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What Happened to the London Spitfire in the Overwatch League?

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The London Spitfire won the inaugural season of the Overwatch League with a 3-0 victory over Philadelphia Fusion in 2018. However, the organization has failed to defend its title and later even qualify for Season 3 playoffs.

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There are many reasons for the team’s inconsistent performances and the global pandemic in 2020 derailed Spitfire’s goals for the year. In this article, we take a look at London Spitfire’s journey in the Overwatch League so far. 

The Inaugural OWL Champions

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The Overwatch League Season 1 was one of the biggest esports events of the year. The introduction of a franchise-based Home and Away system was a unique concept in esports. With massive buy-ins and big-name sports brands entering the esports scene, Overwatch League was supposed to revolutionize the industry. 

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The Overwatch League Grand Finals, Barclays Center, Brooklyn. Image Credit: Blizzard.

To an extent, the Overwatch League accomplished many of the goals it set out to accomplish. But the first year was not OWL in its entirety. The season took place in Los Angeles at a single venue giving teams time to prepare for the Home and Away System that was to be implemented from Season 3 onwards. 

London Spitfire signed GC Busan, a team that was making waves in the thriving Korean Overwatch scene. The Overwatch APEX Season 4 winners and undeniably one of the best teams in Korea, GC Busan came as a favorite to the Overwatch League. 

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When most of the other franchises were stitching together rosters comprising individual player signings, London Spitfire was one of the few complete rosters in Season 1. The players had been together for a long time and the synergy and coordination were key components of the Spitfire playstyle. As such Spitfire came into Season 1 as one of the favorites alongside Seoul Dynasty. But not many remember the arduous journey that Profit and co. had to endure through the regular season. 

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The GC Busan team started dropping off towards the latter part of Overwatch League Season 1. Profit and Birdring were still two of the best DPS players in the season. Image Credit: Blizzard.

London Spitfire had a strong start to the Overwatch League and reached the title stage matches in the first two stages. The team won the Stage 1 title match after a thrilling reverse sweep over New York Excelsior. Spitfire couldn’t replicate the same performance in Stage 2 although reaching the title matches is an achievement in itself. 

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London Spitfire’s 2019 run was full of inconsistent performances. Image Credit: Robert Paul for Blizzard. 

The team had a drop-off in Stage 3 and its performance went further down in Stage 4. Spitfire finished sixth in Stage 3 with a 5-5 score placing the team in the middle of the leaderboard. Stage 4 was worse for London Spitfire fans as the team’s inconsistency exposed the vulnerabilities in their playstyle. London Spitfire finished in the bottom four of the stage but just enough to qualify for the Season 1 playoffs. 

Despite the team’s inconsistencies, the Birdring and Profit were slowly emerging as the best DPS players in the league. With Gesture as one of the best tank players, London Spitfire had all the resources necessary for a championship push.

The quarter-final and semi-finals took place at the Blizzard Arena in Los Angeles from July 11-21, 2018. London Spitfire defeated the two Los Angeles franchises to set a Grand Finals match against Philadelphia Fusion. The team had a lot of momentum on its side and cruised through the grand finals losing just one map in the process. London Spitfire was your inaugural Overwatch League Champions capping an inspirational story for the former Overwatch APEX Season 4 Championship roster. 

A Winning Formula Turns into Disappointment

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London Spitfire won Overwatch League Season 1 over Philadelphia Fusion. Image Credit: Blizzard Entertainment.

Why change a winning formula? Overwatch fans were not surprised when London Spitfire announced no changes to its OWL roster for the 2019 season. The team was the defending OWL champion and it made sense to continue with the defending roster.

Expectations were high due to the Season 1 victory. But fans seemed to have forgotten the turbulent latter stages of OWL Season 1 for the Cloud9-owned franchise. 

London Spitfire’s Season 2 run can only be described as average. The team did not have the spark from Season 1 and failed to reach the playoffs except in Stage 2. Often finishing in the bottom half of the table, London Spitfire’s performance was a jolt to the high fan expectations. The side finished the regular season in seventh place.

But London has had inconsistent group stages in the past. Season 1 had shown how the players can pick up their performance and put up results when it matters the most. So fans were still hopeful of a great run through the playoffs and possibly a repeat of the inaugural season.

It was not to be. London Spitfire qualified for the playoffs after a close 4-3 victory over Shanghai Dragons in the play-in stage. But the team bowed out early in the playoffs losing to New York Excelsior (1-3) and San Francisco Shock(0-3).

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A Complete Roster Overhaul for Season 3

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London Spitfire hit the reset button for Season 3 undergoing a complete overhaul of its roster. The organization still maintained a full-Korean lineup, but the team had new faces with many promising youngsters being given a chance on the Overwatch League team. 

Birdring joined the Los Angeles Gladiators while Profit is now a part of Seoul Dynasty. Replacing the DPS duo were two Overwatch contenders players and some other relatively unknown players. The focus of the 2020 London Spitfire roster was developing young talent and hopefully finding the diamond in the coalmine. 

Krillin was the only member from the 2019 Spitfire roster to continue in Season 3. London Spitfire’s performance in Season 3, unfortunately, was nowhere near the organization’s expectations. 

The London Spitfire roster has players with immense potential. Most of them showed glimpses of brilliance in contenders and lower-tier teams before joining the Spitfire. The onus was on the coaches and management to bring out the best from the players. 

Spitfire finished Season 3 in the 17th place and at the bottom of the Asian division standings. The team could not pose a challenge to most of its opponents and it was a disappointing end for Spitfire fans.

London Spitfire -Turbulence and Inconsistency

Despite London Spitfire’s victory in the inaugural season, the team has been plagued by inconsistent results. Season 1 saw a determined push by the roster in the playoffs, but the regular season exposed the team’s inconsistencies. 

Season 2 saw Spitfire’s unchanged roster come in with high expectations, but continue with its inconsistency. While they qualified for the playoffs, this time around, there was no sudden improvement in form and no grand finals appearance. 

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London Spitfire will see significant changes in 2021. Image Credit: London Spitfire’s twitter.

The 2020 season was always going to be a tough time for London Spitfire. The team’s performance was reliant on regular scrims and consistent improvements. However, COVID-19 played spoilsport and the team spiraled into a series of poor results.

In most other games, dominant teams in the early years have created a lasting legacy for the brand. NiP was largely uncontested in CS:GO and remains one of the biggest esports brands due to the success of its original Swedish roster. Similarly in Dota 2, Na’Vi’s early success and Dendi’s iconic brand catapulted the team to reach new heights in 5v5 MOBA. London Spitfire has carved a large fan following, but the lack of consistent results and a stable roster has impacted the team’s potential. 

The Overwatch League’s Home and Away format has a heavy focus on building a loyal fanbase. The organization has to maintain a steady balance between results and roster stability, something that London Spitfire seems to be struggling with. 

What’s Next For London Spitfire?

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London Spitfire will see significant changes for the next season. One of the biggest problems for London Spitfire stems from the Overwatch League’s global ambitions. Spitfire is one of the two Europe-based teams with Paris Eternal being the other. With COVID-19 changing the esports landscape, the Overwatch League has pivoted to an online format. The move to online, while necessary presented problems for all teams but specifically for London Spitfire. The team relocated some of its players from New Jersey to South Korea. In the interview with Monte Cristo, the Cloud9 CEO revealed that some players and staff got sick and had to be hospitalized. 

Jack Etienne blames the pandemic for the team’s poor performance. With health and travel issues complicating matters for the Spitfire team, the rookie roster did not have sufficient practice. There were rumors circulating of Cloud9 potentially selling its OWL roster, but the organization’s actions have instead reaffirmed its commitment to the Overwatch League.

In June 2020, Guinevere Capital got logistical control over London Spitfire as reported by Kevin Hitt on Esportsobserver. The Spitfire has taken different approaches to its OWL journey, first with an established GC Busan team and later with a team of rookies for Season 3. 

The Overwatch League season will continue online in 2021 and it will be interesting to see London Spitfire’s approach to the new season. 

Stay tuned to Unikrn for the latest esports news and updates. Put your esports knowledge to the test and take advantage of our Bet and Get offer today!

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