Los Angeles Valiant have finally found their way to the top as they defeated the New York Excelsior in the Overwatch League Stage 4 Finals.
After the fourth and final stage of the regular season concluded, both the L.A. based teams, the Gladiators and the Valiant, made it to the top two spots, both with stage record of 9-1. However, Los Angeles Gladiators map differential was up by four, giving them the first seed. The New York Excelsior and the Dallas Fuel claiming the third and fourth spots respectively.
The top three teams during Stage 4 are not strangers to the Finals. The Gladiators and Valiant had both made it to the Stage 3 Finals while the New York Excelsior have not only been part of every Stage FInal but have also won the grand prize on two occasions. This is the first time the Dallas Fuel have clinched; Houston Outlaws and Philadelphia Fusion had the same record of 6-4 but were ultimately eliminated from the running due to map differential.
Unsurprisingly, the Los Angeles Valiant and the New York Excelsior made it to the last match of the Stage 4 Finals. The Gladiators and the Valiant are fairly matched when just looking at both team's records but when the guys in green pop off, they are just as strong as the best teams in the league. It shows with each team's map differential which is calculated by subtracting a team's map losses from their map wins. After Stage 4 was finished, the Valiant had a +36 map differential while the Gladiators had a +24. Basically, this means that the Valiant has had more map wins than their crosstown rivals.
On the other hand, Dallas Fuel has been struggling to break through the bottom three spots along with the Shanghai Dragons and the Florida Mayhem. That struggle could be attributed to the player cuts and suspensions the organization has had to make due to some unsportsmanlike behavior.
Since the inaugural season of Overwatch League began, the New York Excelsior has been dominant. Going into this match, they were the favorite to win. Against all odds, the Los Angeles Valiant defeated NYXL 1 - 3, winning the $100,000 cash prize and their first Stage Final victory.
Los Angeles Valiant's outstanding performance during Stage 4 moved them up to second place, making them the leader of the Pacific Division granting them a first-round bye. New York Excelsior is still the number one team in the league and the Atlantic Division leader, granting them the same benefits. Here are the standings thus far:
- New York Excelsior (34 - 6)
- Los Angeles Valiant (27 - 13)
- Boston Uprising (26 - 14)
- Los Angeles Gladiators (25 - 15)
- London Spitfire (24 - 16)
- Philadelphia Fusion (24 - 16)
- Houston Outlaws (22 - 18)
- Seoul Dynasty (22 - 18)
- San Francisco Shock (17 - 23)
- Dallas Fuel (12 - 28)
- Florida Mayhem (7 - 33)
- Shanghai Dragons (0 - 40)
Now that Stage 4 of the Overwatch League is behind us, now we can look forward to Playoffs. The Quarterfinals will see the Boston Uprising go against the Philadelphia Fusion, with the Los Angeles Gladiators going up against the London Spitfire. Both matches will be a best-of-three series with the winners moving up to the semi-finals; these matches will commence on July 11 and will continue on July 13 and 14.