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Overwatch League Adding Fourth Team to Stage Finals

The individual Stage Finals for the Overwatch League will now host the top four teams, but there will still be an incentive to get that top seed.

Ozzie Mejia

April 2, 2018 11:50 AM

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The last time a stage concluded in the Overwatch League, Blizzard took swift action to help make the next stage better than before. Shortly after this, Overwatch League Commissioner Nate Nanzer indicated that the League was open to further changes. On Monday, further changes were announced.

While Stage 2 ended with a thrilling New York Excelsior victory, there was some criticism regarding a fresh New York team facing off against a Philadelphia Fusion team that had just completed a grueling series with the London Spitfire just minutes prior. Blizzard has responded to this feedback by opening the Stage playoffs up to four teams going forward.

The Stage Finals will continue to take place on Sunday. However, now there will be a four-team bracket, ensuring that both finalists play the same number of games. There is still an incentive to earn that #1 seed, however. The #1 seed will get to select their opponent for the first round. They can choose the #4 seed for what would theoretically be an easier game, record-wise. But if the #4 team is riding a hot streak, the way the Philadelphia Fusion was in Stage 2, then the #1 seed can avoid them by picking one of the other two teams to face in the first round.

These changes will be implemented for Stage 3, which is set to begin this Wednesday, April 4. The Stage 3 Title Matches will take place on Sunday, May 6.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?