By Blizzard Entertainment
Love the drama of Stage Finals Sunday? Wish you could get even more quality Overwatch League action? So do we. That’s why, starting in Stage 3, we’re making a few changes to offer up even more incredible competitive moments.
The top four teams will now qualify for the Stage Playoffs, expanded from three teams. This will give more teams a chance to compete for the bonus prize money and bragging rights. The four teams will compete in a bracket, adding one additional match to the Stage Finals Sunday schedule.
Here’s the fun part: while the top-seeded team at the end of each stage no longer has a bye into the title match, they’ll now have the benefit of selecting their first-round opponent. They could choose to match up against any of the lower seeds, and they will play their chosen opponent first on Stage Finals Sunday. This choice will be announced once the four participating teams are confirmed and the No. 1 seed is locked in—which may not happen until the very last day of the stage!
The tiebreakers will remain the same for Stage Finals qualification:
- Stage-only map differential.
- Stage-only head-to-head result.
- If two teams are tied in record and map differential without having played one another during the stage in question, qualification/seeding will be decided by a single tiebreaker match, with format and scheduling details to be determined.
Stage Finals prizing also will remain the same: the winner takes home $100,000 USD, and the runner-up receives $25,000 USD.