London Spitfire Claims Epic Opening Series Against Philadelphia Fusion in Overwatch League Grand Final

London Spitfire drew first blood in the Overwatch League grand finals with a 3-1 win over Philadelphia Fusion.

More than 10,000 fans packed into the Barclays Center in New York to watch the culmination of the Overwatch League’s inaugural season, and they were treated to an epic first series between London and Philadelphia.

The opening map was Dorado, which induced a degree of déjà vu for the last time Philadelphia played it, against New York Excelsior in the semi-finals. The Fusion opened up with a strong offensive push, but London were able to delay them in stage three such that when they finally secured the last point they had no time left in the bank.

London Spitfire’s own offense was a dominant push for the majority of the map, cruising to the third stage with five minutes remaining. Here, however, the Philadelphia Fusion put up an unbreakable defensive wall, repelling the Spitfire time and time again and ultimately holding all the way to a map win.

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Philadelphia’s lead was short-lived though, as London came back strong on Oasis. Some smart compositional choices gave Spitfire an edge, closing the map out in two points to tie the series up at 1-1.

Eichenwalde was another convincing showing for the London Spitfire, holding Philadelphia on the second stage to give themselves an easy target for their own offence. The Fusion held strong on point A for some time, but it wasn’t enough to deny London, who eventually force their way through to a 2-1 win.

The final map of the series was also the most intense, a Volskaya Industries on which both teams put up impressive defensive holds. In the end, it came down to a last-second push for the Spitfire on offence, with Park ‘Profit’ Joon-yeong coming up with five kills in the final fight to end the map and the series in London’s favor.

With that victory, London Spitfire is on match point, needing to win one more series to take the championship. Philadelphia Fusion, meanwhile, will need to win consecutive best-of-fives on Saturday July 28 in order to claim the trophy themselves.