2020_London_Spitfire_season
The 2020 London Spitfire season was the third season of the London Spitfire's existence in the Overwatch League. The Spitfire planned to host two homestand events in the 2020 season; the first was to be held at The SSE Arena Wembley,[1] while the second was to be at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.[2] However, all homestand events were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
| 2020 London Spitfire season | |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Hong "Agape" Cheol-yong |
| General manager | Lee Seung-hwan |
| Owner | Jack Etienne |
| Conference | Atlantic |
| Division | North |
| Region | Asia |
| Results | |
| Record | 6–15 (.286) |
| Place | |
| May Melee | Quarterfinals |
| Summer Showdown | Quarterfinals |
| Countdown Cup | Quarterfinals |
| Season Playoffs | Did not qualify |
| Total Earnings | $0 |
| |
Organizational changes
In early October 2019, the Spitfire parted ways with coach Kim "Jfeel" Jeong-min, who had been with the team since London's inception.[3]
London found their new head coach within the organization, promoting assistant coach Hong "Agape" Cheol-yong to the position. Additionally, the team signed former New York Excelsior head coach Ty "Pavane" Hyun-sang, former Florida Mayhem assistant coach Kim "SNT" Sung-hoon, and former O2 Blast assistant coach Lim "Twinkl" Young-bin all as assistant coaches. The changes reunited Agape, Pavane, and SNT, as Apage and Pavane previously coached LuxuryWatch Blue and LuxuryWatch Red together, while SNT played with LuxuryWatch Red at the same time.[4]
Roster changes
| Role | Player | Contract status | Date signed | 2020 team | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Handle | Name | ||||
| Damage | Birdring | Ji-Hyeok Kim | Free agent | 6 November | Los Angeles Gladiators[5] |
| Damage | Guard | Hee-Dong Lee | Free agent | – | – |
| Support | Nus | Jong-Seok Kim | Free agent | – | – |
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The Spitfire enter the new season with three free agents, one players which they have the option to retain for another year, and five players under contract.[6] The OWL's deadline to exercise a team option is 11 November, after which any players not retained will become a free agent. Free agency officially began on 7 October.[7]
Acquisitions
The Spitfire's first acquisitions of the offseason were announced on 30 October, when the team traded tank Kim "Fury" Jun-ho to the Philadelphia Fusion in exchange for Fusion University players tank Shin "BERNAR" Se-won and support Kim "Fuze" Tae-hoon.[8]
London announced eight players on their roster on 23 November. The five new players announced were support players Lee "Highly" Sung-hyeok and Lim "SanGuiNar" Kyu-min, DPS players Lee "Schwi" Dong-Jae and Lim "Glister" Gil-seong, as well as tank player Choi "JMAC" Dae Han. Of the players, only Highly has ever previously played for an OWL team, while the remaining had only experience in Overwatch Contenders.[9] The following month, on 27 December, London announced four more players to round out their 12-man roster in damage players Jung "Although" Hyun-wook and Park "Babel" Sang-jun and support players Kim "Jihun" Ji-hun and Cho "Clestyn" Gun-hee.[10]
Departures
The Spitfire elected not to re-sign all three of their free agents, DPS Kim "Birdring" Ji-hyeok, support Kim "NUS" Jong-seok, and alternate DPS Lee "Guard" Hee-dong, heading into the 2020 season.[3]
On 22 October, the Spitfire agreed to transfer tank Hong "Gesture" Jae-hee and DPS Park "Profit" Joon-yeong to the Seoul Dynasty.[11] The team released Choi "Bdosin" Seung-tae and Song "Quatermain" Ji-hoon in mid-November. With the release of Bdosin, no players from the Spitfire's 2018 Grand Finals roster remained with the team.[12]
| 2020 London Spitfire roster | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Players | Coaches | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Legend:
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Latest roster transaction: 27 December 2019. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Pos | Con | Team | Pld | W | BW | L | PCT | MW | ML | MT | MD | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PAC | Shanghai Dragons | 21 | 19 | 8 | 2 | 0.905 | 59 | 15 | 1 | +44 | Advance to playoffs |
| 2 | PAC | Guangzhou Charge | 21 | 14 | 4 | 7 | 0.667 | 44 | 39 | 1 | +5 | |
| 3 | ATL | New York Excelsior | 21 | 13 | 3 | 8 | 0.619 | 50 | 30 | 2 | +20 | Advance to play-ins |
| 4 | PAC | Hangzhou Spark | 21 | 10 | 2 | 11 | 0.476 | 36 | 40 | 2 | −4 | |
| 5 | PAC | Seoul Dynasty | 21 | 9 | 3 | 12 | 0.429 | 33 | 40 | 2 | −7 | |
| 6 | PAC | Chengdu Hunters | 21 | 7 | 1 | 14 | 0.333 | 33 | 47 | 1 | −14 | |
| 7 | ATL | London Spitfire | 21 | 6 | 0 | 15 | 0.286 | 27 | 51 | 0 | −24 |
Rules for classification: 1) Wins plus bonus wins 2) winning percentage (excluding bonus wins); 3) map differential; 4) head-to-head record; 5) head-to-head map differential
Regular season
| 2020 game log (Regular season record: 6–15) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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February–April: 3–2
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May Melee qualifiers: 1–3
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Summer Showdown qualifiers: 2–2
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Countdown Cup qualifiers: 0–3
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August: 0–5
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Midseason tournaments
| 2020 midseason tournaments game log | ||||||||||||||||||
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May Melee: 0–1
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Summer Showdown: 0–1
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Countdown Cup: 0–1
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| Bonus wins awarded: 0 | ||||||||||||||||||
Postseason
| 2020 playoff game log | ||||||||||||||||||
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Asia Play-ins: 0–1
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- Bishop, Sam (6 November 2019). "London Spitfire home matches are in London and Birmingham". GameReactor UK. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
- Koh, Bobby; Blizzard Entertainment (27 November 2019). "London Spitfire Reveals the NEC Birmingham as venue for second Homestand weekend". London Spitfire. Retrieved 11 December 2019.
- "London Spitfire release Birdring, NUS, Guard, coach Jfeel". ESPN. 3 October 2019. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
- Scrubasaurus (21 October 2019). "Spitfire add several coaches including Pavane". Over.gg. Retrieved 22 October 2019.
- "Los Angeles Gladiators add former Spitfire DPS birdring". ESPN. Reuters. 6 November 2019. Retrieved 6 November 2019.
- Morello, Matt (30 July 2019). "2020 Team Needs and Player Contract Status". Overwatch League. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
- Richardson, Liz (4 October 2019). "Overwatch League reveals player contract status for entire league". Dot Esports. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
- "Fusion, Fuel, Defiant and more make Overwatch League roster moves". ESPN. Reuters. 30 October 2019. Retrieved 30 October 2019.
- Almughrabi, Zakaria (23 November 2019). "London Spitfire Announces 2020 Roster". Hotspawn. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
- "London Spitfire add four for 2020 season". ESPN. Reuters. 27 December 2019. Retrieved 28 December 2019.
- Richardson, Liz (22 October 2019). "Seoul Dynasty acquire Gesture and Profit from London Spitfire". Dot Esports. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
- Samples, Rachel (12 November 2019). "London Spitfire release Bdosin, Quatermain ahead of 2020 Overwatch League season". Dot Esports. Retrieved 12 November 2019.