With a 4-0 victory over the Atlanta Reign, the Dragons won the 2021 Overwatch League title, finishing an incredibly dominant season today. After winning two back-to-back tournaments earlier this year, Shanghai Dragons were poised to take the crown.
The first map, Ilios, played relatively even, with Atlanta using its distinctive rushing playstyle against Shanghai's aggressive play. As Atlanta's DPS fought valiantly, the Dragons set the pace in both rounds and took the map with a dominant win.
Atlanta then took us to Hanamura, one of the team's most historically successful maps in terms of the playoffs. Reign completed the map and put up a solid fight, but Shanghai stuck to their old tricks. Last year's MVP, Kim “Fleta” Byung-sun, returned to her pristine form at Pharah and stopped Reign's attacks multiple times. Shanghai took a 2-0 lead but Atlanta certainly didn't make it simple for them.
The Dragons' resilient support of Kim “Izayaki” Min-chul's signature stunned Zenyatta, while Grand Finals MVP Lee “LIP” Jae-won turned among the heroes, causing the devastation of them all. Atlanta's professional sniper Kai Collins gave Hanzo his best to deal with the attacks, but Shanghai eventually won the round.
By winning the 2021 Grand Finals, the Shanghai Dragons also close a significant part of the organization's history. In the first season of the Overwatch League, the original Shanghai Dragons squad were the only team to remain completely undefeated, setting a 0-40 season record. Three years later, after a major rebuild and new enthusiasm for the game, the team has now taken home the final championship from the original iteration of Overwatch by a score of 4-0.
Shanghai Dragons, this season's champions, earned a glowing Overwatch League trophy as well as $1,5 million in prize money. Atlanta Reign will take home $750.000 for second place.
