Overwatch League Stage 1 Results: Vancouver Titans Take The Lead

After five weeks of intense competition, Stage 1 of the Overwatch League is finally done with the Vancouver Titans taking home the championship and $200,000 in a big win over the San Francisco Shock.

The Vancouver team is composed of Sangbeom "Bumper" Park, Dong-Eun "Hooreg" Lee, Chunghee "Stitch" Lee, Juseok "Twilight" Lee, MinSoo "SeoMinSoo" Seo, Hyojong "Haksal" Kim, Seong "SLIME" jun Kim, Jun Keun "RAPEL" Kim, and HyunWoo "JJANU" Choi.

The Titans started strong, finishing with seven matches won and zero losses to tie first place with the New York Excelsior after the initial stage. In this part of the competition, teams played under patch 1.32 with matches being played in a four-map format. The top eight teams moved to the Playoffs.

Here the Titans played first against Boston Uprising, beating then on Ilios 2-0, King's Row 2-1, and Temple of Anubis 2-1 to take the match. Bumper was declared the MVP thanks to his stand-out performance. The Titans then played against Seoul Dynasty to win the match. Here, SeoMinSoo was named as MVP.

The finals featured the Titans going head-to-head with the San Francisco Shock. In the initial state, the Shock had finished six, tying with the Dynasty at four wins and three losses.

With Matthew "Super" Delisi on his Reinhardt, the Shock claimed victory in Game 1. However, the Titans would choose Numbani and take Game 2. The next game was on Temple of Anubis, and while the Titans were rather weak with this map, the group initially managed to hold off the Shock. Clutch plays from Hyobin "Choi" Choihyobin's D.Va would give the Shock the win.

For Game 4, the Titans picked Dorado, an escort map. An excellent play from Kim’s Brigette gave the Titans the win. Game 5 would be on Ilios, where the Titans had a strong showing throughout the tournament. The Shock took the first match, with the Titans taking the second. The Titans initially had the advantage, but the Shock managed to turn the table. This forced a Game 6 on King's Row. Considered by many as a difficult map, the Titans had a good history with this map and it showed by the team taking the win.

Deciding the game was the Rialto map. As expected from a last game, both teams went for comfort picks and did not go for unconventional hero builds. The game ended in overtime, with the Titans taking the final win. The Finals MVP was Haksal.

Aside from the clearly excellent showing of Overwatch League play, fans and players alike are seeing this as a farewell to the GOATS meta. Popularized by team Goats, this refers to a team composed of three Tanks and three supports.

The Overwatch League Stage One finals was also significant in that the games were broadcast on ABC. This is considered by many as the esports' entry to mainstream TV. Viewers, particularly basketball fans, were not happy as they were expecting to watch March Madness.

Stage 2 of the Overwatch League is scheduled to begin April 4.