The New York Excelsior defeated the Philadelphia Fusion on Sunday night to capture the Overwatch League Stage 2 Championships and $100,000 USD.
The NYXL managed to come back from a 2 to 0 deficit to capture the best of five series and also exorcised some personal demons in the process. Last Stage NYXL held a 2 to 0 lead heading into halftime against the London Spitfire and ended up losing three straight games, giving London the championship win.
Their memories of that fateful game loomed large for NYXL and the team credits the loss for inspiring them to win this time around. After the match, an emotional Yeon-Joon ‘Ark’ Hong said that the feeling was unlike any other and that many of his teammates were feeling highly emotional.
“I think that there’s like no word to express this one. We were really depressed when we got reverse swept in Stage 1 and now we did it and some of them (his teammates) are crying so it feels good” said Ark while wiping a tear from his eye.
Speaking about the Fusion, Ark went on to say that, “we thought that London would come up so we prepared lots for London, but Philadelphia was really good so we still have to prepare our game. We changed our mind in the game and that’s why we won the game.”
The Fusion, however, didn’t leave empty-handed as they received $25,000 for coming in second place. They also managed to defeat the higher ranked London Spitfire in the semi-finals thanks to main tank Joona ‘Fragi’ Laine’s cunning and unexpected play as well as some fortified teamwork.
Along with the Stage Championship title, NYXL also currently holds the best record in the Overwatch League with 18 wins and 2 losses. As for viewership numbers, there were over 190,000 concurrent viewers watching the Stage Finals and during the tie-breaking fifth match, that number exceeded 200,000.
Stage 3 of the Overwatch League kicks off in 9 days with a 7:00 EST match between the (5-15) Dallas Fuel and the (0-20) Shanghai Dragons. You can watch all Overwatch League games on Twitch.
Liked this article and want to read more like it? Check out the highlights of The Overwatch Leagues’ First Stage and a look at xQc’s Departure from the League.
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