Overwatch League Stage 2: London Spitfire clinches another win over New York Excelsior in nailbiter

It’s a rematch of the Stage 1 championship game.

The London Spitfire walked away from the first five weeks of the Overwatch League like kings. Not only were they near the top of the standings, but they had also upset the top-seeded New York Excelsior during the Stage 1 playoffs to earn themselves a nice $100,000 bonus.

But the Spitfire’s Stage 2 opener did not go smoothly. Thursday night, they lost to the Houston Outlaws. It was the second time the Outlaws were able to outplay the Spitfire, and despite it being a very close match, it once again exposed some of the weaknesses of London’s team.

Despite this fly in the Stage 2 ointment, no one should ever sleep on London. Time and again they have shown they can play to the level of their opponent. With their opponent being the formidable New York Excelsior, all signs pointed to a ferocious Friday night rematch.

Map One: Volskaya Industries

On defense first, Pine played his signature Widowmaker while Saebyeolbe went Tracer. To counter, birdring played his own Widow while Profit went Tracer. With Jjonak falling early on the side of New York, London was able to take a quick first tick. Then birdring helped build that control further with two masterful headshots, one being on Pine. In short order, the Spitfire had completed point A and moved onto point B.

To defend point B, Pine made a switch to Genji, while on the side of London, birdring changed to Reaper. Very quickly, Pine was able to build up to his Dragonblade during the first engagement. He saved it for the start of the next fight, getting two kills on HaGoPeun and birdring, stopping London once again. Feeling ineffective, birdring switched again to McCree.

With around two minutes on the clock, London made a successful push starting with Mano taking out Jjonak with a Primal Rage. A Transcendence helped them sustain on the objective, and birdring went to work on the members of New York attempting to contest. WooHyaL also did his part by throwing in a two-kill Self Destruct. With 1:29 on the board, point B was capped.

Switching sides, London played HaGoPeun on Sombra and birdring on Soldier 76. New York kept their same composition from before. The first engagement lasted until HaGoPeun got his EMP, after which Saebyeolbe and Pine were immediately wiped from the map, destroying New York’s attack. This pattern would continue, with London tanks camping by hacked health packs to help farm HaGoPeun’s EMP time and time again. This lack of both healing and alternate abilities hampered New York to a place they could not come back from. With just seconds remaining on the clock, Saebyeolbe made one last desperate attempt to contest the objective but was sniped immediately. With ease, the Spitfire completed their full hold of Volskaya.

Map Score: Spitfire 2, Excelsior 0

Match Score: Spitfire 1, Excelsior 0

Map Two: Lijiang Tower

Starting on Gardens, London took control first with Profit holding down the fort as Reaper, decimating the New York crew. On the Excelsior’s next push, they ran right into birdring’s Attack Visor that also cut through the ranks even despite a desperate Transcendence from Jjonak. Then, once again, Profit became the star as New York ran into his Death Blossom. With the Spitfire all the way up to 99 percent control, the Excelsior finally found a way to flip the point.

With just one rejected attack, New York collapsed as soon as birdring came back with an Attack Visor. Libero on Genji attempted to use Dragonblade to counter, but was knocked down by a Helix Rocket. London once again made themselves comfortable on the point, which immediately triggered overtime as they were already up at 99 percent.

But just as it looked like the Spitfire would take it, Saebyeolbe pulled off an incredible hero play on Tracer, taking out three players on the Spitfire. Suddenly, New York was back in control, with percentage ticking up dangerously. London’s attempt to take back the point was halted well short, a highlight being Jjonak getting a sleep dart onto Profit’s Tracer, dropping him as he tried to contest the point. New York managed to hold on through a furious overtime fight to cap the first point.

On Night Market, New York took the point first and held thanks to continued brilliant play by Saebyeolbe. London’s next push went right into Libero’s Dragonblade, but a Bdosin Transcendence easily kept everyone on the Spitfire alive and well. Meanwhile, as the fighting took place off the point, Profit on Tracer snuck onto the point. He was able to nearly flip the point completely on his own before Mano finally made his way back to the point to contest. As London took out New York’s supports, the Spitfire easily flipped the point.

After building up to 51 percent, New York flipped the point. After multiple control switches, it was Saebyeolbe once again getting the eliminations to stabilize the point for his team. This time the Excelsior were able to hang on to finish the point and tie up the series.

Map Score: Spitfire 0, Excelsior 2

Match Score: Spitfire 1, Excelsior 1

Map Three: King’s Row

Back on defense, New York put Saebyeolbe on Widowmaker while Libero played Junkrat. Once London spied the New York defense on the high ground behind the Orisa shield, they switched to a tank-heavy composition with HaGoPeun on Moira to provide the healing. Fearlessly, the Spitfire jumped onto the high ground themselves, immediately dislodging the Excelsior from their positioning. From there it was only a matter of time before London wore New York down and took the first point.

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However, the Excelsior quickly made composition adjustments which allowed them to push the Spitfire back from the objective as it reached the halfway point to the second checkpoint. With time ticking away and nearly nothing in terms of ultimates, London made one final push. It started wonderfully, with two quick kills on Mano and Libero. Closer on Lucio made a crucial boop onto an ulting Janus that kept the Winston away from his teammates. But just as it seemed that London had the second point in the bag, with just a couple New York stragglers to deal with, the Spitfire moved too far away from the payload, a mistake they have made before. That caused overtime to run out and before the second checkpoint could be reached, London’s attack ended.

So the Spitfire found themselves abruptly on defense, with birdring on Widowmaker and Profit on Junkrat. New York attacked with a dive composition, but their first attempt was easily fended off. To extend their defensive hold, birdring grappled up to the central statue, getting several impressive headshots. But in the end, it was a beautiful Libero Dragonblade that opened the point up for New York.

As the payload got underway, Libero switched onto Pharah, a smart pick as London had no one on the team to deal with him. He pushed very far forward, badgering London and getting one-off picks to hinder the Spitfire from making a concerted defensive push. The payload very quickly reached the goal line, where London tried to make one more stand. But Libero clinched the win for his team with a well-placed Rocket Barrage.

Map Score: Spitfire 1, Excelsior 2

Match Score: Spitfire 1, Excelsior 2

Map Four: Watchpoint: Gibraltar

New York subbed Pine back in so that he could play Widowmaker. Meanwhile, birdring played the opposing Widow and immediately nearly took Pine off the map. Right away, London jumped onto the payload and started to move it. As the payload moved into the tunnel, Profit jumped into the server room along with Gesture, taking out many New York players in the process.

With the payload right in front of the hangar doors, New York came back to contest. Pine took out birdring, but Profit found a huge Pulse Bomb which was supported by Gesture and HaGoPeun both picking up kills of their own. Before New York could really react, the payload was already at the second checkpoint.

London was momentarily stopped after birdring got eliminated by Jjonak after flubbing a grappling hook. But eventually the Spitfire found their way forward, largely thanks to birdring finding a headshot onto Jjonak over the top of the buildings around the final point. With London’s tanks holding strong on the payload, New York didn’t really get a chance to contest before the map was completed.

Switching sides, Pine attempted to get the same pick onto London as birdring did onto him earlier. It took him a bit longer, but he did find success. Aggressively, New York pushed the payload without stopping all the way to the first checkpoint. Just before the second checkpoint, London came back with a furious contest but over and over again the Spitfire were stopped by Janus and Saebyeoble. It was London’s longest defensive stall of the map, but they would end up giving up the second checkpoint.

Soon after the payload crossed the line into the last section of the map, London stabilized over the objective, getting a staggering kill onto Jjonak for good measure. New York’s next attack saw Saebyeolbe and Janus jumping very far forward in an attempt to stuff London before they could even leave their spawn point. It worked for a time, but enough members of the Excelsior were pushed back for them to back away.

New York came roaring back with Pine back on Widowmaker, who got a full headshot onto birdring and then dealt enough damage on other members of London to allow Saebyeolbe easy pickings. But even as Pine made these picks, the respawns of London allowed their tanks to stay alive long enough to outlast the members of New York. With one final Self Destruct, London cleared their surroundings of anyone in blue and took a series-tying win.

Map Score: Spitfire 3, Excelsior 2

Match Score: Spitfire 2, Excelsior 2

Map Five: Ilios

Starting on Ruins, it was the Widowmaker duel once again between Pine and birdring. London smartly put HaGoPeun on Sombra to hack the health packs around the point and deny New York that crucial healing. The Spitfire would use that to take the point first, and birdring would add the flair with a headshot onto Pine.

New York came back with a brilliant take down of HaGoPeun by Mano on Lucio, supported by Jjonak. But even with this negation of the EMP, the Excelsior struggled to completely clear the point of London until the Spitfire were well into the 70s in control percentage. The Excelsior were only able to hold up to 46 percent before the Spitfire retook control and this time would not relinquish it.

From there, the teams moved to Lighthouse. Pine played Genji while birdring played Soldier 76. Saebyeolbe on Tracer zipped into the backline to take out HaGoPeun, which caused London to retreat and concede the point to New York. With 65 percent on the board for New York, London got the kills to flip the point.

But the Excelsior came in with multiple ultimates on hand, including Pine’s deadly Dragonblade. And deadly it was. After forcing out London’s Transcendence, Pine got to work, cutting down first Fury and then HaGoPeun. Even after getting downed by birdring, Pine had done enough damage to give New York the point once again.

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But at 99 percent, New York once again was pressured out of the point by London largely thanks to Profit’s Tracer, who kept the drive alive despite being outnumbered four to one. With London at their own 99 percent, Janus leapt to the point with Primal Rage in an attempt to contest. He was able to stall long enough for many members of New York to get back to the point, but London had enough in the tank to take care of whatever the Excelsior had to throw at them. New York’s health and weapons fell away to give London another win in their rivalry.

Map Score: Spitfire 2, Excelsior 0

Final Match Score: Spitfire 3, Excelsior 2

Player of the Match: birdring, London Spitfire