2018 London Spitfire season

The 2018 London Spitfire season was the first season of the London Spitfire's existence in the Overwatch League. The team finished with a regular season record of 24–16, which was the fifth best in the Overwatch League.

2018 London Spitfire season
Overwatch League champions
Spitfire after winning the 2018 Grand Finals
Head coachLee Beom-joon (rel. 7 Mar)
OwnerJack Etienne
DivisionPacific
Results
Record24–16 (.600)
Place
Stage 1 PlayoffsChampions
Stage 2 PlayoffsSemifinals
Stage 3 PlayoffsDid not qualify
Stage 4 PlayoffsDid not qualify
Season PlayoffsChampions
Total Earnings$1,200,000

London qualified for the Stage 1 and Stage 2 Playoffs. In the stage 1 playoffs, London defeated the Houston Outlaws in the semifinals and New York Excelsior in the finals. The team lost in the Stage 2 semifinals to the Philadelphia Fusion. The team also qualified for the Season Playoffs, in which they won in the Grand Finals against the Philadelphia Fusion.

Preceding offseason

Cloud9 was awarded the London slot for an OWL franchise on 10 August 2017 and was later named the London Spitfire.[1][2] Shortly afterwards, they disclosed their 12-player inaugural season roster, the maximum permitted, which would be entirely composed of the following South Korean players:[3]

  • Kim "birdring" Ji-hyeok
  • Park "Profit" Joon-yeong
  • Kim "Rascal" Dong-jun
  • Lee "Hooreg" Dong-eun
  • Hong "Gesture" Jae-hui
  • Baek "Fissure" Chan-hyung
  • Choi "Bdosin" Seung-tae
  • Kim "NUS" Jong-seok
  • Jung "Closer" Won-sik
  • Jo "HaGoPeun" Hyeon-woo
  • Kim "Fury" Jun-ho
  • Seong "WooHyaL" Seung-hyun

The roster would mainly be an amalgamation of their current Cloud9 KONGDOO core and OGN's Overwatch APEX Season 4 champions GC Busan.[4]

Review
The Spitfire won the 2018 Grand Finals.

Regular season

On 11 January, the Spitfire played their first regular season Overwatch League match in a 3–1 victory over the Florida Mayhem.[5][6] They would end Stage 1 of the 2018 Season with a 7–3 record, earning them the third and final spot in the Stage 1 Playoffs. The team then became the first-ever stage playoffs champions, after achieving victories over the Houston Outlaws (3–1) and the New York Excelsior (3–2) in a reverse sweep.[7]

On 7 March 2018, midway through Stage 2, the Spitfire parted ways with head coach Lee "Bishop" Beom-joon for undisclosed reasons.[8] The team finished Stage 2 with an improved 8–2 record and attained another stage playoffs berth. However, they fell short to the Philadelphia Fusion in a thrilling 2–3 semi-finals series.[9]

However, after stage 2, the Spitfire failed to make another stage playoffs, going 5–5 in stage 3 and 4–6 in stage 4. They had to bank on their earlier results to edge them over the finish line. They would end the season with a 24–16 record, good for 5th place and a spot in the postseason where they would face the Los Angeles Gladiators.

Playoffs

London lost their first postseason matchup against the Gladiators on 11 July by a score of 0–3 in the quarterfinals. The Spitfire turned it around the next two games against the Gladiators, winning in 3–0 sweeps in matches two and three and advancing the team to the semifinals.[10] London won both games against the Los Angeles Valiant in the semifinals, winning 3–0 in match one and 3–1 in match two.[11] London claimed the 2018 Overwatch League championship after defeating the Philadelphia Fusion on 27 and 28 July by scores of 3–1 and 3–0, respectively.[12][13]

Final roster
2018 London Spitfire roster
PlayersCoaches
RoleNo.HandleNameNationality
Damage 13 Profit  Park Jun-yeung  South Korea 
Damage 20 birdring  Kim Ji-hyeok  South Korea 
Tank 7 Gesture  Hong Jae-hee  South Korea 
Support 4 Closer  Jung Won-sik  South Korea 
Support 8 NUS  Kim Jong-seok  South Korea 
Support 22 Bdosin  Choi Seung-tae  South Korea 
Flex 19 Fury  Kim Jun-ho  South Korea 
Head coach
  • Vacant
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (2W) Two-way player
  • (I) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injury/Illness

Latest roster transaction: 18 June 2018.

Transactions

Transactions of/for players on the roster during the 2018 regular season:

  • On 20 February, Spitfire transferred Baek "Fissure" Chan-hyung to Los Angeles Gladiators.[14]
  • On 21 February, Spitfire released Kim "Rascal" Dong-jun.[15]
  • On 8 March, Spitfire signed Hwang "TiZi" Jang-hyeon.[16]
  • On 18 June, Spitfire released Jo "HaGoPeun" Hyeon-woo, Hwang "TiZi" Jang-hyeon, Seong "WooHyaL" Seung-hyun, and Lee "Hooreg" Dong-eun.[17]

Standings

Record by stage
StagePldWLPctMWMLMTMDPos
11073.70029140+153
21082.80031110+202
31055.50024211+36
41046.40018232-59
Overall402416.600102693+335
  Qualified for playoffs

League
2018 Overwatch League standings
# Team Division W L PCT P MR MD STK
Division leaders
1 New York Excelsior ATL 34 6 .850 40 126–43–4 +83 W1
2 Los Angeles Valiant PAC 27 13 .675 40 100–64–7 +36 L1
Wild cards
3 Boston Uprising ATL 26 14 .650 40 99–71–3 +28 W4
4 Los Angeles Gladiators PAC 25 15 .625 40 96–72–3 +24 W5
5[lower-alpha 1] London Spitfire ATL 24 16 .600 40 102–69–3 +33 L1
6[lower-alpha 1] Philadelphia Fusion ATL 24 16 .600 40 93–80–2 +13 W1
Did not qualify for playoffs
7[lower-alpha 2] Houston Outlaws ATL 22 18 .550 40 94–77–2 +17 L1
8[lower-alpha 2] Seoul Dynasty PAC 22 18 .550 40 91–78–3 +13 L1
9 San Francisco Shock PAC 17 23 .425 40 77–84–5 -7 W1
10 Dallas Fuel PAC 12 28 .300 40 58–100–7 -42 W1
11 Florida Mayhem ATL 7 33 .175 40 42–120–5 -78 L3
12 Shanghai Dragons PAC 0 40 .000 40 21–141–2 -120 L40
Tiebreakers

  1. London placed ahead of Philadelphia based on map differential.

  2. Houston placed ahead of Seoul based on map differential.

Game log

Preseason
2018 preseason game log
Preseason (1–1)

Regular season
2018 game log (Regular season record: 24–16)
Stage 1 (7–3)
Stage 2 (8–2)
Stage 3 (5–5)
Stage 4 (4–6)

Playoffs
2018 playoff game log
Stage 1 Playoffs (2–0)
Stage 2 Playoffs (0–1)
Season Playoffs (6–1)

References
  1. Handrahan, Matthew (10 August 2017). "Overwatch League adds first UK franchise". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  2. Carpenter, Nicole (1 November 2017). "Cloud9's Overwatch League team is the London Spitfire". Dot Esports. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  3. Carpenter, Nicole (4 November 2017). "London Spitfire reveals its 12-man South Korean roster". Dot Esports. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  4. Nguyen, Steven (21 October 2017). "GC Busan completes Royal Road at APEX". ESPN. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  5. Craffey, Liam (15 January 2018). "Fusion, Spitfire, Excelsior snag wins on Day 2 of Overwatch League". ESPN. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  6. "London Spitfire vs. Florida Mayhem". Overwatch League. 11 January 2018. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  7. Waltzer, Noah (11 February 2018). "London Spitfire beats Houston, New York to win Overwatch League Stage 1 playoffs". ESPN. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  8. Woodward, Ben (7 March 2018). "London Spitfire Parts Ways With Bishop". Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  9. Craffey, Liam (26 March 2018). "Stage 2 semifinal". ESPN. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
  10. "Spitfire shuts down LA Gladiators, advances to OWL semis". ESPN. 14 July 2018. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  11. Lingle, Samuel (20 July 2018). "London Spitfire sweep Los Angeles Valiant, will play in OWL finals". Dot Esports. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  12. Waltzer, Noah (28 July 2018). "London Spitfire wins inaugural Overwatch League title". ESPN. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  13. Bright, Ryan (28 July 2018). "London Spitfire duo master Philadelphia Fusion to claim first Overwatch League title". NBC Sports. Retrieved 18 March 2019.
  14. Woodward, Ben (20 February 2018). "London Spitfire Transfer Fissure to LA Gladiators". London Spitfire.
  15. Woodward, Ben (21 February 2018). "Rascal moves on to the Dallas Fuel". London Spitfire.
  16. Ring, Oliver (8 March 2018). "Welcome T1zi!". London Spitfire.
  17. Nomis, John (18 June 2018). "London Spitfire Release Quartet". London Spitfire.
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