As surreal as it might seem the 2019 Overwatch League playoffs are finally upon us. With the play-ins complete and the new metagame beginning to shine, our top eight teams are laser-focused on one thing: their flights to Philadelphia for the grand finals later this month. Without further ado, here is a brief glimpse into each of the teams’ quarterfinal matches, but stay tuned at the end for my complete playoff predictions — you might be shocked to see who takes home the 2019 title.

Vancouver Titans vs Seoul Dynasty

Vancouver Titans’ keys to victory:

Plan for the Mei

Safety first with Reaper

Sigma

Pound for pound, I think the Titans have a better lineup. Whether or not they’re comfortable in this metagame remains to be seen, but rest assured they can cover that possible weakness with their stellar coordination and decision making. If the GOATS metagame refined our understanding of cooldown usage and team play than this metagame is going to refine decision making — something the Titans always have in their back pockets.

Throughout the season there have been numerous occasions where the Titans are against the ropes and are down in fights, but with proper positioning, a keen understanding of their limits, and — most importantly — impeccable decision making, they’ve been able to turn lost fights around.

When it comes to piloting the proper heroes, I don’t see any areas of deficiency. My only question is around Sigma and who will be running it. We’ve seen teams lean into having their main tank on Sigma, possibly due to their better control over space. While other teams have had their flex tank try their hand at the hero. I think in an ideal world if your main tank is proficient at Sigma they’re going to be the best candidate due to how important his shield management is to taking and giving space in team fights. With that in mind, I’d like to see Bumper’s approach to the hero. Again, it’s difficult to tell who is going to run the hero for the Titans, as JJANU probably would be a fantastic fit as well. Either or, they’ve got the newest and arguably most important hero in good hands.

It’s been a long time, but Haksal has piloted the Doomfist in the past, JJANU has shown to best fairly flexible, and Stitch is a solid hitscan specialist. The players and their hero pools don’t seem to be an issue, at least not at first glance. My only concern is when Titans are stumped on how to approach a situation or get in their own heads, that famous coordination starts to dip down. As cliche as it sounds, they need to stay confident and just take things as they come. However, I don’t think the Titans can overlook the Dynasty.

Seoul Dynasty’s keys to victory:

Lean into their flexibility

Win first Assault

Set strategies on Hybrid

I think this is going to be tough for the Dynasty, but taking a quarterfinal win here is not impossible. With their willingness to use the Mei on King’s Row and how prepared they looked all series long — among other things — Seoul looked confident and comfortable in their victory over the play-in favorite, the Guangzhou Charge.

On Control, they were prepared for Nero’s Pharah. On Horizon they were prepared for whatever Happy wanted to play. Seoul, at every stage of the game, were ready for anything the Charge wanted to do. Couple that with Marve1’s outstanding Sigma and Seoul’s frankly underrated DPS line and it’s no wonder they came out victorious.

Assault has never been a strong suit for Seoul and that is what makes it so important in this matchup. If Seoul can come out and take map two away from the Titans this already instills some confidence that they might be able to topple the Titans.

Fleta coming into his role within the team is a great fit not only for the team but his hero pool. However, the big stand out here has really been Fits. Not only is he versatile but his Doomfist has been quite good. Both Fleta and Fits are going to be pivotal if Seoul wants to advance into the semifinals.

Seoul needs to lean on the flexibility of its DPS line of Fits and Fleta to force Vancouver on the backfoot with slightly unorthodox compositions. When we’ve seen the Titans crumble, it’s been when they’re faced with a new look and have to adapt on the fly. And from what we’ve seen in the play-ins, that certainly can happen.

Prediction

Much like we’ve seen in the past, the Titans are going to quickly excel at this new metagame. Their coaching staff understands the importance of decision making, especially on the Reaper, and will act accordingly. I believe if there is going to be an upset, this match has the highest chance for that to happen. That said, Seoul is a strong team and they’re going to have a long losers’ bracket run, but I don’t see them taking this first encounter.

Vancouver Titans take the win in a competitive 4–2.

Hangzhou Spark vs Los Angeles Gladiators

Hangzhou Spark’s keys to victory:

Position GodsB to succeed

Doomfist?

Tank line hail mary

Hangzhou Spark does well when GodsB can find some success and there are a few ways they can utilize his wide hero pool to find success in this match. Throughout his career, he’s been a very flexible player. During the APEX era he was more of a true flex, playing both Soldier 76 and certain projectile heroes. Whereas in Overwatch Contenders, he moved into a heavy hitscan presence where he really found his footing with Widowmaker. If they can craft something like what Shanghai showed on Busan for Diem, they might have a way in.

With the weeks they’ve had to prepare the Spark needs to have a big Doomfist presence in this match. The pick doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere and they need to put someone like Adora or even SASIN on it if they are going to have a chance. That said, SASIN could break out his Pharah as a comfort pick, but someone is going to have to assist him on the Doomfist.

All in all, the Spark are going to need something big if they’re going to move forward — and that could come from the tank line. I expect to see more Revenge possibly on the Moira, but Guxue and Ria both have been the lifeblood of this team since the GOATS metagame took hold. If they manage an upset here, it’s going to be off their Sigma play.

Los Angeles Gladiators’ keys to victory:

Surefour to the rescue

Void’s aggression

Hydration on Doomfist

Surefour during the last metagame had a great understanding of when he could abuse a flank as Reaper. He’d constantly be flanking on defensive holds on Control or quickly teleport behind enemy lines once certain resources were used. I expect him to be a big factor in this game pairing up with their Sigma to pressure off-angles and be a constant thorn in the side of the Spark.

While I think it’s intuitive to have your main tank on Sigma due to how comfortable they are with space control, that doesn’t mean that certain players can’t excel at the hero — and I think Void fits that bill pretty well. He’s always been fairly aggressive with his D.Va and I expect the Gladiators to field him much the same way HOTBA was positioned with the Guangzhou Charge. He’s going to be a constant source of damage from slight flanks.

We’ve seen Hydration return on select Control maps, but with his Pharah and Doomfist being very integral to the metagame, I expect him to be within the starting six a majority of the time, if not trade more time with Decay. While I think both players are very talented, allowing Hydration to return to some of his comfort picks are going to be a large boon for the Gladiators if they want to advance to the semifinals.

Prediction

Being realistic I don’t see Spark being able to run anything coherent in this metagame. Both teams have struggled recently, but the Gladiators seem to, at the very least, be able to run the meta compositions.

I hate being this frank but, Gladiators win this 4–0 and it’s not close.

New York Excelsior vs London Spitfire

New York Excelsior’s keys to victory:

Abuse London’s tendency to brawl

Answer for Doomfist

Shift focus from JjoNak to Libero or Sigma

Stylistically the NYXL are like spiders. They slowly weave a web and wait for their prey to get caught within it. If the NYXL can goat London into playing aggressively into them they can abuse any form of misposition or overcommitment. This isn’t too far from how London manage to salvage their match against the Shanghai Dragons. While figuring out a gameplan, they relied on their mechanical strength to stem the tide until they found a solution. If New York can pull off something similar they will be able to strangle the Spitfire out and cause them to frantically swap to off-meta heroes.

Much like the Spark, I need to see either a strong presence on Doomfist or an intelligent answer to the hero. They’ve had time to prepare so it’s possible that the New York coaching staff has been able to craft or prepare a possible answer. Worst comes to worst and you’ve always got Libero who has been NYXL’s saving grace for a long time.

Historically JjoNak has been the focus for the team, but that has to change. The team needs to rally behind whoever is going to play Sigma to allow them the space to play off angles or invest in Libero so he can flex onto Pharah or Mei. If NYXL is going to play their more defensive style, Sigma is going to be a great fit for them due to how reactive he can be with Accretion and his Experimental Barrier.

London Spitfire’s keys to victory:

Focus on Profit

Avoid Hanamura

Stick to the plan

What’s impressive is the fact that even with Gesture moving to Sigma the team has not missed a beat when it comes to finding valuable on Fury’s Halts. Profit and Gesture are an incredible duo, but the Spitfire as a whole, coordinate so well with one another. Whether it’s the Gravitic Flux into Meteor Strike combo they showcased throughout the play-ins or their impeccable Halt combos, London works whether with the pieces they have. One of those pieces that London has at their disposal is arguably the best player in the world.

I’d also keep an eye out for Profit’s Pharah on maps that are going to allow it. If NYXL ever fields a roster where they don’t have a strong hitscan presence, London can pressure them into making some strangle hero swaps.

Profit is the backbone of the London Spitfire. When he is hot the team looks unstoppable, that’s why they need to put him into positions where he can succeed — and to be fair, that shouldn’t be that hard. With how mechanically gifted he is paired with his massive hero pool, Profit is going to be the multi-tool the Spitfire need if they want to defend their 2018 title.

One of the reasons London struggled in the latter half in their match with Shanghai was due to them seemingly not having a plan to deal with the Pharah. Starting on Gibraltar they began to make some pretty strange hero swaps until they landed on moving Profit to Pharah to help relieve some pressure for Birdring. London’s scramble did pay off, but they need to be better prepared for specific picks in the coming matches and having a solid game plan is only going to help that moving forward.

Prediction

At the end of the day, this match is going to be a battle of two styles with London being very loose and NYXL being the slow, methodical team they’re known to be. NYXL has been on a downswing as of late and I don’t think this patch is going to help matters. However, London can also just get in their own way sometimes. I think New York can take a few solid maps, but overall I’ve got to lean on London’s brute force here over NYXL’s patience and slow pace.

London win, 4–2.

San Fransisco Shock vs Atlanta Reign

San Francisco Shock’s keys to victory:

Sinatraa in the starting six

Nevix Sigma?

Stay the course

It’s hard to picture a world where Doomfist is this prevalent in the metagame and Sinatraa isn’t in the starting lineup. Even with his absence during Stage 4, the coaching staff still found time to fit his hero pool in and found some solid success with specifically his Doomfist. Sinatraa is an integral member of the team’s identity and he should be placed back on the starting lineup, no questions asked.

There is a world where Nevix returns to the stage and has a brilliant Sigma performance due to the amount of time he may have had to learn the hero. Or the more logical conclusion is that ChoiHyoBin or Super will be running the hero and the team can’t forfeit any of the synergies that have been built up throughout the season. My head says the later, but it would be nice to see Nevix finally back off the bench and as versatile as ever.

All throughout the 2019 season, the Shock have been contenders. Least we forget the fact that the Shock are only a few maps shy of winning both Stage 1 and Stage 3, completing a truly dominant season. That award would go great next to their golden stage during Stage 2. Coach Crusty and crew just keep doing whatever they’re doing behind the scenes because it’s working. If Shock stays the course and continues putting up strong and consistent performances — with multiple different rosters — they’re going to have a very nice end to 2019.

Atlanta Reign’s keys to victory:

Erster is the key

Set strategies

Pokpo’s comfort on Orisa

All throughout Stage 4 we’ve finally gotten to see why Erster was so talked about and hyped up. Not only is he mechanically gifted, but Erster is incredibly flexible and I expect, wholeheartedly that he’ll be running the Doomfist almost exclusively throughout the playoffs to a near world-class level. If Atlanta is going to upset Shock in the quarterfinals, it’s 100% going to be a teamwide effort, but you’ll be seeing a good amount of Erster in the kill feed.

NLaaeR has been surprisingly flexible and alongside Erster and Babybay, I expect them to cover all the necessary bases to perform well in this metagame. You also have to consider the fact that all season long, Atlanta has featured some unorthodox picks and compositions from time to time. I expect playoff Atlanta to double-down on that and approach this match with a fair amount of set plays tailored around how flexible not only their starting six are but their bench as well.

Historically Pokpo has been strong on Orisa, so this metagame should play into his wheelhouse very well. With Erster on the Doomfist, these two alone could cause some dents into the best teams, but together? I think this duo is only getting started. Keep an eye out for these two and their Halt into Rocket Punch combos to bust open sites and deny choke points.

Prediction

The Shock doesn’t seem to have flaws and if they do they’re very small. That could all change in the new metagame but with how quickly they’ve adapted in the past coupled with how talented their roster is, I don’t see many openings for the Reign to abuse.

I’ve got the Shock advancing here, 4–2.

Playoff Bracket

As mentioned previously, here are my predictions going forward. Now, remember, these are made only seeing play-ins, so my view might be skewed, but I’ve got the San Fransisco Shock taking home the Season 2 title. I don’t see Shock running into much trouble until the Winner’s Finals unless Atlanta or Seoul upsets. As for a dark horse, I do think that Seoul has an outside chance to make a really deep run through the losers’ bracket and either play spoiler or outright head to Philadelphia for finals.

Joseph “Volamel” Franco has followed esports since the MLGs of 2006. He started out primarily following Starcraft 2, Halo 3, and Super Smash Bros. Melee. He has transitioned from viewer to journalist and writes freelance primarily about Overwatch and League of Legends. If you would like to follow his thoughts, you can follow him at @Volamel.

Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment.