance to complete the match, New York's Jeong "Nenne" Yeon-kwan on Zarya whiffed his Graviton Surge ultimate attempting to catch Choi "Michelle" Min-hyuk on Sombra, who had his EMP ultimate ready. The failed ultimate proved to be the deciding factor for the fight, as Seoul won the team fight, and NYXL was defeated 1–3.[15]
Stage 2
New York began Stage 2 with a match against the Philadelphia Fusion, who had eliminated NYXL in the semifinals of the 2018 playoffs. The match saw the debut of Overwatch's newest hero Baptiste in OWL. After taking both points on the first map Lijiang Tower, New York dominated the match, sweeping the Fusion 4–0.[16] New York next took on the Shanghai Dragons two days later. NYXL continued running the standard 3-tank, 3-support meta composition, while the Dragons attempted less standard compositions throughout the match. The Excelsior took the win in the end, defeating the Dragons by a 3–0 score.[17] In week two, NYXL took on the 1-win Washington Justice on April 11. New York found little resistance from Washington; a solid performance from Bang "JJoNak" Seong-hyun on Zenyatta pushed the Excelsior to another 4–0 victory. Three days later, the team faced another 1-win team in the Florida Mayhem. As expected, New York dominated the matchup, sweeping the Mayhem 4–0 to maintain their perfect 2019 record.[18] The Excelsior again faced the Philadelphia Fusion on April 18. New York won the first two maps of the match to go up 2–0 before halftime. In map three, Blizzard World, New York was unable to complete the map on their attack, while Philadelphia did on their own attack, snapping NYXL's 23-map winning streak in the process. The Excelsior full-held the Fusion in the final map, Watchpoint: Gibraltar en route to winning the match 3–1.[19]
New York's final two matches were both against the Atlanta Reign. Heading into their first match on April 19, NYXL was heavily favored, as predictions had the team at a 94.4% win probability.[20] New York found themselves down entering halftime 0–2; the third map, King's Row did not go their way either, as NYXL fell 0–3 in the match. The Excelsior took map four to end the match with a 1–3 loss, marking their first loss in the 2019 regular season.[21] Their second matchup against the Reign was on May 4. The first map, Oasis went to three rounds, but New York was unable to secure the map win. A win on the second map, Hanamura, in overtime rounds sent the match to halftime tied up 1–1. NYXL dropped map three and won map four, sending the match to a fifth tiebreaker map, Lijiang Tower; New York did not claim a single point on the map, losing the match 2–3.[22] With the two consecutive losses, NYXL ended the regular season of Stage 2 with a 5–2 record and the fifth seed in the Stage 2 Playoffs.[23]
New York's quarterfinal match was on May 10 against the fourth-seeded Los Angeles Gladiators. NYXL made quick work of the Gladiators, not allowing them to complete a single map, as they won in a 3–0 sweep.[24] The win sent New York to the semifinals to face the Stage 1 champions Vancouver Titans in one of the most anticipated matches of the season. New York took the first point of map one, Busan, but failed to close out the map in the next two points, falling 0–1 in the series. The Excelsior were able to strike back in map two, Blizzard World, by completing the map and holding Vancouver to just the first point to tie the series 1–1 going into halftime. However, New York went on to lose the next three consecutive maps to lose the series 1–4.[25]
Stage 3
New York faced the Dallas Fuel in Stage 3.
New York's first match of Stage 3 was on June 7 against the Houston Outlaws. Houston was able to take the first map off New York, but the Excelsior managed to grab the second, tying the match up 1–1 going into halftime. Coming out of halftime, the third map was won by the Outlaws, while the Excelsior won the fourth, bringing the match went to a fifth tiebreaker map. NYXL ultimately won the fifth map, taking the series 3–2.[26] Two days later, the Excelsior faced the London Spitfire. With a dominating performance by New York's Sombra composition throughout the match, the team did not allow London to win a single map, sweeping them 4–0.[27] The team's only match of week two was against the Paris Eternal on June 14. New York struggled at the very beginning of the first map, Nepal but quickly turned it round, taking that and the next two maps to go up 3–0. With a loss on the final map, Dorado, NYXL took the win 3–1.[28] New York also only had one match in week three in a rematch against the London Spitfire. After splitting the first four maps, the match went to a fifth tiebreaker map, Ilios. In both points of the map, both teams were able to reach 99% control, but ultimately, NYXL won both point to take a close 3–2 victory.[29] Week four also saw only one match for the Excelsior against the Dallas Fuel. After dropping the first two maps, New York went down 0–2 going into halftime. The team made the proper adjustments afterwards, completing a reverse sweep by taking three consecutive maps and winning the match 3–2.[30]
In the last week of the stage, the Excelsior headed to the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in Atlanta to play at the "Atlanta Reign Homestand Weekend". Their first match at the homestand was against the Florida Mayhem on July 6. After taking the first map, New York was able to force a tie on map two, Volskaya Industries, to enter halftime up 1–0. The final two maps went way of NYXL, as they took both and won the match by a 3–0 scoreline.[31] The next day, NYXL took on the Toronto Defiant. The team found little resistance from the Defiant, as they went on to complete a 4–0 sweep and post another perfect 7–0 stage record.[31]
As the top seed in the Stage 3 Playoffs, the Excelsior took on the eighth-seeded Shanghai Dragons in the Stage 3 Quarterfinals. The teams split the first two maps, Oasis and Hollywood, to enter halftime tied up 1–1. As New York stuck to their standard 3-tank, 3-support composition and the Dragons countered by swapping Jin "Youngjin" Young-jin to Doomfist. Compounded with the Dragons ability to shut down main tank Kim "Mano" Dong-gyu, New York was unable to find wins in the next two maps, losing the quarterfinals by a 1–3 scoreline.[32]
Stage 4
The Excelsior's first match of Stage 4, along with the first match with an enforced 2-2-2 role lock by the League, was against the Los Angeles Gladiators on July 25. Despite taking map three in the matchup, the Gladiators took over the match throughout, with NYXL losing 1–3.[33] The team's next match was against the Paris Eternal on August 2. NYXL took the first three maps to claim the win, while dropping the fourth to take a 3–1 victory over Paris. With the win, New York guaranteed themselves the top seed in the Atlantic Division for the 2019 season playoffs.[34] Two days later, NYXL took on the Chengdu Hunters. The Hunter's Yi "Jinmu" Hu on Pharah gave New York troubles throughout the series; that, along with Chengdu's ability to dive NYXL's Jeong "Nenne" Yeon-kwan on Widowmaker, proved to be too much for the Excelsior to handle, as they were swept 0–4 for the first time in franchise history.[35]
Looking to bounce back from their recent struggles, New York faced the Hangzhou Spark on August 9. A back and forth battle sent the match to a fifth tiebreaker map, where New York would prevail and take a 3–2 victory.[36] Two days later, the team took on the Guangzhou Charge. In the first map, Lijiang Tower, New York managed to take a point, but ultimately lost the map. That point was the last point the team would find in the entire match, as the team was full-held on Temple of Anubis, Blizzard World and Route 66 to lose 0–4 in one of the most lopsided matches in the history of the Overwatch League.[37] In the final week of the regular season, New York head to The Novo in Los Angeles for the Kit Kat Rivalry Weekend, hosted by the Los Angeles Valiant. Their first match was against the Boston Uprising on August 24. While the Uprising were able to take a map in the match, New York came out with a 3–1 win.[38] The team's final match of the regular season was against the Pacific Division Champions Vancouver Titans a day later. The two teams traded map wins throughout the match; after four maps the series was tied, forcing the match to a fifth map. Vancouver and New York both took a point in the final map, Lijiang Tower, but the Titans came out on top to hand NYXL 2–3 match loss.[39]
Playoffs
As the second seed in the season playoffs, New York began their playoff run with a match against the seventh-seeded London Spitfire on September 6. New York took the first map, Busan, to take a quick 1–0 lead in the series. For the second map, London selected Numbani. Both teams were able to complete the map on their respective attacks, but New York came out on top in overtime rounds to take a two-map lead. After a match break, the Spitfire selected Temple of Anubis for map three; again, both teams were able to complete the map on their first attacks. While London was able to take the first point on their second attack, New York's but up a solid defensive performance and prevented the Spitfire from completing the map a second time, leading to a third map win for the Excelsior. For map four, the match went to Watchpoint: Gibraltar. London took a win on the map to close the gap to 3–1. However, New York won in two rounds on Ilios to win the match in a 4–1 victory.[40]
Moving on the first round of the winners' bracket, NYXL next faced the sixth-seeded Atlanta Reign two days later. New York jumped to a quick lead, winning on Busan and King's Row in the first to matches, but Atlanta closed the gap after the match break, claiming a win on Hanamura. For map four, New York selected Rialto, and while the Reign nearly took that map to even the score, excellent defensive Bastion play by New York's Park "Saebyeolbe" Jong-ryeol ensured that the Reign would fall short.[41] The Reign selected Lijiang Tower for map five and won it in two rounds, again closing the gap. However, the Excelsior closed out the series with a win on Numbani. The 4–2 win advanced the team to the winners' finals.[42]
For the winners' finals, the Excelsior took on the top-seeded Vancouver Titans on September 13. Titan's DPS Kim "Haksal" Hyo-jong ran rampant on Doomfist in the first map, Lijiang Tower, as the Titans took a convincing map one win. New York sent the match to King's Row next; the Excelsior struck back in map two, completing the map on their attack and holding Vancouver from completing the same feat, due in part to a stellar performance by New York's DPS Kim "Libero" Hye-sung on Doomfist. With the series tied 1–1 coming out of a match break, Vancouver chose Temple of Anubis for the next map. Both teams managed to complete the map on their respective attacks, New York brought out an effective Bastion on their second attack, leading to a map win for the Excelsior. Titan's DPS Seo "SeoMinSoo" Min-Soo's stellar Reaper and Doomfist play, along with well-coordinated plays from Vancouver's tank line, propelled the Titans to take maps four and five, while New York struck back to tie up the series by winning map six, Numbani. For the final map, Vancouver selected Dorado; the Titans completed the map on their attack, and with a stellar defense, they held New York from doing the same. The 2–4 loss sent New York to the lower bracket.[43]
New York next faced the San Francisco Shock in the lower bracket finals on September 15. The match opened on Lijiang Tower with both teams opting to run an Orisa/Sigma tank composition. Both teams took a point in the map, but the Shock won on the third round to win the first map. New York sent the match to King's Row for map two; the Shock completed the map on their attack, and on their defense, they put up a stellar defensive performance, shaving off chunks New York's time bank just past the first checkpoint. The Excelsior managed to reach the second checkpoint, but a last-minute switch to McCree by Jay "sinatraa" Won shut down the Excelsior offense and prevented them from completing the map. For map three, New York chose Temple of Anubus. Both teams completed the map twice, sending the match to a second overtime round. While they took the first point, New York could not finish the map on their third attempt, while San Francisco managed to capture enough progress on the second point to take their third map win. For what would be the final map, New York elected to send the match to Rialto. The Shock attacked first and completed the map with 3:21 reaming in their time bank. On defense, the Shock could not stop New York from reaching the first two checkpoints, but they held off the Excelsior from completing the map, handing NYXL 0–4 loss and ending their playoff run.[44]
