2020_New_York_Excelsior_season
The 2020 New York Excelsior season was the third season of New York Excelsior's (NYXL) existence in the Overwatch League and their first under head coach Jeong "imt" Yong-cheol. New York planned to host two homestand weekends in the 2020 season at the Hammerstein Ballroom in the Manhattan Center.[1] While the first homestand took place, all other homestand events were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
| 2020 New York Excelsior season | |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Jeong "imt" Yong-cheol |
| General manager | Kim Yo-han |
| Owner | Jeff Wilpon |
| Arena(s) | Hammerstein Ballroom |
| Conference | Atlantic |
| Division | North |
| Region | Asia |
| Results | |
| Record | 13–8 (.619) |
| Place | |
| May Melee | Semifinals |
| Summer Showdown | Semifinals |
| Countdown Cup | Semifinals |
| Season Playoffs | Asia Lower Finals |
| Total Earnings | $290,000 |
Organizational changes
On October 21, 2019, New York parted ways with head coach Ty "Pavane" Hyun-sang, as he joined the London Spitfire as an assistant coach. Pavane had been with the team since its inception and led them to a 56–12 regular season record over his career with the team.[2] In his replacement, New York promoted assistant coach Jeong "imt" Yong-cheol as their new head coach on November 19.[3] On December 1, NYXL signed former Seoul Dynasty assistant coach Lee "WhyNot" Ju-hyub as an assistant coach.[4]
Roster changes
The Excelsior enter the new season with one free agents, one players which they have the option to retain for another year, and seven players under contract.[5] The OWL's deadline to exercise a team option is November 11, after which any players not retained will become a free agent. Free agency officially began on October 7.[6]
Acquisitions
NYXL's first offseason acquisition was on February 15, when the team announced the signing of former Guangzhou Charge off-tank Choi "HOTBA" Hong-jun.[7] The following week, the team promoted off-tank Kim "BiaNcA" Dong-wook from their academy team, XL2 Academy.[8] On November 26, New York signed support player Kim "Mandu" Chan-hee from Korean Contenders team O2 Blast.[9] The following week, on December 4, the team signed DPS player Lee "WhoRU" Seung-joon from Fusion University.[10]
Departures
On October 8, the Excelsior announced that they would not pick up their option to keep DPS Yeon-Oh "Fl0w3r" Hwang on the roster another year.[11] A week later, the team announced that they would not re-sign off-tank Kim "MekO" Tae Hong, who had been with the team since their inception in 2017.[12] On December 6, the team announced that DPS player Kim "Pine" Do-hyeon had retired from professional Overwatch and would become a streamer for NYXL.[13]
| 2020 New York Excelsior roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Legend:
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Latest roster transaction: June 5, 2020. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 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: 13–8) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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February–April: 7–1
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May Melee qualifiers: 2–2
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Summer Showdown qualifiers: 2–2
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Countdown Cup qualifiers: 1–2
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August: 1–1
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Midseason tournaments
| 2020 midseason tournaments game log | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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May Melee: 1–1
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Summer Showdown: 1–1
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Countdown Cup: 1–1
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| Bonus wins awarded: 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Postseason
| 2020 playoff game log | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Asia Play-ins: 1–0
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Asia Bracket: 1–2
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- Newman, Heather (August 20, 2019). "The Overwatch League Travels In 2020, Starting In A Historic New York Ballroom". Forbes. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
- Field Level Media (October 21, 2019). "Pavane parts with NYXL, joins Spitfire as assistant". Gwinett Prep Sports. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
- Peres, Pedro (November 19, 2019). "New York Excelsior promote IMT to head coach". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 20, 2019.
- Scrubasaurus (December 1, 2019). "WhyNot joins Excelsior coaching staff". over.gg. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
- Morello, Matt (July 30, 2019). "2020 Team Needs and Player Contract Status". Overwatch League. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
- Richardson, Liz (October 4, 2019). "Overwatch League reveals player contract status for entire league". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
- Richardson, Liz (November 15, 2019). "New York Excelsior add HOTBA". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 16, 2019.
- Samples, Rachel (November 22, 2019). "New York Excelsior promote BiaNcA from XL2 Academy". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
- Samples, Rachel (November 26, 2019). "New York Excelsior sign Mandu ahead of 2020 Overwatch League season". Dot Esports. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
- Richardson, Liz (December 4, 2019). "Whoru joins the New York Excelsior". Dot Esports. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
- Howard, Brandon (October 10, 2019). "New York Excelsior Release Flow3r". TheGamer. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
- Richardson, Liz (October 17, 2019). "New York Excelsior part ways with MekO". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
- "Top prospect WhoRU signs with Excelsior, Pine retires". ESPN. Reuters. December 6, 2019. Retrieved December 7, 2019.