In just under two months, the Overwatch League will be back. The fourth season of OWL, all online again, will return on April 16, the league announced Saturday afternoon. Familiar tournaments with new rules will return, and a $4.25 million prize pool is on the line.
Each of the 20 teams — eight teams competing in Asia and 12 in Europe and North America — will play 16 regular-season matches and four mid-season tournaments.
West teams: Atlanta Reign, Boston Uprising, Dallas Fuel, Florida Mayhem, Houston Outlaws, London Spitfire, Los Angeles Gladiators, Paris Eternal, San Francisco Shock, Vancouver Titans, Toronto Defiant, and Washington Justice.
East teams: Chengdu Hunters, Guangzhou Charge, Hangzhou Spark, Los Angeles Valiant, New York Excelsior, Philadelphia Fusion, Shanghai Dragons, and Seoul Dynasty.
The Dallas Fuel, competing out of the Envy Gaming office at Victory Plaza in downtown Dallas, begin their season on April 16 at 2 p.m. CT against their rival, the Houston Outlaws. The Fuel have two regular season meetings with the Outlaws, along with a pair of matches against the defending champion San Francisco Shock.
OWL took a similar route as the Call of Duty League for the season calendar, bringing back the in-season tournaments that excited followers and motivated teams. It also introduced a new point system. Each win during the season will be worth one league point, with the in-season tournaments providing more opportunities for league points.
The four tournaments, the May Melee, June Joust, Summer Showdown and Countdown Cup, will each be preceded by three weeks of qualifier matches to decide seeding.
To ensure teams get proper rest, OWL instituted a bye week for each team during the three-week period, so squads will play two matches per week in the two weeks they compete. Hero pools will also return with the same format as 2020. Two damage, one tank and one healer will be banned for two of the four tournament cycles. No hero can be banned twice.
However, unlike in 2020, all 20 teams will compete in the tournaments. The East and West will be divided into two brackets to start, but the two winners from each bracket will meet for a chance at more league points.
The two teams that emerge from the West will travel to Hawaii, health and safety permitting. From there those two teams will compete against the East teams in Asia with a Hawaii to Asia connection. If the one-tournament format doesn’t have a solid connection, the league will return to two regional tournaments.
Tournaments will have individual purses as well. Here’s the cash rollout for the four brackets:
1st place: $100,000
2nd place: $70,000
3rd place: $35,000
4th place: $20,000
Tournament winners will get three league points, with second and third place getting two points and one point respectively.
These points matter, as they will decide seeding for the OWL playoffs, in which the champion will earn the $1.5 million prize.
Here’s a look at the full Fuel schedule (All times in CT):
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Find more Fuel coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
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February 21, 2021 at 04:02AM
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Dallas Fuel to play Houston in Overwatch League season opener as league releases schedule, tournaments - The Dallas Morning News
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