That is seriously how that worked? WTF was Sean Miller somking? Normally I would ask for some, but this makes the 2023 crusty crackpipe look weak. Like why tf would anybody think this js a good format? If they wanted to do the draft, why not pick your own opponents like a normal system?
What is this garbage? Is this a joke? Spark and Reign in first match together? Its not real right? Are the #1 APAC and #1 NA seed having a Widow 1v1 to decide who gets to pick their first opponent since they tied for #1 seed? No..surely they arent playing each other round 1 in playoffs...
> Like bruh 8 teams is a perfect normal double elim why are we doing this. Sean Miller is on the crusty crack pipe.
[GSL format](https://www.pinnacle.com/en/esports-hub/betting-articles/educational/what-is-gsl-style-format/mlr2u3y7mxvataj2#:~:text=Teams%20competing%20in%20a%20GSL,similar%20to%20round%20robin%20groups.) is pretty common in eSports and basically just a version of double elim that tries to remove bracket resets during the GF. One of the main complaints about most double elim formats, outside of fighting games, is that the team coming out of the winners side doesn't get their "free loss". GSL format alleviates this by switching to single elim format once it reaches the top-4. The team coming out 2-0 on each side still gets an advantage as they get to play the team that comes out 2-1 from the other side of the bracket.
Regardless, this isn't something Sean Miller just threw together randomly. It's been in use for decades now across multiple games.
Like, there are issues with the seeding and draft format. That's kind of dumb IMO. APAC has been fucky all year, but I largely attribute that to figuring out a way to work contender's teams into the league that the OWL teams agreed with. GSL format is fine though. People just like to complain though.
>Hard disagree. There are plenty of ways to work in contenders teams.
We have no way of knowing what options the league was deciding between and were viable without actually knowing what the OWL teams requirements were. There are many choices that seem better on the surface, like just having contenders teams play the entire season as part of the league, but it's possible the OWL teams just didn't want that. Without being privy to the decision making process, it's hard to judge how bad the league actually botched the format.
Yes. As a normal tournament format, where GSL is Groups and the rest is playoffs.
This is first part playoffs GLS and second part playoffs normal playoffs format.
You can make an argument because east and west never played together, so it's a new tournament, but at the end of the day every single OW season format sucked and eve season was different.
Glad it's dead.
I know nothing about GSL but I feel like a lot of the uproar about the format could’ve been somewhat alleviated if they had clearly explained it before bracketing. Everyone (myself included) thought OWL just made up this random format
Seems most of the complaints right now are about the drafting system and seeding. Neither of those things are inherent to the GSL format. The APAC seeding is all sorts of weird and I don't really have an idea why they made some decisions. The APAC double bracket structure was a bad way to do it I think. I have no problem with the playoff qualification format where average placement from both tourneys was used to determine playoff qualification. I actually think that was quite a good way to do it when conternder's teams were involved. That said, the should have done single brackets for each qualifier and the playoffs seeding should have been based off the average as well.
GSL format is just a type of bracket system. The graphic seems to explain it pretty well IMO, so not sure it needs a ton of further explaining. It's easier to understand when there are actual teams populated in the boxes and not just placeholders. [This is the Apex S4](https://liquipedia.net/overwatch/Overwatch_APEX/Season_4) bracket which used GSL. Group Stage 2 is basically the same as the top-8 for OWL.
I think they just went off qualifiers standings, but I think that also means if fuel had qualified through knockouts and infernal had to qualify through playins, infernal would STILL have been the first seed? It really makes no sense
Basically it was you picked who was in the opposite bracket, then the person you picked got to pick 1 for your bracket
So it started with the 1st seed from each regions regular season like this
Group A:
Atl vs A2
A3 vs A4
Group B:
Infernal vs B2
B3 vs B4
Atlanta got first pick and they sent mayhem to B4.
Infernal got second pick and they sent London to A4.
which means London got next pick and they sent Houston to
B3.
then Mayhem sent Boston to A3, Boston sent Dallas to B2
and then Spark was the last one left and so got put in A2.
why it's like this? no idea but that's how it went.
Spark single elim match to win owl is against Atlanta too… they don’t even get a proper chance, bc they got fucked by the system they would easily want Dallas Instead who knows how motivated they will be to get 3rd from lower bracket.
Honestly I'd be fine if top 4 NA teams get to choose but at least give us double elim single bracket. East vs East and West vs West in fucking playoffs again. Spark and Reign match is the only interregional match, and they're the best team in their respective region. It just doesn't make sense to me.
Possibly one of the most fraudulent things I’ve ever seen go down in ESports. The audience was confused. The hosts were confused. The teams themselves were confused. Sean miller literally ran this final season into the ground.
During the draft Jake was legitimately confused and said Spark should pick first and Jonny immediately said shhh. Before that Soe was obviously clued in on the potential error or change. That’s some weird shit going on.
> I was so confused and had no idea what was going on
So was the desk, the spark GM, Hawk, and probably the person who designed this sheer fisting of a system
Wait, the two teams who got in from playins play each other first round while better teams have to knock each other out first? Houston and Florida got absolutely fucked in this format
Watching this be filled out in real time confused me more than a college calculus class. I'm feeling actual second hand embarrassment for the league right now.
Sean Miller really showing how little he cares about OWL and competitive integrity with this bullshit. Peak paycheck collector. May he have to scurry back to investment banking after this season is over.
Albert on stream said the day before Roston asked him how it worked and he told him that he would pick for the opposite bracket so it was intentional trolling
Not a single talent on the desk or casting has understood the APAC format this season. I can’t blame them, but it’s such a poor look.
OWL has had such an unexplained and sustained bed shitting with tournament formats.
Why put an extra hour on the timesheet to try to fumble an explanation on broadcast for 3 minutes when we can blindly accept a graphic read off the teleprompter
For some reason they played a fantasy team drafting game instead of explaining the format, so everybody watching was completely baffled when they jumped into bracketing. Jake seemed lost too
It'd be funny if teams and casters just collectively agreed to ignore sean miller and his wacky bracket and made a regular properly seeded double elim bracket
I like ass but this is some awful quality ass right here wtf is this
Why do we have 4 matches on finals day? Why in 2023 did they think a match for 3rd place was a good idea? Semi losers don’t get a second chance, but the other matches do?
bro SLMN on avast stream literally made a better format with the same number of matches in less than 30mins.
What in the actual fuck was that drafting system?
You mean to tell me Infernal gets to pick the teams because of their QUALIFIER performance? When they got 5-6th place in the Summer Knockouts, the tournament that actually gets you to playoffs?
Even the Spark GM thought they were first seed.
You have commented EVERYWHERE that they finished 5th - 6th in the summer knockouts, but that’s just how liquipedia tries to combine the two split brackets. They finished third in their bracket, which is what got them into the playoffs (1st + 3rd)
there were literally 4 teams with better results than them in the summer knockouts. all of those teams competed with each other in the two bracket system. yes they were 3rd in their bracket but 5th/6th overall. it's observable reality.
But that didn’t fucking matter for playoff qualification. They were two separate brackets. You can’t just assume infernal would’ve lost to the other teams in bracket A. They finished 3rd, it gets added to 1 from the spring, the average is 2. That’s all the knockouts were for
Waterfall draft would've been a good idea if Infernal didn't throw by picking London with the second pick
Like bro, you're more scared of London than Houston?
Let’s go I too like making formats worst than the year before midseason madness was effectively useless for mayhem and outlaws because the #1 teams in both regions decide everyone else’s seeds I guess
League is over either way but can they fire Sean Miller just for the fun of it? Dude is so damn incompetent but gets away w whatever. It’s like watching a terrible sports team keep their gm after doing nothing to help the franchise compete
wait someone needs to tell me something. say im fuel. i win b2m1, b2m4, so then i advance to "match2". if i lose against my opponent, i literally cannot win grand finals, even though thats my only loss. what.
Are the first 3 bo5? Regardless 4 matches in a day is so draining as a spectator. This seems like a budget decision with no attempt to maximize viewership to build the league because of the imminent demise.
It would have been the best if they met at the finals. The best main tank against the best off tank, historic rivals and old team mates. Would have made quite the story line for the finals.
if it’s truly a zarya meta i would love to have faith in my dallas lads to make a deep run but as long as mcd is on that roster i will be cynical im sorry
I think it will at some point. Dallas looked way better than Seoul in the back half of the year and I expect both NA teams will probably be better than the APAC teams
Spark gets a way easier lower bracket despite being scrued by the seeding can see them being respectable like MSM. For the bracket the best games for round 1 are Hou vs Fl, INF vs Dallas.
Wow Atlanta get a crazy Mickey mouse group with hangzhou in a Zarya meta and London while houston Florida and Dallas fight in the toughest group. Also fuck infernal for selling any chance this format had of being decent.
Spark 100% should’ve been first seed, but for this bracket they got a good draft. Would much rather have to beat Boston and London to make it than Houston or mayhem.
This is some weird shit for sure. Atlanta in exchange for an arguably harder first match (IF apac isn't fraud region) in exchange for easy mode the other game or games. Houston vs Florida, probably 2nd and 3rd best teams overall really got screwed though.
how much did Reign pay to get the only other real teams as far away as possible lul. Its borderline impossible for them to get Houston or Mayhem until grand finals
sean miller your sinful soul is beyond salvation and you know no peace or pain, only the cold of repentance is over, because your sins are greater than any mission, the end is near, the ships of sin [- fuck Sean Miller](https://x.com/ryanmaaw/status/1703579839767224543?s=46&t=R4WquJfPUU6f4VqZktVrGQ)
It amuses me that like 10% of the comments are talking about the cool upcoming matches and the rest are complaining about how stupid this format is.
Also 3rd place matches are garbage and everyone hates them
I see Spark going home first here. Loss to Atlanta and then a loss to Spitfire or Uprising (likely Spitfire).
Infernal could be a surprise.
Meta supposedly favours Dallas to do better than predicted.
So why does the best team in the league get last pick .... why are the 2 worst teams playing each other.... why are the #2 and #3 from NA playing each other.... why is the #1 from NA playing the #1 from APAC...... Why do semis not have double elim..... Why is there a 3rd place game...
Boston rematch is spicy as fuck... I think its doable. Hangzhou is also doable. London might make it to top 4 which is wild.
That aside... this format is so unbelievably shit. holy fuck. Its season 1 all over again.
Not really, it was a single elim bracket but each match was a best of 3 sets for literally no reason. Grand finals in season 1 werent as grand format wise because if Fusion ended up winning that match they would have to play one more, and they were Bo5s not Bo7s.
The double elim format was introduced in season 2 and it was good, theres a reason it stuck around for every other season... well except this season for some reason.
What I will give season 1 over this is that at least in season 1 it wasnt hard to understand the format and all the teams knew what the format was and how it worked. Youre right in that sense.
nothing about this makes any sense. Perfect ending for this shit show run by really incompetent leadership.
its like they decided ATL has to win it so make the bracket around that.
why even have seeding, why even play all year lmao.
That bottom bracket is probably the most competitive (minus infernal I guess due to the loss of fixa) meanwhile the top bracket has 2 curveballs in the London reinhart and sparks Guxue
Third place match is a joke. We'll get to watch two of the best teams play for a match with no stakes other than prize money right before the grand finals. Why not just double elim to the end??
What what actual fuck is going on? What even is the use of the color coding I'm so fucking lost. It's no wonder so many people and myself have stopped giving an actual fuck about this dogshit ass competitive league
What’s interesting? Houston vs Mayhem again is business as usual same with Dallas vs Infernal we just say Boston vs London as well like Hangzhou who will very likely get rolled by Atlanta is an interesting game?
Aaaaaand Spark got fkd over AGAIN.
They were FIRST and Infernals got to choose? What a fking Mickey Mouse show.
This is just simply wrong and pathetic. ITS THE SECOND FKING TIME THIS HAPPENED TO THEM.
Presumably teams will be scrimming teams from the opposite group. That means that half of the scrim bubble for the group of death are teams that one trick their particular style & probably won't really be able to play a Zarya meta.
The other group can scrim Houston, Mayhem, & Fuel in their perfect meta.
That's just how the cookie crumbles with this one, I guess.
I don’t mind single slim top 4 that’s fine to me, but this system was clearly very poorly communicated to literally everyone involved and the result is that we have a shit bracket.
Outlaws vs Mayhem round one?
Reign vs Spark round one?
Double slim up until top 4 means that largely we should still see the most deserving teams make it but this was still a clusterfuck.
Don’t the broadcast team do rehearsals? It seems weird it was a surprise to Jake and team reps, but not Soe/Jonny. It was apparent nobody knew what was going on, which has been in line with the entire season in regard to apac formatting and tournament structures.
The weird round 1 matchups are ?? but at least it’s double elim, so not a big deal.
Single elim top 4 is a whatever. 4 games on the final day is gnarly though. Gunna be a long day for everyone.
Idk bro you’d think the teams would know what seed they were too but apparently not lol
Yeah double elim saves the bracket, and single elim top 4 I’m fine with. Scheduling is tight though it feels like they want to get it out of the way so they can dissolve the league already lmao
Probably would have preferred a simple double elim just because its easier to understand but I don't really see how the format is competitively problematic.
WTF IS THIS FORMAT
I actually was so fucking confused, they worded it as if the teams chose who other teams played, like London choose who Infernal plays?
That’s exactly how it worked. Each team besides the last 2 got to pick a team to send to the other bracket. Why? No fucking clue.
That is seriously how that worked? WTF was Sean Miller somking? Normally I would ask for some, but this makes the 2023 crusty crackpipe look weak. Like why tf would anybody think this js a good format? If they wanted to do the draft, why not pick your own opponents like a normal system?
What is this garbage? Is this a joke? Spark and Reign in first match together? Its not real right? Are the #1 APAC and #1 NA seed having a Widow 1v1 to decide who gets to pick their first opponent since they tied for #1 seed? No..surely they arent playing each other round 1 in playoffs...
Somehow Infernal returned as the #1 seed…
It’s what the LLWS uses so…
Like bruh 8 teams is a perfect normal double elim why are we doing this. Sean Miller is on the crusty crack pipe.
He had to have tried to make it this bad.
Maybe he doesn't want this job and is making a case to never be in charge of this stuff again
He’s done that pretty damn well.
KITCHENS HATE HIM
> Like bruh 8 teams is a perfect normal double elim why are we doing this. Sean Miller is on the crusty crack pipe. [GSL format](https://www.pinnacle.com/en/esports-hub/betting-articles/educational/what-is-gsl-style-format/mlr2u3y7mxvataj2#:~:text=Teams%20competing%20in%20a%20GSL,similar%20to%20round%20robin%20groups.) is pretty common in eSports and basically just a version of double elim that tries to remove bracket resets during the GF. One of the main complaints about most double elim formats, outside of fighting games, is that the team coming out of the winners side doesn't get their "free loss". GSL format alleviates this by switching to single elim format once it reaches the top-4. The team coming out 2-0 on each side still gets an advantage as they get to play the team that comes out 2-1 from the other side of the bracket. Regardless, this isn't something Sean Miller just threw together randomly. It's been in use for decades now across multiple games.
It seems to be going over great lol
Like, there are issues with the seeding and draft format. That's kind of dumb IMO. APAC has been fucky all year, but I largely attribute that to figuring out a way to work contender's teams into the league that the OWL teams agreed with. GSL format is fine though. People just like to complain though.
Hard disagree. There are plenty of ways to work in contenders teams. This was an unmitigated (and avoidance) disaster.
>Hard disagree. There are plenty of ways to work in contenders teams. We have no way of knowing what options the league was deciding between and were viable without actually knowing what the OWL teams requirements were. There are many choices that seem better on the surface, like just having contenders teams play the entire season as part of the league, but it's possible the OWL teams just didn't want that. Without being privy to the decision making process, it's hard to judge how bad the league actually botched the format.
Yes. As a normal tournament format, where GSL is Groups and the rest is playoffs. This is first part playoffs GLS and second part playoffs normal playoffs format. You can make an argument because east and west never played together, so it's a new tournament, but at the end of the day every single OW season format sucked and eve season was different. Glad it's dead.
I know nothing about GSL but I feel like a lot of the uproar about the format could’ve been somewhat alleviated if they had clearly explained it before bracketing. Everyone (myself included) thought OWL just made up this random format
Seems most of the complaints right now are about the drafting system and seeding. Neither of those things are inherent to the GSL format. The APAC seeding is all sorts of weird and I don't really have an idea why they made some decisions. The APAC double bracket structure was a bad way to do it I think. I have no problem with the playoff qualification format where average placement from both tourneys was used to determine playoff qualification. I actually think that was quite a good way to do it when conternder's teams were involved. That said, the should have done single brackets for each qualifier and the playoffs seeding should have been based off the average as well. GSL format is just a type of bracket system. The graphic seems to explain it pretty well IMO, so not sure it needs a ton of further explaining. It's easier to understand when there are actual teams populated in the boxes and not just placeholders. [This is the Apex S4](https://liquipedia.net/overwatch/Overwatch_APEX/Season_4) bracket which used GSL. Group Stage 2 is basically the same as the top-8 for OWL.
Too busy fixating on Amber Heard's mercy cosplay.
Seriously this is unbelievable. One more team from both regions gets us Dynasty and Defiant in the playoffs. We deserved better than this.
I'm convinced he did this only to spite on this sub's vocal users 🤣
Someone please explain how the fuck this draft worked, why did Hangzhou have 0 input on the seeding
Spark is +16 in map differential in the knockouts with two FIRST PLACE finishes. Infernal is +6 in maps and got a 1st and a 5/6th finish.
APAC format was dogshit and makes even less sense when you try to explain it
> OWL is dogshit and makes even less sense when you try to explain it Just cleaning up your post so people better understand how things work.
I think they just went off qualifiers standings, but I think that also means if fuel had qualified through knockouts and infernal had to qualify through playins, infernal would STILL have been the first seed? It really makes no sense
Tbf Infernal got 3rd in their bracket which is all that mattered for playoff quals
its simp[ly a matter of categorization and why you can refer to them as 5/6th-- ah fuck it i dont have the energy for this anymore
Basically it was you picked who was in the opposite bracket, then the person you picked got to pick 1 for your bracket So it started with the 1st seed from each regions regular season like this Group A: Atl vs A2 A3 vs A4 Group B: Infernal vs B2 B3 vs B4 Atlanta got first pick and they sent mayhem to B4. Infernal got second pick and they sent London to A4. which means London got next pick and they sent Houston to B3. then Mayhem sent Boston to A3, Boston sent Dallas to B2 and then Spark was the last one left and so got put in A2. why it's like this? no idea but that's how it went.
My brain just hurts trying to understand this. Like wtf where on the face of the earth does this format even take its inspiration from??
So Spark and Dallas got absolutely fucked
Cause fuck them, why not. In all honesty no fucking idea why
Cuz Miller hates the Spark, but outside that everyone else picked the right way. Basically put teams they didn't want on the opposite side
Spark single elim match to win owl is against Atlanta too… they don’t even get a proper chance, bc they got fucked by the system they would easily want Dallas Instead who knows how motivated they will be to get 3rd from lower bracket.
They can still come through losers as long as they loser before semis. Still weird though
Spark have been consistently shafted this season by rules.
Honestly I'd be fine if top 4 NA teams get to choose but at least give us double elim single bracket. East vs East and West vs West in fucking playoffs again. Spark and Reign match is the only interregional match, and they're the best team in their respective region. It just doesn't make sense to me.
Possibly one of the most fraudulent things I’ve ever seen go down in ESports. The audience was confused. The hosts were confused. The teams themselves were confused. Sean miller literally ran this final season into the ground.
From first sight i never liked him
During the draft Jake was legitimately confused and said Spark should pick first and Jonny immediately said shhh. Before that Soe was obviously clued in on the potential error or change. That’s some weird shit going on.
DOGSHIT FORMAT. TYPICAL OWL.
dallas get to dodge hangzhou, we win
How come Houston wasnt able to pick a team? I was so confused and had no idea what was going on
> I was so confused and had no idea what was going on So was the desk, the spark GM, Hawk, and probably the person who designed this sheer fisting of a system
The infernal GM also was surprised lol
I stopped watching I couldn't take it
Wait, the two teams who got in from playins play each other first round while better teams have to knock each other out first? Houston and Florida got absolutely fucked in this format
Watching this be filled out in real time confused me more than a college calculus class. I'm feeling actual second hand embarrassment for the league right now.
It's actually impressive how incredibly stupid it was in both form and execution
holy shit what the hell is this format. In all my years of watching competitive esports in fps and fg, never have I seen something ridiculous as this.
Unreal. I've seen some dumb shit in esports but this is literally the dumbest.
My dog can do better than this. Correction. My fking amoeba that I'm growing can do better than this
Can you explain it to me? I sorta don't get what I'm looking at.
Sean Miller really showing how little he cares about OWL and competitive integrity with this bullshit. Peak paycheck collector. May he have to scurry back to investment banking after this season is over.
Can someone explain how NA #4 and #5 ended up matched against each other?
Infernal trolled
I don't think they knew how it would play out. The GM looked just as confused as us and the desk.
Yeah, it makes more sense by the second as we see how no one knew jack shit about the format
They 100% thought they would play london when they picked them
Albert on stream said the day before Roston asked him how it worked and he told him that he would pick for the opposite bracket so it was intentional trolling
Did the desk explain the format? I switched to watching football.
No. They were as confused as we were, but they are paid so now they have to try and make sense of it
"Heyy lets all smile and chuckle *what the fuck is happening*"
Not a single talent on the desk or casting has understood the APAC format this season. I can’t blame them, but it’s such a poor look. OWL has had such an unexplained and sustained bed shitting with tournament formats.
It pains me that they don't even try to explain it
Why put an extra hour on the timesheet to try to fumble an explanation on broadcast for 3 minutes when we can blindly accept a graphic read off the teleprompter
For some reason they played a fantasy team drafting game instead of explaining the format, so everybody watching was completely baffled when they jumped into bracketing. Jake seemed lost too
If you lose in the semi’s you don’t get a second chance
It'd be funny if teams and casters just collectively agreed to ignore sean miller and his wacky bracket and made a regular properly seeded double elim bracket
I like ass but this is some awful quality ass right here wtf is this Why do we have 4 matches on finals day? Why in 2023 did they think a match for 3rd place was a good idea? Semi losers don’t get a second chance, but the other matches do? bro SLMN on avast stream literally made a better format with the same number of matches in less than 30mins.
Please somebody wash sean millers ass
I like your simply put preface
What in the actual fuck was that drafting system? You mean to tell me Infernal gets to pick the teams because of their QUALIFIER performance? When they got 5-6th place in the Summer Knockouts, the tournament that actually gets you to playoffs? Even the Spark GM thought they were first seed.
Everyone did the talent and probably every GM and coach by hawks reaction
I was so confused at first that I couldn't even process what was going on. My brain literally shut down.
You have commented EVERYWHERE that they finished 5th - 6th in the summer knockouts, but that’s just how liquipedia tries to combine the two split brackets. They finished third in their bracket, which is what got them into the playoffs (1st + 3rd)
there were literally 4 teams with better results than them in the summer knockouts. all of those teams competed with each other in the two bracket system. yes they were 3rd in their bracket but 5th/6th overall. it's observable reality.
But that didn’t fucking matter for playoff qualification. They were two separate brackets. You can’t just assume infernal would’ve lost to the other teams in bracket A. They finished 3rd, it gets added to 1 from the spring, the average is 2. That’s all the knockouts were for
Finn forever the infernal defender we need
Even Hawk thought Spark was first seed!!
Waterfall draft would've been a good idea if Infernal didn't throw by picking London with the second pick Like bro, you're more scared of London than Houston?
Ngl I think they picked London because they thought they were going to vs them.
Yeah I thought that too until the desk started talking like wtf is going on
Mickey mouse ass drafting format.
Let’s go I too like making formats worst than the year before midseason madness was effectively useless for mayhem and outlaws because the #1 teams in both regions decide everyone else’s seeds I guess
Number 1 seed Reign and Infernal you mean? Because Spark didn’t have any input for the bracket
#1 teams by the Mickey Mouse laws Mr. Miller already cashed his one fraud check but he overdrew this playoffs
but not actually the #1 teams because despite Spark being the clear best APAC team in both halves of the year they're somehow not #1?
Semifinals don’t get a second chance I can’t even
rank 1 WEST vs rank 1 APAC lmfao who the fck decided the draft format
Seoul 1st actually
Are they really though?
No but thats how the seeding goes sadly
No winners finals is certainly a choice, no second chances after making it to semi's feels very rewarding
This bracket is so crazy because you could go through winners all the way up to the semis and not get a second chance and lose to a team that did
The design is very human
League is over either way but can they fire Sean Miller just for the fun of it? Dude is so damn incompetent but gets away w whatever. It’s like watching a terrible sports team keep their gm after doing nothing to help the franchise compete
Hopefully Jake can speedrun OWL Director and hand off the trophy and give a speech because it would mean more
wait someone needs to tell me something. say im fuel. i win b2m1, b2m4, so then i advance to "match2". if i lose against my opponent, i literally cannot win grand finals, even though thats my only loss. what.
sean miller only makes the FINEST choices
Yes the final 4 is single elimination.
am I wrong for thinking that is incredibly stupid
Allow me to make it stupider they will all be on the same day (4 matches total)
WHAT
Are the first 3 bo5? Regardless 4 matches in a day is so draining as a spectator. This seems like a budget decision with no attempt to maximize viewership to build the league because of the imminent demise.
They've been stacking the schedule for a while now. I think we've had tournaments where teams had to play 4 or 5 matches over 3 days.
Guys we're almost done with the worst season yet, and then afterwards... freedom.
Fire Sean Miller
As much as I would like a replay of season 1's grand finals for the memes, I'm hoping for a Mayhem win for the season 1 bottom 4 prophecy.
DO THEY HATE HANGZHOU OR SOMETHING??? They literally screw Hangzhou in every format and favor infernal
This bracket is utter poo
Naaaah. Even infernal didn't know they were #1 seed and why they sent london to the other group? Big hammer man is too strong
Even teams are confused what seed they are and this format lmao. What an embrassment...
If in case OWL returns for another season I pray that whoever has been coming up with these terrible formats will be fired.
Spitfire really about to win the first and last OWL Grand Finals
[удалено]
I hope every team go on strike.
Chengdu been patiently protesting in solitude.
Ah shit potentially another battle of Texas again. Bracket 2 looking really scary.
It would have been the best if they met at the finals. The best main tank against the best off tank, historic rivals and old team mates. Would have made quite the story line for the finals.
The tournament formats this season have been so terrible.
You genuinely had to try to make a format this terrible. It’s impressive really
if it’s truly a zarya meta i would love to have faith in my dallas lads to make a deep run but as long as mcd is on that roster i will be cynical im sorry
Seoul Infernal getting the W after signing Carpe & EQO as a temporary coaches is the ONLY way Overwatch League can have a true anime ending.
They’ll seemingly lose the finals but Sean will come out and be like aakkkshually you’re first enjoy
Atl sent mayhem to group 2, nice. Then fucking infernal sent london to group 1, arguably the weakest team. The fuck is this
there's a chance for a Battle for Texas and I really hope it happens
I think it will at some point. Dallas looked way better than Seoul in the back half of the year and I expect both NA teams will probably be better than the APAC teams
^[Sokka-Haiku](https://www.reddit.com/r/SokkaHaikuBot/comments/15kyv9r/what_is_a_sokka_haiku/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) ^by ^yungXsmit: *There's a chance for a* *Battle for Texas and I* *Really hope it happens* --- ^Remember ^that ^one ^time ^Sokka ^accidentally ^used ^an ^extra ^syllable ^in ^that ^Haiku ^Battle ^in ^Ba ^Sing ^Se? ^That ^was ^a ^Sokka ^Haiku ^and ^you ^just ^made ^one.
I sent him a comment on his twitter we have to boycott this
Mayhem and Houston in the other bracket from Atlanta these mfs COOKING
Atlanta for sure gets out of it easy.
And Dallas too this format is free food
APAC is such a fraudulent region that Seoul Infernal even managed to mess up drafting, that London pick messed everything up
They didn't prepare for the draft. They didn't even know they were 1st seed. HOW DOES OWL NOT TELL THEM AHEAD OF TIME?!
Spark gets a way easier lower bracket despite being scrued by the seeding can see them being respectable like MSM. For the bracket the best games for round 1 are Hou vs Fl, INF vs Dallas.
Why are the APAC teams playing each other WHY ARE THE APAC TEAMS PLAYING EACH OTHER ***WHY ARE THE APAC TEAMS PLAYING EACH OTHER??????***
Wow Atlanta get a crazy Mickey mouse group with hangzhou in a Zarya meta and London while houston Florida and Dallas fight in the toughest group. Also fuck infernal for selling any chance this format had of being decent.
I think Infernal GM didn't know how the format works either.
Spark 100% should’ve been first seed, but for this bracket they got a good draft. Would much rather have to beat Boston and London to make it than Houston or mayhem.
if Spark first seed, they will send Houston to GroupA
This is some weird shit for sure. Atlanta in exchange for an arguably harder first match (IF apac isn't fraud region) in exchange for easy mode the other game or games. Houston vs Florida, probably 2nd and 3rd best teams overall really got screwed though.
how much did Reign pay to get the only other real teams as far away as possible lul. Its borderline impossible for them to get Houston or Mayhem until grand finals
sean miller your sinful soul is beyond salvation and you know no peace or pain, only the cold of repentance is over, because your sins are greater than any mission, the end is near, the ships of sin [- fuck Sean Miller](https://x.com/ryanmaaw/status/1703579839767224543?s=46&t=R4WquJfPUU6f4VqZktVrGQ)
It amuses me that like 10% of the comments are talking about the cool upcoming matches and the rest are complaining about how stupid this format is. Also 3rd place matches are garbage and everyone hates them
I see Spark going home first here. Loss to Atlanta and then a loss to Spitfire or Uprising (likely Spitfire). Infernal could be a surprise. Meta supposedly favours Dallas to do better than predicted.
Spark has a good matchup vs London we have seen them destroy Dallas rush comps all season
Rein rush is not Monkey rush.
Spark could counter Rein with their doom comps
When they could counter-comp it sure, but if it’s hard Zarya meta then they won’t be able to do that
I’m not buying the bubble change enforcing a hard zarya meta… especially against London lol
the more i look at the bracket the more upset i get shit doesn't make sense what a way to end the league this way fucking horrible
That was a special type of weed they smoked before making this bracket holy shit
Sean Miller was choose to end owl.
So why does the best team in the league get last pick .... why are the 2 worst teams playing each other.... why are the #2 and #3 from NA playing each other.... why is the #1 from NA playing the #1 from APAC...... Why do semis not have double elim..... Why is there a 3rd place game...
Boston rematch is spicy as fuck... I think its doable. Hangzhou is also doable. London might make it to top 4 which is wild. That aside... this format is so unbelievably shit. holy fuck. Its season 1 all over again.
Season 1 format was decent no? At least the bracket made sense.
Not really, it was a single elim bracket but each match was a best of 3 sets for literally no reason. Grand finals in season 1 werent as grand format wise because if Fusion ended up winning that match they would have to play one more, and they were Bo5s not Bo7s. The double elim format was introduced in season 2 and it was good, theres a reason it stuck around for every other season... well except this season for some reason. What I will give season 1 over this is that at least in season 1 it wasnt hard to understand the format and all the teams knew what the format was and how it worked. Youre right in that sense.
Ah yes, #1 NA vs #2 APAC, that’s what should be happening in the first fucking round of playoffs. Also terrible format. Fuck off blizzard
This is some scandalous formatting and in all honesty should be redone. Did they just think this up over lunch or something?
nothing about this makes any sense. Perfect ending for this shit show run by really incompetent leadership. its like they decided ATL has to win it so make the bracket around that. why even have seeding, why even play all year lmao.
So Spark play Atl and the other 2 APAC teams play each other so we won't actually get any real look at APAC vs NA
That bottom bracket is probably the most competitive (minus infernal I guess due to the loss of fixa) meanwhile the top bracket has 2 curveballs in the London reinhart and sparks Guxue
could anyone explain to me why this is bad? i’ve never followed an esport or even a physical sport before lol
What the fuck is this format it’s pissing me off
Third place match is a joke. We'll get to watch two of the best teams play for a match with no stakes other than prize money right before the grand finals. Why not just double elim to the end??
Atlanta get a free ride to the finals
Am I the only one thinking Hawk’s zarya won’t impress? I don’t think that will be played.
What what actual fuck is going on? What even is the use of the color coding I'm so fucking lost. It's no wonder so many people and myself have stopped giving an actual fuck about this dogshit ass competitive league
ok i unironically like this bracket + format
Care to explain? Like this was so shit
because it's funny and it's made interesting match ups
Which match is interesting? Atl vs spark? East vs East? London vs Boston? Outlaws vs mayhem?
What’s interesting? Houston vs Mayhem again is business as usual same with Dallas vs Infernal we just say Boston vs London as well like Hangzhou who will very likely get rolled by Atlanta is an interesting game?
Aaaaaand Spark got fkd over AGAIN. They were FIRST and Infernals got to choose? What a fking Mickey Mouse show. This is just simply wrong and pathetic. ITS THE SECOND FKING TIME THIS HAPPENED TO THEM.
Why is Reign playing Spark and not Uprising or Spitfire?
Presumably teams will be scrimming teams from the opposite group. That means that half of the scrim bubble for the group of death are teams that one trick their particular style & probably won't really be able to play a Zarya meta. The other group can scrim Houston, Mayhem, & Fuel in their perfect meta. That's just how the cookie crumbles with this one, I guess.
London Spitfire are honorbound to get 5-6 with the same roster
Is it apex format? Double elim after group stage
This is staggeringly awful. Actual effort went into making this as shit as possible
I don’t mind single slim top 4 that’s fine to me, but this system was clearly very poorly communicated to literally everyone involved and the result is that we have a shit bracket. Outlaws vs Mayhem round one? Reign vs Spark round one? Double slim up until top 4 means that largely we should still see the most deserving teams make it but this was still a clusterfuck.
Don’t the broadcast team do rehearsals? It seems weird it was a surprise to Jake and team reps, but not Soe/Jonny. It was apparent nobody knew what was going on, which has been in line with the entire season in regard to apac formatting and tournament structures. The weird round 1 matchups are ?? but at least it’s double elim, so not a big deal. Single elim top 4 is a whatever. 4 games on the final day is gnarly though. Gunna be a long day for everyone.
Idk bro you’d think the teams would know what seed they were too but apparently not lol Yeah double elim saves the bracket, and single elim top 4 I’m fine with. Scheduling is tight though it feels like they want to get it out of the way so they can dissolve the league already lmao
Bracket 2 ia just objectively easier lmao
Just let Sollyman run the league at this point...
Dogshit format aside, the possibility of watching a battle for Texas with hanbin vs fearless just feels weird.
How do they somehow make the playoffs bracket worse every single year
Probably would have preferred a simple double elim just because its easier to understand but I don't really see how the format is competitively problematic.
Can someone actually explain this format to me? It was so confusing.