Overwatch League 2020 power rankings – Top 10 teams
The 2020 Overwatch League is set to take off on Saturday, February 8, when we will get to see the top 20 OWL teams duke it out for the largest slice of US $5 million prize pool and the title of Season 3 champions.
San Francisco Shock are entering the season as the reigning champions and the main favourites to do it again. While it's hard to forget their dominant run in 2019, the biggest question here is whether they will live up to the expectations and hoist the trophy again or is there another team that can stand up to Shock and defeat them in the race to the summit of Overwatch competitive scene.
Here we will present our power rankings for 2020 OWL, look at the top 10 teams and rank them based on their chances to hoist the trophy at the end of the season.
1 San Francisco Shock
San Francisco Shock put up an impressive display of skill in 2019 OWL playoffs, where they started slow and dropped down into the losers' bracket, but then found their pace and completely decimated everyone on their path to the grand finals, where Shock defeated Vancouver Titans 4-0 to secure their maiden OWL title.
Based on their performance last season, where they showed high resistance to meta changes, incredible depth and overall quality, it's hard to imagine any other team can replicate Shock's success, or do the things San Francisco outfit does with the same level of efficiency. What's more, Shock have shown they hold onto a lot of potential for further growth, which especially holds true for their star players – Hyobin "ChoiHyoBin" Choi, Minho "Architect" Park, Jay "sinatraa" Won and Dongjun "Rascal" Kim.
Entering 2020 season, Shock did not make any changes despite the signing of Seonchang "ANS" Lee and to be completely fair, they did not need to make any significant moves. There is a saying "don't fix it if it works" and it seems like Shock followed that rule.
Looking at the roster overall, there are little to no weaknesses, which leads us to believe they are more than ready to contest another title. The only downside is the pressure of expectations which will be put on them heading into Season 3. Will that prevent them from achieving their dreams? Probably not. With an extremely talented line-up and one of the best coaching personnel in the league, namely in their head coach Daehee "Crusty" Park, Shock are set to make waves once more and we would not feel comfortable saying they are anything less than the best OWL team heading into 2020 season.
2 Atlanta Reign
Atlanta Reign had a great season in 2019, where they finished sixth, which was a very solid result, to say the least, especially considering many had Atlanta ranked as a much weaker team.
In the off-season, Reign signed Kim "Edison" Tae-Hoon and Hugo "SharP" Sahlberg, which will add some more quality to the team and if we consider Reign already boast with the line-up which features players such as Jeong "Erster" Joon, Xander "Hawk" Domecq and Petja "Masaa" Kantanen, who are one of the best individuals in their respective roles, there really is no reason to believe Reign will be anything less than a top-five team in 2020.
While Reign have the needed quality to make waves in 2020, we are slightly concerned with their schedule. Since OWL is moving to the homestand series, it means each team will have to do quite a lot of travelling and as it seems Reign took the short end of the stick when it came to their calendar. Will that have a huge effect on the team? Well, to be fair, it's hard to say, but if we had to give a definitive answer, we believe Reign should do just fine, partially because they have a deep roster, which should help them avoid excessive fatigue.
3 Philadelphia Fusion
Most of esports bookmakers have Fusion ranked as sixth-favourites to win the OWL title and we can't agree with that assessment, simply because this team has way too many star players on their roster to be considered anything less than a top-four team heading into 2020 season.
Fusion made a lot of changes to their roster in the off-season and brought it some exceptional talent in Josue "Eqo" Corona, Seunghyun "Ivy" Lee, Junho "Fury" Kim, Kyung-bo "Alarm" Kim, Daniel "FunnyAstro" Hathaway and Philip "ChipSa" Graham to go alongside their star players Jaehyeok "Carpe" Lee, Gael "Poko" Gouzerch and Heesu "Heesu" Jeong who is sidelined until March 24, 2020, when he will celebrate his 18th birthday.
The ceiling of this team is through the roof and if they somehow manage to utilize their potential to its fullest, we would even go on and make a bold statement they can defeat Shock. While that is a very audacious statement, which may not come true, Fusion should at very least be one of the top dogs in the Atlantic Conference, simply because they are way too good compared to other teams.
What makes Fusion's chances to make a deep run this season even greater is their travel schedule, which is very light compared to some other teams. All in all, with young talent and light schedule, Fusion have a serious chance to have a very successful season, but whether they will be able to utilize their potential and reach for the stars remains to be seen.
4 New York Excelsior
The last season bronze medalists New York Excelsior are entering 2020 season with high hopes and while we believe they should be ranked below Shock, Excelsior are a team that can impress or at very least finish among the top four.
Much Like Shock, the New York outfit possess some very talented individuals in their ranks, namely Haeseong "Libero" Kim, who has shown time and time again why he is regarded as one of the best DPS players in the league. That is not to say the remaining lineup is in any way weak, but when Libero finds his stride, he can be a force to be reckoned with. Excelsior also bast very talented players in the tank position, namely Donggyu "Mano" Kim who will play a pivotal role in Excelsior's success this season.
On the other side, we can't praise Taesung "Anamo" Jung too much for what he has shown last season, and while there is a reason to believe he will improve in 2020, it's completely justifiable to look at him as a huge question mark until he proves us otherwise.
Additionally, the coaching personnel changes are slightly questionable. Our concerns are not about whether the new coaches are bad at what they do or not, but rather about what will they change in the team. With new coaching staff, we can expect some changes, which in theory could see Excelsior utilize a completely different playstyle. That, however, won't do the squad any good, especially considering they have been playing with the same strategy for two years and changing that now… we will have to wait and see how everything plays out.
5 Shanghai Dragons
It may be confusing to see Shanghai Dragons ranked so high in our power rankings, but we believe there is a completely reasonable explanation behind our decision to put them among the top five. Last season Dragons finished ninth-10th, which is far from a great result, however, we are confident saying 2020 will be their best season yet and there are two reasons behind that – investments and signings.
Looking at the new and improved Dragons roster, the first thing that caught our attention is their DPS line-up, which features Minseong "diem" Bae, Jinhyeok "DDing" Yang and two new arrivals in Lee "LIP" Jae-won, Byungsun "Fleta" Kim, who are all easily regarded as one of the best DPS players in the world. What is perhaps even more exciting with this line-up is that they have the qualities which complement the playstyle of the other, making this a perfect DPS quartet which is bound to cause serious problems to Dragon's opponents.
Another player who deserves our attention is rookie Tank Seo "Stand1" Ji-won who has shown immense potential while playing in Contenders and is in our eyes a very serious rookie of the year contender.
All things considered, the team is bursting with potential, now the only question is how will Dragons' head coach Byungchul "Moon" Moon use the talent at his disposal. If he manages to bring out the best out of his players, Dragons are a serious threat for a top-five finish. In the worst-case scenario, however, they should still make it into the playoffs.
6 Vancouver Titans
One of the most dominant OWL team throughout 2019 season and eventual silver medalists Vancouver Titans are entering the 2020 OWL hoping they can recreate their success from 2019 and fight their way into the finals.
There is no denying that Vancouver Titans field an extremely strong squad with some very talented individuals. While all of their squad deserves a lot of praise for their achievements, it's 2019 rookie of the year Hyojong "Haksal" Kim who stands out as one of the best DPS players in the world. Joining him, Titans have Sungjun "SLIME" Kim and Juseok "Twilight" Lee as supports and Hyeonwoo "JJANU" Choi as a great tank player.
Suffice to say, Titans have a stacked roster which in theory should cause some serious problems to the other teams. That said, there are some concerns with the departure of Sang-beom "Bumper" Park, who has been one of the core players in the team and had a huge effect on the team chemistry. Other than that, Titans assistant coach Harsha "Harsha" Bandi left for Houston Outlaws, which is another negative in our books.
As we see it, Titans have the potential, but we have a hard time believing it will go any further than that. The departure of Bumper is a huge loss for the team and for that reason, we hardly believe Titans can repeat their success from 2019.
7 Seoul Dynasty
Seoul Dynasty have made some massive roster moves in the offseason when they signed DPS Junyoung "Profit" Park, Jaehui "Gesture" Hong and Seungtae "Bdosin" Choi from London Spitfire as well as Youngwan "Creative" Kim from Gen.G.
The most exciting arrivals out of the four are without a doubt Profit, Bdosin and Gesture, who should add some much-needed quality to Dynasty who finished last season seventh-eighth. While there are high expectations for this team, we can't forget about what happened last year, when everyone was looking at Chan-hyung "Fissure" Baek as the next best thing in the team and a player who will carry the team to victory.
Will this year be the same? Well, it's hard to tell. Profit and Gesture are great players and with Bdosin as a support, there is potential, yet we like to toss that word around, which could mean everything or nothing at the end of the day. Then there are also Dongeon "FITS" Kim and Junyoung "Profit" Park both excellent and consistent DPS players, which is another plus for this team.
All things considered, Seoul Dynasty seem like a team that can win it all or completely fall flat, which is why they are somewhere in the middle of the pack in our eyes, however, due to the talented individuals in their squad, they deserve to be a bit higher than at 10th spot.
8 Hangzhou Spark
There are teams which make huge roster moves in the off-season and then there is Hangzhou Spark, who signed only two players in the Chinese duo Tong "Coldest" Xiaodong and Liu "M1ka" Jiming. Despite making only two signings, they are both great additions to this team, which should fight for at least a playoffs spot.
Coldest is a great player and if he can live up to the hype, we just might see him in the regular lineup, which, considering he will have to fight with Huichang "BeBe" Yoon for playtime is a huge compliment. In the best-case scenario, the meta shift might call for two flex supports in which case Spark are in a great spot. M1ka is another support player, who we don't believe will get much play time this season, however, he is a very solid addition which should add some much-needed depth to this roster.
Besides the new arrivals, Spark field a decent roster, which can hardly compare to that of Shock and Fusion, yet still carries enough quality to make Spark a respectably strong team. The team's success will fall on their DPS players, who had an iffy season in 2019 and while there is always room for improvement, Spark DPS players should step up their game if they're serious about contesting top spots.
9 Guangzhou Charge
Guangzhou Charge had some moments of greatness last season, but eventually fell short and finished ninth-10th, which is approximately the same placement we expect them to achieve this season as well. What we liked about this team is their creativity, as they were not afraid to approach their games differently, which caught many teams off guard.
In terms of off-season moves, Charge signed Nam "Cr0ng" Ki-cheol, Qi "Wya" Haomiao and Alberto "neptuNo" González Molinillo. Cr0ng is a great addition in our book and a solid replacement for Hongjun "HOTBA" Choi. He has shown immense potential and flexibility while he played in Contenders and it's hard not to be optimistic about his arrival at the team. That said, he is an unproven talent in OWL, which does raise some questions. As for Wya, he most likely won't see much playtime this season, while we might see a bit more of the veteran support neptuNo.
All in all, Charge made some solid additions, yet we feel like they will fight an uphill battle as they climb to the playoffs.
10 Chengdu Hunters
As for our 10th spot it came down to either Chengdu Hunters and Los Angeles Gladiators and while we were close to adding the LA squad here, we are not too huge on their roster as a whole, which is mediocre at best. Instead, we believe Hunters and their creative playstyle can achieve more in 2020 OWL season.
Hunters finished last season 11th-12th which, all things considered, was a positive result and although we still firmly believe they could have made it a bit higher, a top-12 finish is still a praiseworthy achievement. The thing we like about Hunters is that they are a team that can defeat anyone on a good day, however, they can also lose to anyone, which makes them a very unpredictable team, yet still, a team that should not be completely ignored.
As far as off-season changes are concerned, Hunters lost their head coach Xingrui "RUI" Wang, which worries us but not to a degree where we would say Hunters are in a bad spot. Far from it. We expect them to keep playing with the same strategy as they did last season, which at very least should help them reach the playoffs. Furthermore, we would even argue this team fields a stronger roster compared to what they did last season.
During the off-season, Hunters signed Shao-Hua "ATing" Chen as their new Tank and added more depth in their support roles with the arrival of Chengzhi "Molly" He and Jingyi "Lengsa" Chen.
All in all, we expect great things from Hunters and while we would not bet our money on them winning the whole thing, we would also advise everyone to not bet against them as Hunters have proven before, they are more than capable of causing upset wins and we don't believe that will change here.
2020 Overwatch League 10th-20th power rankings:
11. Los Angeles Gladiators
12. Dallas Fuel
13. Washington Justice
14. Houston Outlaws
15. Florida Mayhem
16. Toronto Defiant
17. London Spitfire
18. Paris Eternal
19. Los Angeles Valiant
20. Boston Uprising
The 2020 Overwatch League is set to take off on Saturday, February 8, when we will get to see the top 20 OWL teams duke it out for the largest slice of US $5 million prize pool and the title of Season 3 champions.
