Shanghai Dragons are the new Overwatch League champions. The zero-to-hero story arc from last year, has finally come true and the Dragons have completed a full cycle in the original Overwatch from a record setting worst team to record setting best team the a span of three seasons.
The Overwatch League has had a tumultuous 2021 Season. The proceedings up to this point have included so a new format go into use, major changes to which teams dominated, and a loss of sponsors that jeopardized the entire future of the League. Despite all the changes though, it has been one of the most intense seasons for Overwatch League gameplay. The meta of the game has been pushed as far as it can go. Going into the Overwatch League 2021 Grand Finals, the teams have displayed level of skill in the game which were previously unmatched.
We witnessed some amazing games for the season finale, and gave Overwatch a proper send off as a competitive title.
Eight teams began the finals bracket, and only one ended up where we predicted in our OWL Pick’em. In a lot of ways, the Overwatch League has been pretty unpredictable over the last season. Going into the season, Shock were back-to-back champions. However, this time around it has been other teams to dominate. Shanghai has had the best season, but Dallas performance has also been particularly impressive.
They’ve also become the two teams to make it into the winner’s final. Starting off the finals, Shanghai took Shock 3-0, cementing the new status for the season. They followed this with a 3-1 win over Gladiators who had just beaten out Philadelphia Fusion. Their run-up until then was relatively smooth, and it showed why they’re such a top team right now.
Elsewhere in the bracket, Dallas went against Washington and won 3-1 along with Chengdu beating Atlanta Reign 3-2. This first-round of matches didn’t really deliver anything too close, and Dallas easily beat Chengdu at 3-0 too. The winner’s bracket culminated in a showdown between Shanghai and Dallas for entry into the Overwatch League 2021 Grand Finals. Shanghai won 3-1, in a match that wasn’t as tight as someone might expect from a final.
At this stage, it was almost a given that Fuel and Dragons will meet again in the finals, as almost every analyst predicted.
The Overwatch League 2021 Grand Finals runs in a double-elimination bracket. So while Shock might have faced Shanghai in their first game, they’ve had the chance to claw their way back up. In this bracket, Shock has taken out Philadelphia Fusion and Chengdu Hunters at 3-1. Their next match was up against Atlanta Reign, with the winner facing Dallas for a place in the final.
This is where a mini redemption arc began. Reign eliminated both Shock and Fuel and made their way to the Grand Final whilst dropping only 2 maps. They would ultimately fall against the Dragons in a fairly clean series, but it was enough to completely throw our bracket out of whack.
Those looking at Overwatch Betting can rejoice that our outright pick went through as expected. Yet, our pick’em bracket scored only 20 points, and we won only a quarter of our bets at the OWL Finals. In total our bank roll remained the same after the fact, and will have to up our game to turn a profit next season.
However, one player turned the bracket into his own personal playground. User Dhulky was five points away from a perfect bracket managing to rack up 38 points in total and absolutely nailing every single match in Playoffs. Check out his bracket below:
Dhulky’s almost perfect bracket
One might say all picks seem reasonable, but putting Reign over Fuel in the Elimination Final is almost blasphemy, especially when putting the entire season into context. Kudos to you Dhulky, and give us a call if you want to help us make our OWL Predictions next season.
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