Another season of the Overwatch League has officially come to its conclusion. OWL 2020's Grand Finals ran from October 8 through October 10, with the finals just having wrapped up on Saturday. A familiar champion has reclaimed the OWL trophy, but this season was by no means an easy win. OWL 2020's champion is the San Francisco Shock, making it the team's second consecutive victory in Overwatch's top competitive league.
The San Francisco Shock had decent results coming out of the OWL 2020 regular season. The San Francisco Shock went 18-3 in the regular season, finishing second in the North America division's standings behind the Philadelphia Fusion. But it was in the playoffs where San Francisco found its true consistency, never losing a complete series all the way through the grand finals. As a result of their victory in the OWL 2020 Grand Finals, the San Francisco Shock are taking up a prize of $2,850,000. That's a massive increase in comparison to the 2019 prize of $1,500,000.
But to say the playoffs were easy for San Francisco would be grossly untrue. Despite never losing a series, San Francisco was tested near every match. In the North American bracket of the championship, San Francisco went 3-2 against the 12th-ranked Washington Justice and lost games to both the Atlanta Reign and the Philadelphia Fusion. Even in the grand finals bracket, San Francisco went 3-2 against the Seoul Dynasty, 3-2 against the Shanghai Dragons, and then lost two more matches against the Seoul Dynasty in the finals.
The San Francisco Shock have been the league's biggest threat throughout the entire 2020. Not only did they win the OWL 2019 Grand Finals, but they also won two of the three North American midseason tournaments for the 2020 Overwatch League season. That's despite the 2020 season being shifted to online-only as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Even looking toward 2021, the San Francisco Shock remains the league's most dominant team and its biggest threat.
The current team roster for the San Francisco Shock includes Striker, Rascal, ta1yo, ANS, super, smurf, ChoiHyoBin, Moth, Viol2t, and Twilight. But it was the team comp of Striker and Ans on DPS, Moth and Viol2t on support, and ChoiHyoBin and super/smurf on tanks that carried the team to its victory. ANS, ChoiHyoBin, Moth, Super, and Viol2t each made this year's All-Star team. The team's two head coaches remain Brad and Crusty.
No announcements have yet been made regarding the Overwatch League's 2021 season. Past seasons have each started in February of that year, so there's plenty of time for Blizzard to make use of the offseason. It seems likely that the next season will once again be online due to the ongoing pandemic. One other notable detail is that OWL 2021 could be the last season played in Overwatch before Overwatch 2 launches. Expect to hear more about Blizzard's plans in the months to come.
Overwatch is available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.