Blizzard Entertainment

LONDON SPITFIRE

Joined Overwatch League: August 2017

Division: Atlantic

Academy Team: British Hurricane

2018 RECAP

Heading into the 2018 Overwatch League season, the Spitfire were one of the preseason favorites to win the championship. Bolstered by the strength, flexibility, and experience of its roster, London got off to a strong start in Stage 1 with a 7-3 record and a victory in the first-ever Stage Finals against New York. Their success spilled over to Stage 2, as the team posted an 8-2 record before losing in the Stage Playoffs to Philadelphia. Their form dipped during Stages 3 and 4, as the Spitfire posted a combined 9-11 record, but London managed to qualify for the season playoffs as the fifth seed on the strength of their first-half excellence. In the first match of the quarterfinals, the Spitfire were rolled 3-0 by the Los Angeles Gladiators, but then they flipped the script to win the best-of-three series. London dominated the rest of the way, easily dispatching the LA Valiant in the semifinals before sweeping the Fusion in the Grand Finals to become the league’s first champions.

2018 TEAM STATS AND LEAGUE RANKINGS

ROSTER ANALYSIS

Find out what the casting team thinks about the Spitfire’s lineup.

More: 2019 roster

KEYS TO SUCCESS

Overwatch League analyst Josh “Sideshow” Wilkinson offers his thoughts on what London needs to focus on this season:

 

• Perhaps it’s an unfair expectation, but the obvious metric of success for London would be a repeat of their performance in the inaugural season. They’ve already been through the fire and flames, overcoming conflict and defeat to see themselves lift the trophy; identifying what the difference was in the playoffs and recreating that magic is the key to repeating their success.
• New head coach Kwang-Bok “Coach815” Kim should provide a huge amount of experience. With 11 years spent coaching across different esports titles, he can help the team implement a winning strategy for the season while continuing to live and work well together. It’s always harder for champions to stay on top, and Coach815 will have a challenge integrating his system in with London’s existing one, but he’ll have a chance to prove he’s the man for the job.
• The Spitfire are expected to beat everybody except the most elite competition, so for them, the Atlantic Division’s peaks make it—in theory—a harder path than the Pacific. The Spitfire will twice face their fellow inaugural season finalists, the Philadelphia Fusion, and the consistently best team of 2018, the New York Excelsior. In a potentially pivotal stretch during Stage 3, they play NYXL twice, then the Los Angeles Valiant and San Francisco Shock back to back. Preparation and energy conservation for those decisive games could make all the difference.

Catch the London Spitfire in action in their season opener against the Philadelphia Fusion on Thursday, February 14, at 4 p.m. PST. All 2019 season matches will be available live and on demand on overwatchleague.com, the Overwatch League app, our Twitch channel, MLG.com, and the MLG app.