Welcome to our Overwatch League Power Rankings hall of fame section where we will help you to discover the best of Overwatch betting. Overwatch has only been with us for a couple of years, but it’s already produced many excellent teams and players who we felt were worthy of some special mentions. Plus we had to highlight which Overwatch tournaments help to make live esports betting so much fun. And obviously we couldn’t miss out our choice of the top esports betting sites so that you can enjoy the best esports odds on your favourite first-person shooter.
With the 2021 season underway, we take a look at the Overwatch League franchised teams and analyze how they stack up against one another in our seasonal Overwatch League Power Rankings.
The list is written in a descending order from “worst” to “best”. Please note that we are only talking about nuances and minor differences, meaning number twenty on our list is not far away in strength from number ten or even number one.
20. Boston Uprising
The Boston Uprising did not fare well once again. Two power rankings in a row the team has not looked impressive or worthwhile. The 2021 iteration has almost an entirely new lineup. It seems the Uprising organization is great for cultivating individual talent and selling them off but they are quite bad at creating inter-player synergy that would bring results on the field. Once again Boston remains a Tier4 team and we have our doubts if they would manage to pull out something special this season.
19. Los Angeles Valiant
It might come as a surprise to many that the LA Valiant is seeded in the lower part of the Overwatch league power rankings, though there is a good reason for it. The LA squad had three consecutive mediocre seasons, and remains in a perpetual state of rebuilding. While they largely retained the roster from Season 1 into Season 2, the decision failed to pay dividends as they ended up in 13th and failed to get into post-season.
This year-round they decided to fully rebuild the roster and coaching staff in a bid to improve on the standings. With most of their new roster coming from Academy or Contenders team, it was hard to judge how Valiant will perform in 2020. This is the reason we have them at a conservative 19 in this year’s Overwatch League power rankings.
18. Guangzhou Charge
Being one of the two teams in the first expansion pack next to Reign, the Guangzhou Charge has had a solid showing in the 2019 season. They finished 9th in the regular season on par with Fusion and Dynasty. Coming into 2020 the squad lost HOTBA, Fragi, Bischu, OnlyWish while Rise retired putting the the squad in a rebuilding pickle.
Contenders Korea and OWL veteran Jung-yeon “Chara” Kim left to coach T1, while Happy now plays for the Houston Outlaws, which only leaves Rio the active veteran . The squad reinforced their lines with “mediocre” additions in Eileen, MyKaylee and Cr0ngand the current roster doesn’t seem like a contender for the top of the tables. This is why Guangzhou Charge only lands at 18 in our Overwatch League Power.
17. Paris Eternal
One of the newest additions to the OWL had a lackluster inaugural season. Eternal only managed to push to 14th with their all-European roster in 2019 and in 2020 the team imported some Korean talent to give them that extra oompf. Xzi and Nosmite together with Smex and FDgod were unable to bring the organization to playoffs last year, so for 2021 Paris Eternal switched back to European talent. A few of them are featured in the OWL rankings for 2021 and make a compelling argument for punter betting on esports to support Paris Eternal as underdogs.
16. London Spitfire
Spitfire went absolutely mental in the 2019-2020 off-season and singed new players in every single position on the roster. Out of 12 players only Yung-hoon “Krillin” Jung remains from the previous season, everyone else was gone.
The new Spitfire only features Korean talent in all players and coaching positions. This should’ve made communication easier, but when it came to play there was a lot to be desired. The roster was built on a lot of Contenders talent and might go either way when it comes to league play. They changed their approach for 2021 and returned to European players, hoping to turn the shit around.
For this reason, as is the case with all fully revamped teams we remain on the conservative side and put Spitfire around the middle of the pack. Keep in mind that this roster might turn out to be a Top 5 team by the end of the season.
15. Florida Mayhem
The Mayhem squad has had two abysmal seasons in a row. They went 7 and 33 in the first season and 6-22 in the second. The roster overhaul and the addition of Kris, BQB, and Swon did not bring the desired results. Swon together with HaGoPeun, RaiN, xepheR, DPI has all moved on coming into 2020. In their place the team brought in Yaki and Gangnamjin in a move to once again revamp the roster and they paid dividends. The new team looks solid and there is obvious synergy between players, with Florida enjoying a strong start in 2021.
Last year’s power rankings had Mayhem in 11th place hoping that they could turn their fortunes around. We were disappointed by their performance and placed them dead last in this 2020’s list. This year, we see clear signs of improvement and we bump them several spots to 15.
14. Washington Justice
The Justice pack had a fair share of problems coming into Season 2. From rumored budgeting problems to drama around coaches and contracts and, the cherry on top, a nightmare schedule even to kick the season off. They played the begging of the season with a miserable 1-6 score line and never really managed to bounce back up until the end of the season.
Coach Hyeong-seok “WizardHyeong” Kim did not make magic with the roster in 2019 and got the boot by the end of the season. The entire coaching staff soon followed as well as most of the player roster. The new and fully revamped roster might cause a miracle, but we will remain on the conservative side and place them near the bottom of our Power Rankings together with all the fully revamped teams. Compared to last season, we believe that the Washington Justice improved so we move them up four spots to the 14th.
13. Atlanta Reign
The Atlanta Reign did not manage to fully reach their potential last season. The infamous roster with Gator, Dafran and NLaaeR did not manage to perform well together. The team released both Dafran and NLaaeR by the end of the season and only retained Gator from the “suspension” trio. Pokpo and Erster were the last to leave from the inaugural squad, but they were replaced by talented players such as Edison and Hawk.
We can be a tad more confident about Reign in this season as the team seems to have a clear strategy in mind for the upcoming season. They tested and smoothed out the kinks and are looking to challenge the standings in the upcoming season. With some of their pro-gamers featuring high in the 2021 OWL rankings, they have a decent chance this year.
However, competition is tough and the latest changes only land them in 13th.
12. Houston Outlaws
The Outlaws decided to invest in some Korean talent for the upcoming season. They picked up Happy and Piggy after losing Jung-geun “Rapel”, Tae-hong “MekO” Kim and Seung-soo “Jecse” Lee, to reinforce their roster. The decision moves them away from their “all-American” title as they finally decide to utilize foreign talent in their rosters.
The new additions however are at the expense of Coolmat and JAKE who were staple members of the organization. Both of them retired at the end 2019 putting the synergy of the roster in question. The Outlaws have still improved massively and we move them up 5 places, all the way to 12, as we expect good things from this organization in 2021.
11. Toronto Defiant
The OverActive Media operated Toronto Defiant have once again rebuilt their roster packed with veteran talent. Canadian Overwatch superstars Lane “Surefour” Roberts left the squad together with country mate Brady “Agilities” Girardi. They also lost two “northerners” in Kristian “Kellex” Keller and Andreas “Nevix” Karlsson, but signed up talented Korean players
This latest transfers put the freshly reformed team right in the middle of the pack with good upwards potential in the OWL power rankings.
10. Chengdu Hunters
Analysts put the Chinese organization through the grinder in the pre-season of last year only to be silenced by the end of the season. The relatively unknown talent compared to the buzzing outperformed half of the OWL “pros” and made it all the way to the Playoffs in 2019.
The organization has a set formula in mind as they keep an all-Chinese roster from players to coaching staff. They are also one of the teams that announced their 2021 roster the latest. The final three players in Ating, Molly and Langsa were announced on 14th of January to round out yet another Mandarin speaking hype squad. (You should listen to the comms). Don’t worry if you don’t understand much, because these players featuring in OWL rankings now exactly what needs to be done.
What doesn’t put the Hunters higher in our standings is their loss of coach Xingrui “RUI” Wang. Due to long-time issues with cervical spondylopathy the main strategist behind the Hunters success had to put his career on hold. The new co-coaches were unable to fill those big shoes, but with RUI back in the fray, we believe the Hunters are back on the prowl.
9. Los Angeles Gladiators
The meteoric rise of the Gladiators in the latter part of the 2018 season and a strong performance at the playoffs set them up as the team to look out for in the 2019 season. They did deliver finishing 5th in the regular season and making it all the way to semis in the Playoffs. Coming into 2020 they only retained the Finns in BigGoose and Shaz and picked up 10 new players.
What sets the Gladiators apart from the other revamped teams is Head Coach David “dpei” Pei who is comfortably at the helm since 2017.Without some of their best players, Los Angeles was unable to compete at the highest levels last year. The strength in the coaching staff is what makes the Gladiators a strong contender every season and we are confident they will start a positive growing trend in 2021 as well.
8. Hangzhou Spark
The Hangzhou Spark is still among the highest seeded teams from the latest expansion pack of the Overwatch league. The organization built on the former Seven and X-6 Gaming roster did wonders in 2019 and placed at 4th place in the regular season. They were far from impressive in 2020 but are showing signs of strength this year and we expect them to improve their performance.
Coach Muho “Mask” Lee is still at the helm while the organization retained much of their 202roster for the upcoming season. The loss of Da-un “NoSmite” Jeong and Hyeong-Geun “Revenge” An puts the organization in a bit of a pickle. Their replacements are the two Chinese Contenders players Coldest and M1ka. What we predict will arise is a breakdown in communication somewhere down the line and Spark ending up below the following seven teams by the end of next season.
7. New York Excelsior
NYXL was relegated to third wheel in 2019 after being the most talked about team in the off-season. The squad performed well throughout the entire season, but were not a match for the Titans or Shock when push came to shove. Some analysts had them in 1st place in 2019’s power rankings while we put them in second behind the Titans. It seems we were correct as the Excelsior squad lost the semifinal and every matchup against the Vancouver squad. They are still a force to be reckoned with, but they’ve dropped a few places on our list, all the way to 6.
Coming into the 2021 Season the team is once again among the top picks for analysts worldwide but almost everyone agrees they are not a match for the two teams ahead of them in the standings
6. Dallas Fuel
The Fuel had a slow season in 2019. They finished just behind Eternal in the standings, but based on their offseason transfers we predict they are edging ahead of a lot of the competition in the upcoming season. This is the team with the highest improvement and we are confident that their meteoric rise in the Overwatch League power rankings is fully justified.
In some wise selection in the off-season the Team Envy backed organization managed to sign Fielder, Fearless, Hanbin, Sp9rk1e and Dong-ha “Doha” Kim. The new team is set to boost Dallas a long way in the standings this year.
5. Vancouver Titans
The main reason the Titans dropped so many places is because they can’t figure out how to beat our number 1 team head-to-head. The squad dominated the regular season and even set a record by winning a total of 19 matches in a row. They dominated in every way conceivable except when it came to beating Shock in a best-of-series. The squad still retained Genji god Hyo-jong “Haksal” Kim at the helm with the Nr.1 jersey and seek to plow through yet another season. These are players taht make frequent appearances in OWL rankings for 2021.
The“levels meta” which prioritizes the players capacity to play certain picks at a high enough skill level worked wonders for Titans in last season and we are confident it will continue to do so in 2021 as well. Last year was mildly disappointing, but that was mainly due to the fact that the expectations were so high. Now that they start in 5th place, they can only go up.
4. Philadelphia Fusion
The Philadelphia Fusion managed to barely break even in 2019. They did make it in the play-ins to just be stomped by the Dragons squad. However, the offseason saw them improve their roster greatly with the addition of Ivy, Fury and Alarm to the roster. The Fusion veteran roster of Boombox, Carpe, SADO and Poko now finally has fresh blood to strategize and grow with.
The defeat at the hands of the Shanghai Dragons in the Grand Finals weekend was a shock mainly because of the 3-0 stomping. While analyzing the strength in every role we are confident 2021 is the year of Fusion and they will likely be in every Stage Playoffs this year.
3. Seoul Dynasty
The Seoul Dynasty managed to live up to the hype in the previous season. The Gen.G operated organization is rightly among the top picks by analysts when it comes to player management and team building. For two years in a row we were left with squads that look magnificent on paper but fail to deliver that final result that would edge Dynasty above the others. For two years in a row we placed Dynasty between 6th and 8th place and they end up correctly in their place each time. They met the high expectations in 2020 and we expect them to do even better in 2021.
They lost ryujehong, Fleta and Highly, players featured in Overwatch League power rankings and managed to pick up three former Spitfires (Gesture, Profit, Bdosin) in return. We doubt this was a matched trade up in player skill and potential so we can’t expect much changing for Dynasty this year.
2. Shanghai Dragons
We simply can’t get enough of the Shanghai Dragons and their growth in the OWL. They were once the the record holders for most consecutive losses in a professional esport ever, with a losing streak of 42 games. They started 2019 by breaking that “record” and continued to grow throughout the season, ultimately winning Stage 3 and making it into Post-Season. To top all of that they went to the Esports Shanghai Masters and took home the trophy.
The Contenders Korea runner-ups Kongdoo Panthera did wonders for the Dragons organization in 2019. Looking forward to 2021, the team picked up Jae-won “LIP” Lee from Blossom and Jun-woo “Void” Kang and Ji-won “Stand1” Seo from the Gladiators organization. The new additions are aimed at putting Dragons in the top5 and every Stage Playoffs in 2021.
The Shanghai Dragons were on the verge of defeating San Francisco Shock in the Winners’ Final, but lost 2-3. They were defeated by the same margin by the Seoul Dynasty, but put up a formidable fight. Based on past performances,growth trends and Overwatch League Power Rankings, it is fairly obvious that the Dragons will be at the top of the standings this year.
1. San Francisco Shock
The SF Shock are advancing 15 position since last year’s ranking. While we correctly placed Vancouver Titans and NYXL at the top of the power rankings, we utterly underappreciated the monster squad that SF Shock have built. They also decided not to rock the boat too much this year round as they have retained most of the players from their previous season.
Currently, SF Shock is the S-tier team to compare other teams with. Even without Jay “Sinatra“ Won at the DPS helm, we have no doubt that SF Shock is going to perform massively in 2021.
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Top 5 Players power rankings in the OWL
1. Fearless
Fearless is the current best tank in the OWL and the Dallas Fuel are lucky to have him. Any OWL power rankings for 2021 feature him among the best Overwatch players. He is the de-facto leader of his team and one of the most reliable players in the World in this position. He has a big part to play in the expected success of the Texans, but he won’t be able to do it on his own.
His signature heroes and Winston, Reihardt, Wrecking Ball and Orisa. He will be the backbone of the Fuel in 2021 and with the help of Fielder, Hanbin, Doha and Sp9rk1e, Fearless really has little to fear about. This is the year Dallas could truly reach its true potential and if they are to achieve something amazing, they will do it with Fearless in the spotlight.
2. JJonak: New York Excelsior
SeongHyun “JJonak” Bang was the MVP of Overwatch League’s Inaugural Season. JJonak is known for his aggressive Zenyatta play. JJonak could often be seen flanking, alone on a support character, eliminating the entire enemy team. JJonak’s plays on Zenyatta were a major part of the New York Excelsior success in season one.
JJonak’s high mechanical skill and ability to dominate a game single-handedly was unmatched during the Overwatch League’s First Season. In season two, JJonak remained the focus of NYXL’s tactics as the meta shifted.
The team had to ultimately settle for bronze in the 2019 season after falling to both the Vancouver Titans and San Francisco shock in the playoffs. After being part of the Championship team in 2018, JJonak was not selected for the 2019 World Cup. His consistently high-level play brings JJonak in at number two on our list.
3. Carpe: Philadelphia Fusion
Jae-hyeok “Carpe” Lee the godlike DPS of Fusion ranks at number three on our Overwatch League Power Rankings. Carpe has popped up on the scene soon after the Overwatch release. Together with friend Min-seong “diem” Bae they formed the latin aphorism Carpe diem as they stormed the leaderboards in early Overwatch.
A veteran on the scene, Carpe is the two-time all-Korean DPS pick for the Overwatch World Cup and part of the 2018 World Cup Champions team. Although he sports an extensive pool of Overwatch heroes, you will usually see him on his signature McRee or Widowmaker in his delivery of clutch plays.
He did not have the luck of defending Fusion’s colors on home court in the 2019 Overwatch League Grand Finals and 2020 wasn’t the year he was hoping for either. Carpe is never one to back down and we can make sure this veteran will be back in 2021 for another shot at the trophy.
4. Fleta: Shanghai Dragons
ByungSun “Fleta” Kim was a staple of the Seoul Dynasty roster for two seasons. The 2019 offseason witnessed a surprise trade to the Shanghai Dragons for the 2020 Season.
He stayed with the new club and he is the second DPS player on our Overwatch League Power Rankings.
Fleta’s play on heroes like Genji, Windowmaker and Pharra, were nothing short of dominating during the first two OWL seasons. His ability to flex on to a number of different DPS heroes, and even at times support heroes, made him indispensable for the Dynasty and most recently the Dragons.
During the Overwatch League’s live events fans could often be heard yelling, “Fleta is the meta”, referring to Fleta’s dominance across a number of different heroes and metas. He has some of the most varied sensitivity settings for each individual Hero in his wheelhouse. But, due to Dynasty’s poor performance in both seasons we put Fleta in fourth place in our selection. With his recent move to the Dragons this might change in our next iteration of the “Top 5 players power rankings”.
5. ChoiHyoBin: San Francisco Shock
Hyo-bin “ChoiHyoBin” Choi comes in fifth in the best Overwatch players going into the Overwatch League Power Rankings for 2021. He was crowned the T-Mobile Grand Finals MVP after The San Francisco shock took the 2019 Playoffs by storm. He was just as good in 2020 and carried his team to victory once again.
As a player in the Off-Tank role, his role is never to make the flashy plays, but instead facilitate his team’s successful plays. Nevertheless, ChoiHyoBin’s signature Sigma pick left a bitter aftertaste with many teams, and she is not even his signature hero.
His un-tiltable mentality can be well summarized by one of his quotes: “I’m not a mentally strong person compared to others, but I feel like I recover sooner because I’m an idiot.”. And this “idiot” with his magnificent playstyle is sure to keep taking the Overwatch world by storm in 2020 season.