Overwatch League is an E-Sports league where teams compete in Blizzard’s video game, Overwatch. It is heading into its 3rd annual season, starting on February 8th. 

The game itself consists of two teams of six players battling for control of an objective on the map. The main objectives are either a capture point and a payload that must be pushed. There are two players for each role: tank, damage, and support. Each role can choose between a different set of heroes to play as, each with unique abilities and designs. The game relies heavily on strategizing who the optimal heroes to play are during a match, strong teamwork, and mechanical skills (ex: reaction time) for each player.

Currently, there are four game modes that are competitively played: Assault, Escort, Control, and Hybrid. In Assault, there is an attacking and defending team for one capture point, and if the first point is captured by the attacking team then there is a second one. In Escort, there is a payload that the attacking team must escort to the end of the map, and a defending team trying to stop it. In Control, there is a single capture point that both teams battle over control for. Finally, in Hybrid, there is an attacking team trying to capture an objective that is defended by the opposing team, and if it is captured the attacking team must escort the payload to the end of the map, with the defending team trying to stop them.

Each Overwatch League is played on each of the four map types, and in the event of a tie there is a fifth tiebreaker Control map. Halfway through the season, there is a tournament between the top four teams, and at the end of the season, there is a playoff bracket and season finals.

There are currently 20 Overwatch League teams: Atlanta Reign, Boston Uprising, Chengdu Hunters, Dallas Fuel, Florida Mayhem, Guangzhou Charge, Hangzhou Spark, Houston Outlaws, London Spitfire, Los Angeles Gladiators, Los Angeles Valiant, New York Excelsior, Paris Eternal, Philadelphia Fusion (my favorite team!), San Francisco Shock, Seoul Dynasty, Shanghai Dragons, Toronto Defiant, Vancouver Titans, and Washington Justice. In the previous two seasons, all the games were hosted in a stadium in Los Angeles, however, moving into next season there will be home and away games in the teams’ respective cities.

In the next blog, we will talk more about each individual team, and then cover the weekly season highlights once it starts on the 8th.