Overwatch League 2019 Stage 1 playoff preview: Who will advance?

Vancouver Titans

Seed: 1st (7-0 record)

Quarterfinal Opponent: Boston Uprising (8th seed)

Match Time:  Thursday, March 21 8 p.m. PT/11 p.m. ET

The Titans came into the league with a lot of hype behind them. The team picked up the contracts for the Korean Contenders darlings Runaway and were at or near the top of a few pre-season power rankings. They have not disappointed. The Titans are one of two teams to go 7-0 in Stage 1. The other is the New York Excelsior, and the Titans grabbed the #1 seed because they have a better map differential (+18 to New York’s +16).

The Titans are one of the Overwatch League’s best teams when it comes to the current three support, three tank meta (aka GOATS). The biggest reasons behind this are main tank Sangbeom “BUMPER” Park and main support Juseok “Twilight” Lee. Main tank and main support are two of the most important positions in a GOATS comp, and BUMPER and Twilight have flexible enough hero pools that they can adapt to whatever their opponent throws at them. Both are world-class at every hero in their position, giving the rest of the Titans the ability to lock down particular heroes and form a base from which BUMPER and Twilight can do some work.

This isn’t to say the rest of the Titans provide merely journeyman-esque work; far from it. The entirety of the roster is top-tier, and it’s easy to see why they’re atop the standings at this point in the season and very well could be the only team left standing at the grand final.

Their quarterfinal matchup with the Uprising will be the first meeting between the teams.