2020 London Spitfire season

2020 London Spitfire season
Head coachHong "Agape" Cheol-yong
General managerLee Seung-hwan
OwnerJack Etienne
ConferenceAtlantic
DivisionNorth
RegionAsia
Results
Record6–15 (.286)
Place
May MeleeQuarterfinals
Summer ShowdownQuarterfinals
Countdown CupQuarterfinals
Season PlayoffsDid not qualify
Total Earnings$0

The 2020 London Spitfire season was the third season of the London Spitfire's existence in the Overwatch League. The Spitfire planned to host two homestand events in the 2020 season; the first was to be held at The SSE Arena Wembley,[1] while the second was to be at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.[2] However, all homestand events were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Preceding offseason

[edit]

Organizational changes

[edit]

In early October 2019, the Spitfire parted ways with coach Kim "Jfeel" Jeong-min, who had been with the team since London's inception.[3]

London found their new head coach within the organization, promoting assistant coach Hong "Agape" Cheol-yong to the position. Additionally, the team signed former New York Excelsior head coach Ty "Pavane" Hyun-sang, former Florida Mayhem assistant coach Kim "SNT" Sung-hoon, and former O2 Blast assistant coach Lim "Twinkl" Young-bin all as assistant coaches. The changes reunited Agape, Pavane, and SNT, as Apage and Pavane previously coached LuxuryWatch Blue and LuxuryWatch Red together, while SNT played with LuxuryWatch Red at the same time.[4]

Roster changes

[edit]
Free agents
Role Player Contract
status		 Date signed 2020 team
Handle Name
Damage Birdring Ji-Hyeok Kim Free agent 6 November Los Angeles Gladiators[5]
Damage Guard Hee-Dong Lee Free agent – –
Support Nus Jong-Seok Kim Free agent – –
Legend
  Re-signed/Retained by the Spitfire.
  Departed from the Spitfire.

The Spitfire enter the new season with three free agents, one players which they have the option to retain for another year, and five players under contract.[6] The OWL's deadline to exercise a team option is 11 November, after which any players not retained will become a free agent. Free agency officially began on 7 October.[7]

Acquisitions

[edit]

The Spitfire's first acquisitions of the offseason were announced on 30 October, when the team traded tank Kim "Fury" Jun-ho to the Philadelphia Fusion in exchange for Fusion University players tank Shin "BERNAR" Se-won and support Kim "Fuze" Tae-hoon.[8]

London announced eight players on their roster on 23 November. The five new players announced were support players Lee "Highly" Sung-hyeok and Lim "SanGuiNar" Kyu-min, DPS players Lee "Schwi" Dong-Jae and Lim "Glister" Gil-seong, as well as tank player Choi "JMAC" Dae Han. Of the players, only Highly has ever previously played for an OWL team, while the remaining had only experience in Overwatch Contenders.[9] The following month, on 27 December, London announced four more players to round out their 12-man roster in damage players Jung "Although" Hyun-wook and Park "Babel" Sang-jun and support players Kim "Jihun" Ji-hun and Cho "Clestyn" Gun-hee.[10]

Departures

[edit]

The Spitfire elected not to re-sign all three of their free agents, DPS Kim "Birdring" Ji-hyeok, support Kim "NUS" Jong-seok, and alternate DPS Lee "Guard" Hee-dong, heading into the 2020 season.[3]

On 22 October, the Spitfire agreed to transfer tank Hong "Gesture" Jae-hee and DPS Park "Profit" Joon-yeong to the Seoul Dynasty.[11] The team released Choi "Bdosin" Seung-tae and Song "Quatermain" Ji-hoon in mid-November. With the release of Bdosin, no players from the Spitfire's 2018 Grand Finals roster remained with the team.[12]

Roster

[edit]
2020 London Spitfire roster
Players Coaches
Role No. Handle Name Nationality
Damage 1 Schwi Lee Dong-jae South Korea
Damage 26 Glister Lim Gil-seong South Korea
Damage 23 ALTHOUGH Jung Hyeon-wook South Korea
Damage 16 Babel Park Sang-jun South Korea
Tank 97 JMAC Choi Dae-han South Korea
Tank 18 BERNAR Shin Se-won South Korea
Tank 30 Clestyn Cho Gun-hee South Korea
Tank 5 Jihun Kim Ji-hun South Korea
Support 11 Krillin Jeong Yung-hoon South Korea
Support 10 Highly Lee Sung-hyeok South Korea
Support 14 SanGuiNar Lim Kyu-min South Korea
Support 99 Fuze Kim Tae-hoon South Korea
Head coach
  • Hong "Agape" Cheol-yong
Legend:
  • (I) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • (2W) Two-way player
  • Substitute player Substitute
  • Injured Injury / Illness
  

Latest roster transaction: 27 December 2019.

Standings

[edit]
Pos Con Team
 Pld W BW L PCT MW ML MT MD Qualification
1 PAC Shanghai Dragons 21 19 8 2 0.905 59 15 1 +44 Advance to playoffs
2 PAC Guangzhou Charge 21 14 4 7 0.667 44 39 1 +5
3 ATL New York Excelsior 21 13 3 8 0.619 50 30 2 +20 Advance to play-ins
4 PAC Hangzhou Spark 21 10 2 11 0.476 36 40 2 −4
5 PAC Seoul Dynasty 21 9 3 12 0.429 33 40 2 −7
6 PAC Chengdu Hunters 21 7 1 14 0.333 33 47 1 −14
7 ATL London Spitfire 21 6 0 15 0.286 27 51 0 −24
Source: The Overwatch League
Rules for classification: 1) Wins plus bonus wins 2) winning percentage (excluding bonus wins); 3) map differential; 4) head-to-head record; 5) head-to-head map differential


Game log

[edit]

Regular season

[edit]
2020 game log (Regular season record: 6–15)
February–April: 3–2
1 8 February London Spitfire 1 – 3 New York Excelsior New York City, NY
8:00 pm GMT     Hammerstein Ballroom
Hosted by New York Excelsior
2 Lijiang Tower 0
2 King's Row 3
1 Horizon Lunar Colony 2
0 Junkertown 3
2 9 February London Spitfire 0 – 3 Paris Eternal New York City, NY
6:00 pm GMT     Hammerstein Ballroom
Hosted by New York Excelsior
0 Nepal 2
3 King's Row 4
1 Hanamura 2
3 23 February London Spitfire 3 – 2 Washington Justice Washington, DC
12:00 midnight GMT     The Anthem
Hosted by Washington Justice
0 Oasis 2
1 Hanamura 2
1 Dorado 0
3 Blizzard World 0
2 Nepal 1
4 29 February London Spitfire 3 – 2 Houston Outlaws Houston, TX
12:00 midnight GMT     Revention Music Center
Hosted by Houston Outlaws
2 Busan 0
2 Blizzard World 1
1 Temple of Anubis 2
2 Junkertown 3
2 Ilios 1
5 1 March London Spitfire 3 – 2 Florida Mayhem Houston, TX
10:00 pm GMT     Revention Music Center
Hosted by Houston Outlaws
1 Ilios 2
2 Eichenwalde 1
3 Horizon Lunar Colony 4
3 Havana 2
2 Oasis 0

May Melee qualifiers: 1–3
6 9 May London Spitfire 3 – 0 Chengdu Hunters Online
10:00 am UTC    
7 10 May London Spitfire 1 – 3 Guangzhou Charge Online
10:00 am UTC    
8 16 May London Spitfire 0 – 3 Shanghai Dragons Online
10:00 am UTC    
9 17 May London Spitfire 0 – 3 Hangzhou Spark Online
10:00 am UTC    

Summer Showdown qualifiers: 2–2
10 13 June London Spitfire 0 – 3 Shanghai Dragons Online
8:00 am UTC    
11 20 June London Spitfire 3 – 0 Chengdu Hunters Online
10:00 am UTC    
12 21 June London Spitfire 1 – 3 New York Excelsior Online
12:30 pm UTC    
13 27 June London Spitfire 3 – 0 Hangzhou Spark Online
12:00 noon UTC    

Countdown Cup qualifiers: 0–3
14 18 July London Spitfire 1 – 3 Guangzhou Charge Online
10:00 am UTC    
15 25 July London Spitfire 2 – 3 Shanghai Dragons Online
10:00 am UTC    
16 1 August London Spitfire 0 – 3 Hangzhou Spark Online
10:00 am UTC    

August: 0–5
17 14 August London Spitfire 0 – 3 Seoul Dynasty Online
8:00 am UTC    
18 15 August London Spitfire 0 – 3 Shanghai Dragons Online
10:00 am UTC    
19 16 August London Spitfire 0 – 3 Seoul Dynasty Online
8:00 am UTC    
20 22 August London Spitfire 1 – 3 New York Excelsior Online
10:00 am UTC    
21 23 August London Spitfire 2 – 3 Seoul Dynasty Online
8:00 am UTC    

Midseason tournaments

[edit]
2020 midseason tournaments game log
May Melee: 0–1
Quarterfinals 23 May London Spitfire 2 – 3 Shanghai Dragons Online
11:30 am UTC    

Summer Showdown: 0–1
Quarterfinals 4 July London Spitfire 1 – 3 Seoul Dynasty Online
10:00 am UTC    

Countdown Cup: 0–1
Quarterfinals 8 August London Spitfire 0 – 3 Chengdu Hunters Online
8:00 am UTC    

Bonus wins awarded: 0

Postseason

[edit]
2020 playoff game log
Asia Play-ins: 0–1
Round 1 4 September London Spitfire 1 – 3 Chengdu Hunters Online
9:00 am UTC    

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Bishop, Sam (6 November 2019). "London Spitfire home matches are in London and Birmingham". GameReactor UK. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  2. ^ Koh, Bobby; Blizzard Entertainment (27 November 2019). "London Spitfire Reveals the NEC Birmingham as venue for second Homestand weekend". London Spitfire. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
  3. ^ a b "London Spitfire release Birdring, NUS, Guard, coach Jfeel". ESPN. 3 October 2019. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  4. ^ Scrubasaurus (21 October 2019). "Spitfire add several coaches including Pavane". Over.gg. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
  5. ^ "Los Angeles Gladiators add former Spitfire DPS birdring". ESPN. Reuters. 6 November 2019. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
  6. ^ Morello, Matt (30 July 2019). "2020 Team Needs and Player Contract Status". Overwatch League. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  7. ^ Richardson, Liz (4 October 2019). "Overwatch League reveals player contract status for entire league". Dot Esports. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
  8. ^ "Fusion, Fuel, Defiant and more make Overwatch League roster moves". ESPN. Reuters. 30 October 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
  9. ^ Almughrabi, Zakaria (23 November 2019). "London Spitfire Announces 2020 Roster". Hotspawn. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  10. ^ "London Spitfire add four for 2020 season". ESPN. Reuters. 27 December 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
  11. ^ Richardson, Liz (22 October 2019). "Seoul Dynasty acquire Gesture and Profit from London Spitfire". Dot Esports. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  12. ^ Samples, Rachel (12 November 2019). "London Spitfire release Bdosin, Quatermain ahead of 2020 Overwatch League season". Dot Esports. Retrieved 12 November 2019.
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