Published , by Ozzie Mejia
Published , by Ozzie Mejia
This has been the most challenging season to date for the Overwatch League. Nobody expected the COVID-19 pandemic to affect esports in the way that it has. But after months of competition, mostly from a safe online space, it all comes down to this weekend. It's time for the Overwatch League Grand Finals. The top four teams in the world are ready to do battle to determine the third Overwatch League champions. All of the action will unfold from a special virtual arena and Shacknews is here with everything you need to know.
The Overwatch League 2020 Grand Finals prize pool sits at $3.05 million. Here's how the prize money is set to be distributed:
The winning team will also receive specialized apparel, which includes a jacket, a hoodie, shirt, hat, Hershel backpack, and custom sneakers designed by Alexander John. All of this will be delivered in a custom Rimowa suitcase.
The Overwatch League's playoffs have come down to four teams. The teams will battle it out starting early Thursday morning in a double-elimination format. The two remaining teams at the end of Friday will advance to face each other on Saturday. All matches are best-of-five with the exception of the actual Grand Finals match. That will be a best-of-seven format with the team coming out of the Winner's Bracket starting the set up 1-0.
Here are the brackets:
The Overwatch League Grand Finals weekend will begin with the Seoul Dynasty facing the San Francisco Shock on Thursday, October 8 at 6:30AM ET/3:30AM PT, followed by the Philadelphia Fusion taking on the Shanghai Dragons.
The two losing teams will kick off the action on Friday, October 9 at 4:30AM PT/1:30AM PT. That will be followed by the two winning teams from Thursday facing one another. The third place match will round out the day.
The Grand Finals match will begin Saturday, October 10 at 8:30AM PT/5:30AM PT.
The Overwatch League Grand Finals weekend can be seen in its entirety live on the Overwatch League YouTube channel. You can also watch directly from the Overwatch League website or the Overwatch League mobile app.
If you choose to watch the Overwatch League Grand Finals weekend on the Overwatch League website or the Overwatch League mobile app, you will be eligible to receive League Tokens. These can be used for exclusive Overwatch League cosmetics, which can be used in your copy of Overwatch. Remember that the special D.Va and Reinhardt All-Star skins are still available through the end of this weekend and can only be purchased with League Tokens. Viewers will earn five League Tokens for every hour.
On top of that, those who watch the championship match will also receive a Tracer mosaic spray after one hour and home/away OWL Tracer skins after two hours.
In order to receive these drops, you must log in with your Battle.net account on the Overwatch League website or the Overwatch League app. Here's more information on how to earn League Tokens.
Blizzard will regularly update the Overwatch League YouTube channel with full matches that can be viewed on demand.