Three reasons you should watch the Overwatch League Countdown Cup

The Overwatch League has reached the end of its season, and the last tournament for the year has entered its final tournament bracket. With playoff spots on the line, a lot is at stake for the teams competing in the Countdown Cup.

The 2021 OWL playoffs are just a few weeks away, and teams are still competing for enough League Points to secure their spot in the playoffs, which will be held on LAN in Arlington, Texas.

The West region will send the top three teams straight to Arlington to compete in the playoffs, and the East region will send the top two teams. If teams cannot secure one of these spots in their region, they will have to fight their way through online regional play-in matches to punch their ticket to Texas.

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In the West region, the fourth through ninth seeds will have to compete in the play-ins, and in the East region, the third through fifth seeds will fight for one remaining spot.

With all of this going on, there are many reasons to watch the OWL Countdown Cup, but here are our top three reasons you shouldn’t miss this one.

1. Teams are still fighting to secure spot in the playoffs

The stakes are higher than they’ve ever been in any previous tournament, considering there are four teams who are fighting to secure the last spot in their region.

The Atlanta Reign, Los Angeles Gladiators, Chengdu Hunters and Seoul Dynasty are all fighting to secure the last spot in their respective regions to avoid having to go through play-ins to make it to the playoffs.

West region -- Atlanta Reign and Los Angeles Gladiators

In the West, the Reign and the Gladiators are neck and neck in League Points. The Reign have 12 League Points, and the Gladiators have 11.

What’s even more incredible about these two teams is that they are tied in almost every single stat there is. If the Gladiators come in fourth place and the Reign come in third place, they will tie in League Points as well, forcing a series of tie-breaking rules to figure out who will secure the last spot.

The Reign have been to Hawaii before and competed in the Summer Showdown, only to return home with no additional League Points.

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The Gladiators haven’t had the pleasure of experiencing Hawaii yet, so this will be the first time the team has to deal with the logistics of sending over the roster to play in a new location. How they prepare for the trip and how they manage their practice and preparation schedule will be integral for this tournament weekend.

Both of these teams are at a disadvantage, considering the East region teams only have to wake up early to play their matches. They do not have the gargantuan task of packing up, booking flights, navigating the airport, setting up in Hawaii and having little to no time to practice.

Photo credit: Overwatch League

Predictions for the West Region

The Gladiators play the Chengdu Hunters first, which means that in my opinion, they will face the more challenging East team. The Hunters have been on a roll lately, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down. The Gladiators have been a consistently good team throughout the season, but they haven’t been able to secure many victories when it really mattered. They came out on top of the West Region in the June Joust qualifiers, but they ended up losing 3-1 to the Dallas Fuel in the knockout rounds.

The Reign are also hard to predict because they were eliminated so early on from the Summer Showdown at the hands of the Shanghai Dragons and the Fuel. For the Countdown Cup, they went 4-0 in qualifiers, and beat the Gladiators 3-2, so they’re clearly the best team in the West Region right now, but the issue comes down to if they can defeat the East region teams. Preparation for the Hunters and the Seoul Dynasty will be key.

East region -- Seoul Dynasty and Chengdu Hunters

Identical to the West region, the Hunters and the Dynasty are neck-and-neck for a spot in the playoffs. The Hunters have one more League Point than the Dynasty, meaning that a tie could happen here, too.

The Dynasty technically have a better win/loss record than the Hunters do, but the Hunters have been to two tournaments so far, the Summer Showdown and the May Melee, whereas the Dynasty haven’t been to any of the tournaments yet.

Because these teams won’t have to go anywhere for their tournament run, they have more time to practice and prepare for the teams in the West, which gives them a huge advantage.

Predictions for the East region

The Hunters are the obvious favorites here. They finished 4-0 in the qualifiers, and defeated the New York Excelsior to get to their spot in the tournament. They made it all the way to the grand final in the Summer Showdown tournament, and they play the lower seeded Gladiators first, so the odds are in their favor.

The Hunters and the Dynasty haven’t met yet in this tournament, but if we’re going by past results, the last time they matched up, the Hunters lost 3-1 to the Dynasty. In the qualifiers, the Dynasty finished 3-1, with their only defeat at the hands of the two-time champs, the Dragons. The Dynasty aren’t to be discounted here. They beat the Philadelphia Fusion in the regional knockouts, who also had a 3-1 finish in the qualifiers.

2. It’s the last tournament before the playoffs

If you’re going to watch any tournament in the 2021 season, the last one is usually always the best one to watch. Not only are there League Points up for grabs that could change the way playoff spots are looking, but it’s the last time that someone will be crowned a tournament champion before the playoffs start.

There’s no telling when we’ll have another tournament like this one, especially one that is cross-regional. Because of the COVID-19 outbreaks happening around the world, the 2022 season format is yet to be determined, although there have been some rumors about how they will structure it.

3. Someone who has never won a 2021 tournament will be crowned a tournament winner in the Countdown Cup

While the Reign and Hunters have participated in the main tournament weekends for past tournaments, they have not won any titles yet. For this tournament, someone new will take the crown. Out of the three tournaments held so far, the Fuel won the May Melee, and the Dragons won the June Joust and the Summer Showdown.

In this tournament, it is likely that we will see either the Reign or the Hunters take the crown, but the Dynasty or the Gladiators could surprise with a victory. Having four teams in the tournament who have never won before will make for a more interesting tournament.

The Countdown Cup tournament weekend starts Thursday at 9 p.m. ET.

Lead photo credit: Overwatch League