The Philadelphia Fusion and Florida Mayhem will meet Thursday after winning their matches Wednesday to stay alive in the lower bracket of the Overwatch League Midseason Madness tournament.
Also surviving were the Houston Outlaws and the Atlanta Reign, who both needed to go the distance in their matches and will also square off on Thursday.
The tournament winner will receive $500,000 and four league points. The Grand Final will be Sunday.
The Fusion advanced with a 3-1 win over the Dallas Fuel. The Fusion squeaked out a 2-1 victory on the first map, Oasis, but lost to the Fuel 6-4 on King’s Row. In two more close calls, the Fusion won 1-0 on the final two maps, Route 66 and New Queen Street, to take the match.
The London Spitfire jumped out to a big lead, but the Mayhem rallied to win three straight maps and clinch the match 3-2. The Spitfire started with a 2-0 win on Lijiang Tower and followed with a 2-1 victory on Eichenwalde. In two close calls, the Mayhem scored 1-0 wins on Watchpoint: Gibraltar and Colosseo. On the deciding map, the Mayhem won 2-0.
The Outlaws also had to stage a comeback to beat the Toronto Defiant 3-2. The Outlaws won the first map, Oasis, by a 2-0 score. But the Defiant came back with wins on Eichenwalde (4-3) and Dorado (3-2). Houston survived with a pair of narrow map victories, 1-0 on Colosseo and 2-1 on Lijiang Tower.
The Reign needed five maps to conquer the Seoul Dynasty in a back-and-forth match.
Atlanta opened with a 2-1 win on Oasis, but the Dynasty recovered to take King’s Row 2-1. The teams again traded victories, with the Reign winning 3-2 on Circuit Royal and Seoul answering 1-0 on Colosseo. In the hard-fought clincher, the Reign won 2-1 on Lijiang Tower.
Thursday’s slate has four matches:
Upper bracket semifinals
San Francisco Shock vs. Shanghai Dragons
Los Angeles Gladiators vs. Hangzhou Spark
Lower bracket round 2
Atlanta Reign vs. Houston Outlaws
Philadelphia Fusion vs. Florida Mayhem
Midseason Madness prize pool, league points:
1st place, $500,000, 4 points, TBA
2nd place, $250,000, 3 points, TBA
3rd place, $125,000, 2 points, TBA
4th place, $75,000, 1 point, TBA
5th-6th place, $25,000, 1 point, TBA
7th-8th place, no money, 1 point, TBA
9th-12th place, no money, 1 point, Seoul Dynasty, Toronto Defiant, Dallas Fuel, London Spitfire
–Field Level Media
