Fans will see rivalries and grudges when Bracket starts on September 21!
The Overwatch League's official 2021 playoff group has finally been determined. When the bracket kicks off on September 21, fans will see grudge matches between rivals as teams fight for two places in the September 25 Grand Finals.
A few hours after the preliminaries ended and teams like Washington Justice and Philadelphia Fusion were officially added to the playoff group, the Watchpoint desk aired a selection show. Representatives from each of the eight playoff teams were on deck to make choices and talk nonsense.
The three top series in the Overwatch League playoffs – the Shanghai Dragons, Dallas Fuel and Chengdu Hunters – had to pick their opponents from the four lowest remaining series in the playoffs. They can choose from Atlanta Reign, San Francisco Shock, Washington Justice, and Philadelphia Fusion. As the fourth seed, the Los Angeles Gladiators were left to face the remaining team.
As the league's top seed team, Shanghai Dragons had the honor of choosing an opponent first. The two-time 2021 title winners chose to face the league's former champion, the San Francisco Shock. San Francisco's main tank, Matthew "Super" DeLisi, said the Dragons wanted a "salty comeback" due to their 2020 Grand Finals grouping.
Then, the second-seeded Dallas Fuel chose Washington Justice. Fuel DPS Kim “SP9RK1E” Young-han stated, through translator Danny Lim, that he wanted to “kill” Washington DPS Jang “Decay” Gui-in. Decay is a former member of Dallas Fuel.
As the third seed, Chengdu Hunters had a much smaller pool of teams to choose from. They took on the Atlanta Reign, which they faced frequently in tournament cycles throughout 2021.
After all teams were manually selected, the Los Angeles Gladiators stayed with the Philadelphia Fusion. Gladiators head coach David “Dpei” Pei stated that it was “great” that they got Fusion on the show because he expected them to be “lower in the standings.”
Over the next few weeks, all five Western Region teams will travel to Hawaii for the playoffs and Grand Finals, working as part of the league's backup plan for a postseason derailed by COVID-19. East Region teams will remain in Asia and play against their opponents in the global, double elimination group.
Playoff games for the 2021 Overwatch league season will begin at 21 p.m. CT on September 18, when the Dallas Fuel will beat Washington Justice.
