The last week of the Overwatch League’s Stage 1 has come - the last week is the most crucial week since it is when each team’s rank will be finalized. Only the top 3 teams will be able to proceed to the title match that will be held on the last day of the week. The teams of Seoul, Houston, the LA Valiant, Boston, etc. will be expected to give it their all in order to make it to the last spot for the top 3.

Also, teams in the lower part of the league standings are expected to compete in order to not be placed at the very bottom. Notably, Shanghai, which has lost all matchups, along with Dallas and Florida with just 1 win, are expected to give one final push to keep out of the lowest spot.

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Which 3 teams will make it to the honorable title match? From NY in 1st to team Philadelphia in 7th

The title match that will be held on the last day of Stage 1 will have a huge prize pool of $125,000, and the opportunity get their hands on this prize will be only given to top 3 teams.

Actually, many Overwatch fans expected London, New York, and Seoul, the 3 teams thought to be the strongest at the start of League, to be placed at the top 3, but with Seoul suffering losses in the competition alongside New York and London, the teams below them still have hope that they may get that 3rd place spot. All of the teams that are placed 4th have scored 5-3, which is not too far from Seoul’s current 3rd place score of 6-2, +11 points.

In the case of Seoul and the LA Valiant (5-3, +6), the matchup taking place on the first day of week 5 will be quite significant. Both teams are capable of making it to 3rd place, so the match is a crucial one for both of them.

For Seoul, their other matchup is against the San Francisco, and as for Valiant, their other matchup is against Shanghai, so both teams are expected get fairly easy victories. However, in the Seoul vs Valiant match, whoever is defeated will have to deal with the loss of the match and the loss of the 3rd place slot.

As for Houston (5-3, +14), which is also close to 3rd, the path ahead of them is a pretty rough one. They will be playing against London on the 8th, against Boston on 10th, and considering how Boston defeated London, no one will be able to predict how this matchup will turn out. However, Houston is the only team among the teams placed 4th to be ahead of Seoul, so if Seoul gets 1 defeat and Houston gets all wins, they will secure the 3rd place spot.

Boston (5-3, +7), which made it to 4th place by defeating the LA teams in week 4, will be competing against Houston and Philadelphia, which are also placed in 4th.

As for Philadelphia (5-3, -1), they have yet to play against Boston or Florida. Philadelphia may be expected to win against Florida, but a victory against Boston is far from guaranteed. Being the lowest of the teams in 4th place, the team would need 2 victories with big record differences, and would then need to hope that Seoul suffers 2 defeats and that Houston and the LA Valiant each suffer 1 if they want to get to 3rd place.

Realistically, the teams that might take Seoul’s position are Houston, Boston, and the LA Valiant for now. At this point, the matchup between Seoul and the LA Valiant will be an important match not only for these two teams, but the other teams placed in 4th as well.

As the rest of the teams are fighting for 3rd place, London (7-1, +18) and New York (7-1, +17) prepare for their match as well, and fans are anticipating an intense battle. As for NYXL, their matchup against Florida before playing against London is expected to be fairly easy. However, London is expected to have a rough time since they’ll be fighting not long after their matches against Houston and NY.

Overwatch League Title Matches

[February 10th]

17:00 PST - 3rd Place vs 2nd Place

19:00 PST - Winner vs 2nd Place

[Title Matches Prize Pool]

1st Place - $100,000
2nd Place - 25,000

Dallas, Florida, Shanghai - Last struggle to get away from 12th place

Just like the fights over the 1st and 3rd place, there will be a fight among the bottom 3 teams trying to stay out of the lowest slot. Those three teams are Dallas (1-7, -14) in 10th, Florida (1-7, -18) in 11th, and Shanghai (0-8, -25) in 12th. Dallas will be playing against Shanghai this week, and the other matchup they’ll be playing will be against the LA Gladiators, who is higher than Dallas in the League rankings. This means that they can still possibly fall to 12th place depending on their results against Shanghai.

As for team Florida, they will be playing against New York in 2nd and Philadelphia in 7th. It won’t be easy for Florida since both teams are the ones fighting for 1st and 3rd place respectively.

As for Shanghai, they will be playing against the LA Valiant and Dallas. In order to prevent them from finishing Stage 1 with zero wins, they’ll have to get that first victory in this week’s matchup. However, even if they do successfully defeat Dallas by 4-0, it won’t make much of a difference in their League rank; unless they get 2 victories this week, they won’t be able to avoid being placed last.

To keep themselves from sinking to the bottom, Shanghai will need a whole lot of upward momentum and also would need to see Dallas and Florida lose the rest of their matchups. The DPS duo, Undead and Diya, are not lacking anything compared to any other DPS players, but their tanks and supports need to work harder. They also don’t have to deal with the language barriers that other teams have, and yet they are often less in sync compared to those teams.

Only time will tell if Shanghai’s players will finish stage 1 smiling or looking down.