Flying Ace Winston skin honors OWL Season 1 champion London Spitfire

Overwatch League team London Spitfire have been permanently honored by Overwatch developer Blizzard in-game with the release of the Flying Ace championship skin. 

The skin is one of two current skins used to honor the best of Season 1 of the Overwatch League. The other belongs to Sung-hyeon “JjoNak” Bang, the Season 1 MVP. JjoNak’s skin transforms Zenyatta into a figure reminiscent of an octopus or squid. The Spitfire’s Winston skin adds jet propellers to the character’s jetpack and a goofy mustache, all in the Spitfire’s trademark light blue and orange colors. 

The choice to give the Spitfire’s skin to Winston is based on two reasons. On the one hand, Winston fits the theme of an attacking Spitfire plane better than any other hero. On the other hand, Winston is one of the signature heroes of team captain Jae-Hui “Gesture” Hong. While the Spitfire have prolific players on other heroes as well, perhaps most specifically Tracer, Winston simply makes the most sense for this squad. 

The Spitfire had a great run during the Season 1 playoffs that culminated in a dominating victory over the Philadelphia Fusion. It wasn’t an easy path for the Spitfire, who had to fight their way from the fifth seed all the way to the championship title.

As the second season of the Overwatch League draws to a close with the conclusion of Stage 4, the Spitfire find themselves in a similar position. The team is currently sixth in the overall standings, just barely in the safe zone for a playoff spot. 

Could the team pull off another unbelievable run? It’s not outside of the realm of possibility, but the competition will be much steeper. The San Francisco Shock and the Vancouver Titans are by far the best teams on paper today, and the New York Excelsior are looking to break their own playoff choking curse.