London Spitfire head to OWL grand final

Orange and blue confetti spilled over the Overwatch Arena on Friday, signifying the London Spitfire’s victory over the Los Angeles Valiant and granting the Spitfire a spot in the Overwatch League finals.

The Spitfire have been on a roll since their reverse sweep win over the Los Angeles Gladiators in the previous series. That crushing defeat of the Valiant gave them all the momentum they needed to break into the final.

Beginning with a strong offense, Spitfire DPS Ji-Hyeok “Birdring” Kim was dominant on his Widowmaker, punishing any Valiant players who dared stray out of position. The Spitfire were able to fend off numerous attempts made by the Valiant to keep the point contested.

Ultimately the Spitfire were able to push their way to completion with less than a minute left on the clock. The Valiant looked better on attack, but were unable to push the payload far enough and conceded the first map to the Spitfire.

On Oasis, the Valiant seemed to struggle with how to counter the Spitfire’s overly aggressive DPS duo Birdring and Jun-Young “Profit” Park and were prevented from taking control of the point. The Spitfire were shaky on Gardens, but were able to hold off the Valiant and close the map 2-0.

Eichenwalde saw an easy capture of the control point for the Spitfire. The payload steamrolled all the way to the end of the map with 2:42 still remaining. The Valiant fought back valiantly and completed their own push after several key kills by a Genji ultimate from Brady “Agilities” Girardi.

With almost two extra minutes on the clock for the Spitfire, London was able to push the payload far enough to win the map and secure their tickets to the finals in New York.

The Spitfire will find out who they’ll play in the finals after the semifinals match between the Philadelphia Fusion and the New York Excelsior.