2019 London Spitfire season

From 1 August to 9 September 2018, all Overwatch League teams that competed in the 2018 season could choose to extend their team's players' contracts. London was the only team to re-sign all of their players; during this time, the team also signed their new head coach, Kim "Coach815" Kwang-bok.[1]

All non-expansion teams could not enter the free agency period until 8 October; they were able to sign members from their respective academy team and make trades until then. On 15 October, Spitfire transferred Wonsik "Closer" Jung to Dallas Fuel.[2] A day later, London made their first free agency acquisition, signing former Element Mystic and DPS player Hee "Guard" Lee-dong.[3] The next day, Spitfire signed Jeong "Krillin" Yung-hoon, a relatively unknown player who had most recently played in the Overwatch Open Division.[4]

London opened their season on 14 February against the Philadelphia Fusion – a rematch of the 2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals. Contrasted to Spitfire's landslide victory from the 2018 Finals, London was dominated on the second map Hollywood and fourth map Rialto. Although the Spitfire took the third map Volskaya Industries, team went on to lose the match by a score of 1–3.[5]

The next week, the Spitfire first took on the Washington Justice. London dropped the first two maps to go down 0–2 going into halftime, but with London's flex tank Jun-ho "Fury" Kim on D.Va putting on a solid performance after halftime, the Spitfire won three consecutive maps to complete a reverse sweep and defeat the Justice 2–3.[6] Three days later, the team faced the Hangzhou Spark. The team took out Ji Hyeok "birdring" Kim from the starting lineup, placed Park "Profit" Jun-yeong on Zarya, and moved Lee "Guard" Hee-dong onto Brigitte for the match; London played their best match of the season, as they took the first three maps and dropped the final map to win the match 3–1.[7]

London's only match of week three was against the Los Angeles Gladiators on 1 March. The Spitfire led 1–0 going into halftime, as they won map one and tied map two. Following halftime, the Gladiators took map three to tie the match 1–1. On map four, London placed Guard onto his signature hero Sombra; with effective play from Guard, the team ultimately took the map to win the match 2–1.[8] The Spitfire also only had one match in week four, as the team took on the Shanghai Dragons on 10 March. After four maps, the series was tied 2–2, sending the match to a fifth tiebreaker map. Map five was on Ilios; London was unable to secure the win, as the team lost by a 2–3 scoreline.[9]

In their last match of the stage, the Spitfire took on the Seoul Dynasty on 16 March, with both teams needing a win to keep their Stage 1 Playoff hopes alive. London dropped the first two maps to fall to a quick 0–2 deficit going into halftime. The Spitfire were only able to tie on the third map Temple of Anubis, ending any hopes of a victory. Dropping the fourth map as well, London lost the match 0–3 to finish the stage with a 3–4 record.[10]

London began Stage 2 with a match against the Florida Mayhem on 5 April. After splitting the two maps, the teams tied the third map keep the series tied at 1–1. The Spitfire were able to full-hold the Mayhem on the fourth map Watchpoint: Gibraltar, leading to a 2–1 match victory.[11]

In their only match the following week, the Spitfire took on the Fusion in a rematch of their first match of the season. London managed to take the first map Lijiang Tower; on map two Hanamura, both team completed the map to go into overtime rounds. After full-holding the Fusion, the Spitfire had a five-minute time-bank to capture one tick of progress, but Philadelphia ultimately full-held London to tie the map. The Fusion took map three to tie the series, but London stopped Philadelphia from completing map four Rialto and completed the map themselves to claim a 2–1 victory.[12] The also only had one match the next week against the Boston Uprising on 20 April. With Kim "birdring" Ji-hyeok returning in the lineup and a strong performance from Park "Profit" Joon-yeong, London defeated Boston in convincing fashion, sweeping them 4–0.[13]

Following the win, the Spitfire signed support player Song "Quatermain" Ji-hoon, who had previously played for Cloud9 Kongdoo.[14]

London traveled to the Allen Event Center in Allen, Texas for the Dallas Fuel Homestand Weekend in week four. The team first took on the Paris Eternal on 20 April. After an hour-long power outage delayed the match, London swept the Eternal 4–0, improving their undefeated stage record to 5–0.[15] The Spitfire's second match of the weekend was against the Chengdu Hunters a day later. Throughout the match, London looked lost as Chengdu ran their signature off-meta compositions; the Spitfire were handed their first loss of Stage 2, losing the match by a 1–3 scoreline.[16]

London finished the Stage 2 regular season with a match against the Houston Outlaws on 4 May. The Spitfire overwhelmed the Outlaws throughout the match, full-holding the Outlaws on three of the four maps en route to a 4–0 sweep. The win gave them a 6–1 Stage 2 record and a second-seeded Stage 2 Playoff berth.[17]

London faced the seventh-seeded Hangzhou Spark in the Stage 2 Quarterfinals on 9 May. The Spitfire started the match well, claiming the first map Oasis after initially being down in the map. However, London would not claim a single point in any map going forward, losing on Blizzard World, Hanamura and Watchpoint: Gibraltar to ultimately lose the match 1–3.[18]

London began Stage 3 with a match against the Boston Uprising on 7 June. The match saw the debut of Quatermain, who the team had signed in Stage 2; the Spitfire went on to sweep Boston 4–0 for the second time this season.[19] Two days later, the Spitfire faced the New York Excelsior. Dominated by New York's Sombra composition throughout the match, London failed to win a single map, getting swept 0–4 for the first time in the 2019 season.[20] The following week, London took down the Toronto Defiant by a 3–1 score.[21]

The Spitfire's first match of week three was against the Excelsior, who they had just lost to two weeks prior. After dropping map one to New York, London grabbed map two to tie the series 1–1 going into halftime. The Excelsior took map three, but again, the Spitfire took the next map to force the match into a fifth tiebreaker map. New York's Sombra composition proved to be too much for London, as the Spitfire fell in Ilios and lost the match 2–3.[22] A day later, the team took on the Washington Justice. London lost the first map; on map two Paris, the Spitfire full-held Washington's attack in overtime rounds, but the Justice did the same to tie the map. Down 0–1 in the match, London turned it around in the second half, claiming both maps three and four take a 2–1 victory over Washington.[23]

Following the win, the Spitfire parted ways with head coach Kwang-bok "Coach815" Kim on 24 July, leaving the team without a head coach.[24]

London's final two matches of the stage were in week four. First, the team took on the Los Angeles Valiant on 28 June. The Spitfire, who had failed to prove that they could effectively counter Sombra compositions, again fell to a team that utilized Sombra, as London was swept 0–4 in the match.[25] In their final match of Stage 3, London faced the Stage 2 Champions San Francisco Shock two days later. The Spitfire benched DPS Profit for Guard in the match, but it proved to be ineffective, as London was swept 0–4 for the second time in two days.[26] The loss ended the Spitfire's stage with a disappointing 3–4 record.

The London Spitfire walking to the stage for their first match of Stage 4.

The Spitfire's first match of Stage 4, along with the first match with an enforced 2-2-2 role lock by the League, was against the Dallas Fuel on 26 July. London's tank line and DPS outplayed that of Dallas', as the team went on to a convincing 3–1 win.[27] Two days later, London took on the Toronto Defiant. After dropping map one, London rolled through Toronto with strong showings from Park "Profit" Joon-yeong and Hong "Gesture" Jae-hee, as they took the match 3–1.[28]

In their first match of week two, London faced the Guangzhou Charge on 1 August. London took a 2–0 lead heading into halftime with map wins on Lijiang Tower and Hanamura and, subsequently, took map three Blizzard World. Despite losing the final map Havana, London won the series 3–1 to maintain their perfect Stage 4 record.[29] The Spitfire's next match was against the Florida Mayhem two days later. Despite being heavy favorites to win the match, strong performances by Florida's Lee "BQB" Sang-bum on Mei and Ha "Sayaplayer" Jeong-woo on Widowmaker proved to be too much for London to handle, as the team fell 0–3.[30]

The team took on the Vancouver Titans on 8 August for their first match of week three. While the Spitfire took map one Busan, the Titans came right back with their own win on map two Temple of Anubis to tie up the series. Coming out of halftime, London dominated map three Hollywood, as the team full-held Vancouver with solid showings from Park "Profit" Joon-yeong on Mei and Kim "Fury" Jun-ho on Roadhog and went up in the series 2–1. However, the Titans bounced back on map four Route 66 to push the match into a fifth tiebreaker map; London was edged out on Ilios and lost the match 2–3.[31] Two days later, London faced the Houston Outlaws. London dominated on the first map Lijiang Tower and narrowly won the second map Volskaya Industries. Up 2–0 coming from halftime, London took map three King's Row to ultimately win the match 3–1.[31]

London's final regular season match was against the Atlanta Reign on 18 August. London fell on the first map Busan, as Atlanta got far more value out of their ultimates and did not allow London to claim a single point. For map two Hanamura, the Spitfire were unable to hold the Reign from completing both points and could not claim a point on their own attack, as they fell 0–2 going into halftime. Map three Blizzard World played out similarly to Hanamura, as Atlanta was able to complete the map and London could not cap the first point; with the match already lost, the Spitfire were able to claim two points on the fourth map Havana but still dropped that map as well, getting swept 0–4 in the match.[32]

Finishing in seventh place in the regular season standings, the Spitfire qualified for the Play-In Tournament for the chance to qualify for the season playoffs. The team had a first-round bye in the tournament and faced the Shanghai Dragons on 31 August. The Spitfire looked dominant in the first two maps, completely shutting down the Dragons, to jump to an early 2–0 lead. However, the Dragon's DPS duo Yang "DDing" Jin-hyeok on Pharah and Jin "YoungJIN" Yong-jin on Doomfist came alive thereafter, helping Shanghai to claim the third map, Hanamura; with a tie on map six, King's Row, the team eventually tie the series 3–3 after seven maps. London sent the match to Ilios for the final map of the series. Both teams managed to take a point in the map, but London's coordination won out in the end, as they won 4–3 loss in an Overwatch League record 8-map series to qualify for the season playoffs.[33]

With the win in the Play-In Tournament, the Spitfire qualified as the seventh seed in the season playoffs. London began their playoff run with a match against the second-seeded New York Excelsior on 6 September. New York took the first map, Busan, to take a quick 1–0 lead in the series. For the second map, London selected Numbani. Both teams were able to complete the map on their respective attacks, but New York came out on top in overtime rounds to take a two-map lead. After a match break, the Spitfire selected Temple of Anubis for map three; again, both teams were able to complete the map on their first attacks. While London was able to take the first point on their second attack, New York's but up a solid defensive performance and prevented the Spitfire from completing the map a second time, leading to a third map win for the Excelsior. For map four, the match went to Watchpoint: Gibraltar. London took a win on the map to close the gap to 3–1. However, New York won in two rounds on Ilios to win the match. The 1–4 loss sent the Spitfire to the lower bracket.[34]

For the first round of the lower bracket, London took on the third-seeded San Francisco Shock the following day. Despite London DPS Park "Profit" Joon-yeong putting on a stellar performance on Pharah throughout the match, the Shock were able to overcome everything London threw at them. Shock DPS Kwon "Striker" Nam-joo and main support Grant "Moth" Espe performed extremely well throughout the match to help the Shock rebound from their previous match, as the handed London a 0–4 sweep, ending their playoff run.[35]

Transactions of/for players on the roster during the 2019 regular season:

• On 26 April, Spitfire signed Song "Quatermain" Ji-hoon.[14]