Overwatch League, Week 5: New York Excelsior pull out close win in thrilling match against London Spitfire

The London Spitfire needs a little help from the New York Excelsior to get into the playoffs.

On the last day of Stage 1 of the Overwatch League, the end-of-stage playoff picture is essentially a hot mess. Four teams still have a chance at grabbing the two remaining spots in the playoffs, and the London Spitfire is one of them.

Unfortunately, in their way is the behemoth that is the New York Excelsior, who are sitting pretty after already clinching their spot in the playoffs. Based on where each team sits from map wins, the Spitfire only need one more map victory to get themselves their spot in post-stage play. But London has struggled recently to put together winning drives. Can they pull it together just enough to get what they need for the playoffs?

Map One: Eichenwalde

To kick things off, London started on defense with Profit on Junkrat and birdring on McCree. New York attacked with Libero on Pharah and Saebyeolbe on Tracer. New York poked here until Libero got his Rocket Barrage. Then, it was go time. Libero hovered right in the doorway to the objective and took out two. Saebyeolbe then followed up with a Pulse Bomb kill. Suddenly, it looked as if it would be all the Excelsior.

However, just as the control meter was about to hit completion, London jumped back for a terrific stall that did force New York to back up and regroup. With time ticking away, the Excelsior finally took the final tick on the point to move the payload.

With less than two minutes to push the payload to the second checkpoint, New York got to work, with Saebyeolbe getting as many kills as possible as far forward as possible while Meko drilled down on anyone who attempted to contest the payload. Swiftly, New York was able to take the second checkpoint.

As the payload moved into the castle, Libero rampaged forward with a Dragonblade, taking out Nus on Mercy. As the payload neared the end, Bdosin helped support London with a Transcendence on a defense that ultimately pushed New York back. That rejection became what London needed to stop New York short, as the Excelsior did not have the time necessary to get most of their team back to the payload. In the end, it was just Saebyeolbe attempting to contest in overtime as the rest of the Excelsior tried to join him, but his Tracer only lasted for so long before he was downed.

On attack, London put birdring on McCree and Profit on Junkrat. Right away, New York was threatened when birdring sniped Nus right out of the sky, who was trying to support Libero’s Pharah. That pick was all London need to quickly cap the first point and get the payload moving. birdring continued to create huge plays as the door opened, first with a kill on Saebyeolbe’s Tracer and then taking out two more with his Deadeye.

As the payload neared the second checkpoint, the Spitfire never let up even in the face of Excelsior ultimates. The death of a couple of their team didn’t deter them from keeping pressure on the payload, and a Riptire from Profit that took out both Ark and Libero was just what they needed to take the second checkpoint.

Quite easily, London moved the payload right toward the goal line. It was nothing but a Self Destruct in their way to victory, and they effortlessly sidestepped it. With the map win, London assured that they would be appearing again later in the day in the playoffs.

Map Score: Excelsior 2, Spitfire 3

Match Score: Excelsior 0, Spitfire 1

Map Two: Temple of Anubis

Even though London already clinched their spot in the playoffs, the seeding of the playoffs was still riding on the remaining results of the series. If the Spitfire could beat the Excelsior by two maps, they would become the top seed and earned themselves a first-round playoff bye. With that huge advantage on the line, both teams doubled down as the series continued.

London started on defense, holding a position on the lower platform with birdring lurking on the high rooftop in the back on Widowmaker. Right away, birdring snagged Libero on Genji as New York tried to make their first push, which forced the Excelsior to immediately withdraw.

With less than a minute remaining, the Excelsior finally got the engagement they were looking for, starting with a pick onto Gesture. Then, Ark managed to escape a Riptire to stay alive and trigger his Valkyrie. Even as New York flooded in, London’s respawns came back to contest, drawing the clock down to overtime. Unsurprisingly, however, the Spitfire could only contest for so long before fading away and conceding the point.

New York started their point B push with a fresh four minutes on the clock, but was immediately repelled when Saebyeolbe and Mano fell. It all came down to New York’s final push that used both Jjonak’s Transcendence and Ark’s Valkyrie. Even with both those support ultimates, it ended up not being enough. London’s defense was just too strong and New York was denied point B.

On their turn at defense, New York also started on the lower platform with Libero on Junkrat and Saebyeolbe on Widowmaker. Similar to birdring’s start, Saebyeolbe immediately showed his deadliness with picks on Fury, Bdosin and Nus. He was even able to hunt down Profit on Genji as Profit pushed him off his rooftop roost. Libero also helped to stall London with a Riptire that downed Nus.

Finally, just as the clock hit a minute, London surged forward thanks to Profit. Crucially, he took out Ark as Ark was triggering his Valkyrie, completely wasting that huge ultimate. With that opening, the Spitfire could turn their focus to point B, where they only needed a little over a tick of control to take the map.

The Spitfire right away engaged with a Primal Rage. Many ultimates were used in the fight, including Valkyries from both sides, but London walked away with nothing. New York then pushed forward, taking the fight to the regrouping London, stalling them even further.

On their last push, Nus burned the Valkyrie prior to the team even making it to the objective, putting London at a huge disadvantage in the face of New York’s Ark with a fully charged Valkyrie. As the clock ticked into overtime, the Spitfire struggled to get people onto the objective, largely getting stuck in the side room. With Saebyeolbe and Jjonak getting crucial eliminations, London ran out of steam and handed New York an improbable map victory.

Map Score: Excelsior 2, Spitfire 1

Match Score: Excelsior 1, Spitfire 1

Map Three: Ilios

New York welcomed Pine to the roster as the series went to the control map. Starting on Lighthouse, neither team went Pharah but each had a McCree. It was Pine who got first blood onto Nus, which allowed New York to take the point first. Pine then got to work, with a flashbang and kill onto Profit’s Tracer, with support from Saebyeolbe on Soldier 76.

London did create a potential opening for themselves when Gesture jumped onto the point with a Primal Rage that punched Pine off the map. However, as both supports fell, Saebyeolbe evened up the numbers with an Attack Visor. With New York up 99 percent, London finally got the engagement they needed to take the point for themselves for the first time.

In an attempt to build up more control percentage, London’s Fury pushed forward and triggered a Self Destruct that took out three members of the Excelsior. But after that successful rejection, New York came right back largely thanks to Pine taking out Profit, then using a Deadeye to snipe Nus out of the air. With no Mercy in play, London quickly conceded the final percentage point New York needed to take the point.

Moving onto Ruins, birdring and Pine both switched to Widowmaker. Surprisingly, birdring struck first on Pine which helped London take control first. Pine was able to take out birdring next but a huge Pulse Bomb from Profit stopped any momentum that New York was trying to capitalize on.

As both teams came together on the next engagement, Pine fell twice in quick succession. But with Janus on Winston continually pressuring birdring, the rest of London was vulnerable to New York. With London up 99 percent, New York flipped the point.

Time and time again, London’s pushes to retake the point were rebuffed. The Spitfire’s final composed push ended when Nus was downed early. Suddenly, it was the Excelsior threatening at 99 percent. As the map hit overtime, Profit ran onto the point attempting to stall long enough for the rest of the Spitfire to get there but Pine had other plans. With one headshot he snuffed out the Tracer, and watched as overtime burned away to give his team both a 2-1 lead in the series and the top seed in the playoffs.

Map Score: Excelsior 2, Spitfire 0

Match Score: Excelsior 2, Spitfire 1

Map Four: El Dorado

London Spitfire started on defense, but was quickly cut down in the courtyard by Libero’s Genji for a quick first checkpoint take by New York. Libero continued do damage as the payload moved forward, taking out Nus in the process, but London was able to stabilize on defense on the high ground. In particular, Profit on Junkrat came alive, sweeping around to the New York backline to take out three Excelsior players.

With less than 30 seconds remaining, it seemed as if London had the payload under control, especially after Libero’s Dragonblade was negated by WooHyaL’s D.Va. But with all the fighting occurring off the objective, the Excelsior maintained enough presence on the payload to sneak it onto the second checkpoint.

In the last portion of the map, New York had just two pushes before the clock hit overtime. The Excelsior came into the fight with a huge advantage in Ark’s Valkyrie, and indeed the engagement lasted a surprisingly long time. But in the end it was London holding strong past the Valkyrie and past a Primal Rage.

With that hold, the Spitfire flipped to offense with Profit on Genji and birdring on Tracer, who immediately died at the hands of Saebyeolbe’s Widowmaker. However, the Spitfire quickly jumped on top of the Excelsior’s high ground defense and quickly the Excelsior collapsed. Profit ensured that New York’s next contest on the first checkpoint was short lived with a huge Dragonblade that wiped everyone in white off the map. birdring also did his part to keep the payload moving, with a triple-kill Pulse Bomb.

London’s roll was finally stopped just short of the second checkpoint. New York positioned themselves in the building behind the payload, which allowed London to easily take their place around the objective. Suddenly it was the Excelsior who had to jump on the payload to prevent it from moving forward. But as the engagement drew out, Meko scored a huge Self Destruct that took out Nus, which effectively stopped London’s push.

Profit helped the Spitfire make the ground they needed on the next push as he used Dragonblade to take out both Excelsior supports. But they were repelled shortly after pushing the payload into the last section of the map. WooHyaL started things off for London’s next push with a two-kill Self Destruct, but New York surged back to push London off. It came down to one last frenzied contest in overtime, with both teams fighting through man disadvantages to try and hold for as long as possible. This time, the Spitfire did not pull a C9 and maintained just enough pressure on the payload to push it home and tie up the series.

Map Score: Excelsior 2, Spitfire 3

Match Score: Excelsior 2, Spitfire 2

Map Five: Lijiang Tower

Starting on Garden, both teams played Pharah in an attempt to get environmental kills. London also put Bdosin on Lucio for the same purpose. Libero was the first to win the air fight with two direct hits onto Profit. With several other Spitfire members falling as well, New York took the point.

London struggled mightily to make their way to the point, stymied by Saebyeolbe’s Tracer constantly lurking in the backline and by Libero’s rockets. At 99 percent for New York, London finally did find their foothold but it would not last. The Excelsior stormed back, featuring Libero forcing Nus far away from his teammates with rockets. In the end, it was a Profit Rocket Barrage that got completely oliberated by Libero’s opposing Rocket Barrage, which he directed up right into the face of Profit. Easily, the Excelsior capped the first point.

The teams moved onto City Center next. During the first engagement, both Mercy’s fell pretty quickly. New York came out on top, and Libero helped secure the hold by slotting a Riptire right into London’s backline. However, the Spitfire had four ultimates available going into the next fight. They ended up not even needing to use them thanks to a Profit Riptire that pushed New York hastily back.

London was able to hang onto the point until 99 percent, when New York rushed in for their final push. Finally Gesture unleashed an Earthshatter that he had been hanging onto for nearly the entire map, but it ended up not mattering. New York got the picks they needed to flip the point. Since they also had 99 percent on the control meter, the map immediately went into overtime. Having been cleaned from the objective at the conclusion of the last engagement, the Spitfire had no one to send in to contest and the Excelsior celebrated as overtime burned away.

Map Score: Excelsior 2, Spitfire 0

Final Match Score: Excelsior 3, Spitfire 2

Player of the Match: Jjonak, New York Excelsior