Rebekah D. July 14, 2018
The Overwatch League’s inaugural MVP award has been given to Seong-Hyun “Jjonak” Bang of the New York Excelsior.
Jjonak was given the award in recognition of his fantastic skill from the support position, where he is most known for his exemplary play on Zenyatta.
Though first considered a healing hero, Zenyatta is also an attacking presence worthy of fear under Jjonak’s control. Using the hero to his full potential, Jjonak was able to apply approximately 6,950 points of damage every 10 seconds of play. That's 22 percent higher than the average Zenyatta in OWL. He also managed an average of 5.8 final blows per 10 minutes, 36 percent higher than the OWL average, while still managing to distribute heals amongst his teammates.
The MVP title was decided in part by viewers and fans, with voting opening in April. For more than two months, fans could vote by using the name or battletag of the player with the hashtag #OWLMVP on Twitter. The fan rankings were available to view on the Overwatch League website during the course of voting. These votes counted for 25% of the total score used to decide the award, with the remainder being decided by a selection of coaches, media entities, and broadcasters.
The votes were counted and the result was given at the outset of the playoffs on July 11, when Jjonak was presented with the title and a trophy to match. It was later revealed that Los Angeles Gladiators tank Baek "Fissure" Chan-Hyung finished voting in second place, with Philadelphia Fusion DPS Lee "Carpe" Jae-Hyeok in third.
All three teams that the top three players represent have made it into the playoffs and will now battle for a chance to become the first Overwatch League champions.