San Francisco Shock get top three on Day 5 of the OWL 2022 playoffs

On Day 5 of the Overwatch League 2022 season playoffs, the Dallas Fuel got their place in the Grand Finals while the San Francisco Shock stayed alive in the lower bracket. On top of that, the Hangzhou Spark clinched a top-four finish after beating the London Spitfire. However, in the end, the only teams remaining are the Dallas Fuel, Houston Outlaws and San Francisco Shock.

HITTING THE GROUND RUNNING 🏃‍♂️

The @SFShock move on in the lower bracket to take on the @Outlaws!#WINNABLE | #OWLGrandFinals pic.twitter.com/jBp5qG5qI5

— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) November 4, 2022

San Francisco and Hangzhou win to set up a duel

Starting with the first two lower bracket matches, the Seoul Dynasty were looking to bounce back after a tough loss to the Dallas Fuel. Their matchup against the San Francisco Shock was a tough one, and it showed as the series went on. After that loss to Dallas, Seoul wanted to shake things up, putting star player Park “Profit” Joon-yeong on Kiriko. For the first two maps, it clearly wasn’t working well, and the only map that was close was the third. That was due to their shift back to their standard composition, but even then, Colin “Coluge” Arai’s Winston helped the Shock sweep the Dynasty out of the tournament.

After such as good start to the tournament, the Seoul Dynasty are now out of the 2022 playoffs. A very successful season for them, with their first championship from the Kickoff Clash. Yet, they weren’t the only Eastern team left at the time. The Hangzhou Spark faced off against the London Spitfire in the other lower bracket match, with Zheng “shy” Yangjie and Xu “guxue” Qiulin staying in form. They helped neutralize whatever powers the Spitfire had, winning 3-1 and securing a top-four finish. They faced the Shock at the end of the day, with the winner getting a guaranteed top three finish.

As for the London Spitfire, they proved everyone wrong over this 2022 season and got a great finish in the playoffs to boot.

Dallas get over their Texas rivals when it matters most

Despite their track record of losing to Houston in 2022, the matchup between the two Texan teams in the upper bracket finals had the biggest stakes yet. The winner gets their spot in the Grand Finals, while the loser has to fight whoever makes it up through the lower bracket. The series was hyped up as a slugfest, and the first two maps were as close as could be. Both Choi “MER1T” Tae-min and Kim “Edison” Tae-hoon’s Sojourns traded picks every fight. Yet, as the series went on, Edison clearly had the upper hand alongside his Dallas Fuel. They kept the momentum up and won the series 3-1, securing their win over their rivals and a spot in the finals.

The Houston Outlaws remain alive, to face whoever won the Shock and Spark matchup in the lower bracket.

Hangzhou Spark’s miracle run ends in fourth place

After all the crazy wins it took to get here, the Hangzhou Spark finally met their match in the San Francisco Shock. With shy and guxue leading the way, almost no tank nor DPS could match up favourably against them. Not until the Alarm Rookie of the Year Kim “Proper” Dong-hyun, who kept up and helped keep the Spark in check throughout the series. It wasn’t as easy win, but a 3-1 victory knocked the Spark out and moved the Shock from Day 5 to the final day of the 2022 playoffs.

This ends Hangzhou Spark’s 2022 season. As the underdog run of the playoffs, this performance shows that performing in the season playoffs can make a mediocre season into a successful one.

Shoutout to the @Spitfire, @SeoulDynasty, and @Hangzhou_Spark for an incredible season and #OWLGrandFinals run!

Thank you for your hard work and all the memorable plays! See you next year🧡 pic.twitter.com/KD5HyTGLas

— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) November 4, 2022

That’s all for Day 5 of the Overwatch League 2022 season playoffs. Make sure to tune in to  the final day, Day 6, to see who makes it to the Grand Finals and faces off against the Dallas Fuel for the 2022 championship title.