Overwatch League Playoffs: Philadelphia upsets New York to lead series 1-0

After knocking off the Boston Uprising, the Philadelphia Fusion are in the Overwatch League semifinals and face off against New York Excelsior.

The second week of Overwatch League playoffs marked the start of action for the top ranked team in the league: New York Excelsior. With a stacked roster backed by Overwatch League MVP Jjonak, the Excelsior is not only a heavy favorite in this match but to win the entire league.

The Fusion entered the postseason playoffs seeded last, and yet they find themselves past the first round of matches. While their moments of struggle were recoverable against the Boston Uprising, the Excelsior would be much less forgiving.

The Philadelphia Fusion and New York Excelsior will continue their series on Saturday, July 21 starting at 6:00 pm PST.

Map One: El Dorado

Philadelphia started off with a statement on attack, with Carpe on Widowmaker sniping Ark on Mercy right out the spawn room. That one elimination was enough to push the payload past the archway chokepoint. Progress continued after Eqo sniped Ark on Hanzo, and easily the payload reached the first checkpoint. Thanks to Sado’s Reinhardt, the Fusion cruised toward the second checkpoint just as quickly, but were stopped just short after Saebyeolbe dropped a Pulse Bomb onto Neptuno’s Mercy. This stall, however, only prolonged the inevitable forward progress of the Fusion to point two.

Saebyeolbe found himself much more success defending on the last portion of the map, causing Carpe to switch from Widowmaker onto Brigitte. Catching onto this change, Saebyeolbe switched to Brigitte himself. Suddenly, it felt like the Fusion was throwing themselves against a brick wall of a defense. Pine on Widowmaker nabbed some deadly headshots during overtime, and that sealed the deal for Philadelphia’s initially promising attack run.

New York’s attack run started off strong right away, with Pine executing a huge flank around the entire Fusion team. Catching Philadelphia unaware, Pine and the team was able to nab several kills. The Fusion were able to recover admirably considering the situation, but were forced to give up the first point after Pine came blazing back through with a Dragonblade. After rolling through the second checkpoint with little resistance, a fierce fight broke out just before the goal line. The non-stop brawl lasted so long that New York’s went from having plenty of time to no time left. Struggling to send enough people back to the payload in time, the Excelsior ran back to make a desperate, last-ditch push. But with the Fusion fully taking advantage of spawn point proximity, Philadelphia outlasted them and earned a well-fought map victory.

Map Score: Fusion 3, Excelsior 2

Match Score: Fusion 1, Excelsior 0

Map Two: Oasis

Libero came in for Saebyeolbe and Janus came in for Mano going into this map. Starting on Gardens, Eqo found himself uncontested in the skies on Pharah. Unfortunately for him, New York took control first, with Philadelphia unable to wrest control until New York went up 50 percent. From there, the Fusion steady grew control up to 99 percent before New York retook the point, shutting down Eqo’s Rocket Barrage expertly and only losing Pine in the process. Philadelphia clutched out the point in the end to take the map lead.

On City Center, the Fusion took control first. But a damage-boosted Libero on Pharah helped the Excelsior make a dent in Fusion’s hold on the point, flipping it with Philadelphia up 64 percent. The Fusion’s next push was a lengthy one and it was one that they lost, which gave the Excelsior the lead in control percentage. From there, New York just had to win one more fight to even up the map score.

Philadelphia has traditionally found success on the University point of this map, running a three-tank composition, and with a first pick onto Jjonak they were able to take control first. Eventually, New York was able to recover with a well-timed Self-Destruct from Meko which caught Eqo and Neptuno in an awkward position, followed by a Pulse Bomb onto Sado’s Orisa. A three-kill Self-Destruct from Hotba nearly handed Philadelphia the instant win, but New York managed to yank it back in overtime. Their grasp of the point was too thin, however, and eventually the Fusion retook it to widen their lead in the first match of the semifinals.

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Map Score: Fusion 2, Excelsior 1

Match Score: Fusion 2, Excelsior 0

Map Three: Eichenwalde

Poko came into the roster for Fusion, while the Excelsior switched out a bevy of players with the most notable being Saebyeolbe for Pine. On attack, Philadelphia charged straight through the archway, up and around to approach to the point from behind. Right away, the Fusion bumped many members of the Excelsior off the point and gained tons of control on the objective. Both teams started throwing ultimates into the fight, but Philadelphia ended up cleaning it up with a Graviton Surge.

The Fusion were able to push the payload to the bridge before getting officially shoved off the objective, with the Excelsior refusing to give ground easily. Just as the clock fell into overtime, the Fusion found themselves knocking down the door of the castle. From there, a Dragonblade from Eqo helped clear the way for Philadelphia to quickly make their way to the end of the map. While it wasn’t a smooth run, the Fusion managed to earn themselves a complete run.

With Philadelphia in sight of a 1-0 series lead, New York took their turn on attack. In a surprising move, Jjonak came out of spawn on Ana instead of his usual Zenyatta. Without his usual damage output, the Excelsior’s first and second push was dealt with fairly easily. Finally, New York found their footing with just over a minute left on the clock thanks to two opening kills from Meko on D.Va.

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After a healthy fight right at the gate into the second portion of the map, New York found themselves fighting against both Philadelphia and the clock as they tried to reach the second checkpoint in time. Just when the Excelsior seemed like they had point B, the Fusion swept back in with all of their ultimates and that was enough to fight off the Excelsior for good. Overtime burned away, leaving Philadelphia the victor.

Map Score: Fusion 3, Excelsior 1

Final Match Score: Fusion 3, Excelsior 0