NEW YORK, NY - JULY 28: A view of the stage during Overwatch League Grand Finals - Day 2 at Barclays Center on July 28, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Blizzard Entertainment )
Overwatch League history was made on Sunday, May 5, when the San Francisco Shock completed the greatest run in the history of the game.
The Shock won all 28 maps they played during Stage 2, winning the Pacific Division title along the way and securing the top spot in the Stage 2 playoffs.
The run began on Friday, April 5 when San Francisco took out the Los Angeles Valiant and the Guangzhou Charge on Sunday, April 7. Week 2 of the Stage saw the Shock repeat the unblemished 4-0 performance against the Charge on Friday, April 12. The Toronto Defiant on Thursday, April 18th and the Hangzhou Spark on Sunday, April 21 were the next two teams to fail to take a map from San Francisco. After the Shock got a bye in Week 4, the Philadelphia Fusion was San Francisco’s next victim to set up the Shock for Sunday’s history-making series against the Shanghai Dragons.
As could be expected in a perfect stage, the statistical breakdown of San Francisco’s performance is impressive. Sinatraa (Jay Won) played with Zarya almost 91 percent of the time and made the most of it. He led the league in Damage at 13,244.85, was third in the league in Eliminations with an average mark of 21.34 per 10 minutes played and seventh in the league in Final Blows at 6.89 per 10 minutes played on average.
Choihyobin (Hyobin Choi), playing as D.Va almost 98 percent of his time in action, ranked fifth in the league in average deaths per 10 minutes played at 2.85. Rascal (Dongjun Kim) made his mark felt on the league as Brigitte almost 86 percent of the time and his 10,811.50 healing score was fourth in the league. His healing score was surpassed by Viol2t (Minki Park), who recorded a tally of 11,055.76 playing almost exclusively (93.4 percent of the time) as Zenyatta. After the Shock completed the perfect stage on Sunday, Rascal guaranteed more of the same stellar performances in the Stage 2 Playoffs.
The Stage 2 Playoffs, part of leading up to a 2019 Grand Final which will reportedly be played in Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Center, will pit San Francisco against a recent foe, Shanghai.
Stage 2 Playoff Schedule and Seeding
The playoffs for the second stage of the 2019 season will result in a purse of a half million dollars. The eight teams will compete in a seeded, single-elimination tournament that will be re-seeded for each progressive round. All times listed are Eastern.
Thursday, May 9th
1. San Francisco Shock vs. 8. Shanghai Dragons, 9 p.m.
2. London Spitfire vs. 7. Hangzhou Spark, 11 p.m.
Friday, May 10th
4. Los Angeles Gladiators vs. 5. New York Excelsior, 9 p.m.
3. Vancouver Titans vs. 6. Dallas Fuel, 11 p.m.
Saturday, May 11th
Highest remaining seed vs. lowest remaining seed, 3 p.m.
Second-highest remaining seed vs. third-highest remaining seed, 6 p.m.
Sunday, May 12th
Highest remaining seed vs. second-highest remaining seed, 1 p.m.
If the Shock can fulfill Rascal’s guarantee and not lose a map through the playoffs en route to claiming the Stage 2 championship, it will truly make the stage one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of esports. Either way, San Francisco has already made Overwatch League history.