San Francisco Shock lost 1-3 against London Spitfire last week, but they might have a chance to bounce back this weekend. The Shock aren’t that bad, but they don’t have an identity or a set way of playing the game. The more you watch them play, the clearer it becomes that this team lacks stability.

Vancouver Titans were reverse-swept by Toronto Defiant on Sunday in a match that could’ve easily ended in their favour. Even though the Titans lost the Canadian Derby, they showed improvement, partly because the current meta seems to favour their preferred heroes.

The offered OWL esports betting odds on this match look fair. Even though San Francisco are not terrible, they should not be able to beat Vancouver with how they’ve been playing. The Shock lost 1-3 against the Titans at the start of August, which makes it hard to take the underdogs.

London Spitfire started the Overwatch League 2023 Play-Ins strong, crushing San Francisco Shock with 3-2 on Hybrid (Midtown), 3-0 on Flashpoint (Suravasa), and 120.9-82.75 on Push (Esperan?a). Unfortunately, the Spitfire lost 1-3 to Boston Uprising in the second round, but that’s not that worrying given how good the Uprising are.

Washington Justice defeated New York Excelsior 3-1 in the opening round of the play-ins but went down 0-3 to Toronto Defiant in the upper-bracket quarterfinals. This team has looked decent over the last couple of months, particularly DPS players Kim “AlphaYi” Jun and Lim “Flora” Young-woo. The only problem is the tank position, which the Justice need to figure out if they want to produce a deep run.

As the latest Overwatch betting odds suggest, London Spitfire should have no real issue beating the Justice this weekend. They know how they want to play and they’re good at executing their strategy. Even though the Spitfire lack top-tier talent and will struggle against teams with better individuals, this one shouldn’t be a problem.

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New York Excelsior ended the OWL Summer Stage Qualifiers with a 3-2 victory against the Vancouver Titans, which was somewhat surprising knowing how much the Excelsior struggled in the current meta. They played a good game, but there’s still the question of how long this will last and whether the Excelsior truly have figured things out.

Washington Justice squeezed their way into the play-ins despite losing against Toronto Defiant (1-3) on the final day of the qualifiers, marking their third consecutive loss and eighth over a nine-game stretch. Interestingly, the only win over their last nine games came against New York Excelsior (3-1) a month ago.

On one side, we have a team that has struggled with the current meta, and on the other side, a team that is 1-8 since June but are 2-0 in the head-to-head against the Excelsior. This doesn’t make picking a winner any easier; however, at +200 with Overwatch betting sites, Excelior to win with at least two maps to spare looks like a solid value play.

Even though the Excelsior don’t have a clear idea of how they want to play, they’re still in a much better spot than the Justice, who might have a strong head-to-head record, but form-wise, they’re not in a much better spot than New York Excelsior.

It’s very tough to feel optimistic about London Spitfire and their chances to make it to the OWL 2023 Playoffs, mainly due to their concerning results leading into the play-in stage. The Spitfire have won five of their last six games but choked in a very winnable game against Houston Outlaws (2-3).

Choking has become a theme for London, who have otherwise played well this season but could’ve accomplished much more. The Spitfire have the talent to make it through the play-ins, but they have some things to figure out.

San Fransisco Shock drew a lot of attention with their incredible performance against Atlanta Reign (2-3) on Sunday, and even though the game didn’t mean much, the Shock stepped up and delivered.

That performance alone is enough to consider San Fransisco Shock as the better team, but if we zoom out and compare the teams based on what they’ve shown this season, the Spitfire have a higher ceiling. It should be a competitive series, but as long as the Spitfire don’t slip again, they should have an excellent chance to take down the Shock.

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The roster had three new players, which included Chae “HeeSang” Hee-sang, Choi “MAX” Su-min, and Park “Vindaim” Jun-woo, all of whom will be replacing Kwon “Striker” Nam-joo, Colin “Coluge” Arai, Michael “mikeyy” Konicki, and Samuel “s9mm” Santos, who parted ways with the team in November.

The other two players who remained on the team from the old roster are support player Oh “FiNN” Se-jin, DPS Kim “Proper” Dong-hyun, as well as Park “Crusty” Dae-hee, their head coach, and Bumhoon “NineK” Kim, who will serve as their assistant coach.

WE ARE YOUR 2023 SAN FRANCISCO SHOCK@Ow_Proper | @Ow_HeeSang | @OW_MAX1 | @SEjFiNN | @vinda_im pic.twitter.com/N82ExXXwRX

— San Francisco Shock (@SFShock) December 27, 2022

It is not surprising why the team decided to keep Prosper on the roster. The 19-year-old DPS player, who has been with the team since October 2021, has won numerous team awards, including Role Star Damage at the 2022 OWL league and Rookie of the Year at the same event. This year, prosper was also named the regular season MVP.

FiNN joined the team in 2021, at the same time as Prosper. Prior to joining the North American squad, the 19-year-old support player had represented a few Korean teams, such as MVP and O2 Blast, like the rest of the other players on the team, who were signed to O2 Blast at some point.

HeeSang, who is one of the new players, is a 17-year-old South Korean who has represented teams such as Element Mystic, Talon Esports, and most recently O2 Blast. The DPS player has competed in a handful of domestic tournaments and came out on top in these events.

The most recent matches in which the rookie participated while representing O2 Blast include the 2022 OWL Contenders Run It Back: Korea, in which the team came in first, and also the Pacific Shutdown of the same event.

The new team member MAX is an 18-year-old tank player who started his career in late 2019 while representing the now-disbanded team NTP.

Subsequently, he played for other teams such as Ares Gaming, Wave Laboratory, and most recently, O2 Blast, which he represented at the 2022 OWL Contenders Summer Series: Korea A-Sides, where they won first place.

Vindiam, who is the third-newest player, is a 19-year-old former Seoul Dynasty player. He will be representing the San Francisco Shock as their new support player.

The South Korean has also represented other Korean regional teams such as the tiger nation, Gen.B, and O2 Blast, which he represented on loan.

The San Francisco Shock is known as one of the top-tier OWL teams in North America. The team had back-to-back second-place finishes in Overwatch League 2022 Midseason Madness, Summer Showdown, the regular season, and the grand finals.

Although the team came close to winning the tournament they lost to Dallas Fuel in a 3-4 score. With this roster overhaul, the San Francisco Shock are hoping to replicate their impressive 2022 run in 2023, and even win the OWL title.

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The San Francisco Shock and Dallas Fuel faced off in the highly competitive 2022 Grand Finals of the Overwatch League, with the Fuel ultimately coming out on top in a thrilling 4-3 series. This match was one of the most watched in league history and left fans on the edge of their seats. As a way to add excitement to the offseason, the teams will be clashing again in a new format.

According to the San Francisco Shock announcement tweet, they will be facing off against the Dallas Fuel in a best-of-seven show match on December 26 at 10 pm CT. The match will take place at a LAN event in South Korea, and will provide fans with their first opportunity to see the new rosters of both teams for the 2023 Overwatch League season. This show match is highly anticipated, as it will give fans a glimpse of what to expect from these two teams in the upcoming season.

“We��re teaming up with @ESET to bring you the Runback of the most watched @OverwatchLeague match of all time!” San Francisco Shock announced via a tweet.

“New Shock roster, Bo7 with a twist, on LAN live from Korea.
Shock vs @DallasFuel �C December 26th @ 8pm PT”

The current roster of the San Francisco Shock includes only three players from their 2022 roster (MVP and Rookie of the Year Kim “Proper” Dong-hyun and support duo Oh “Finn” Se-jin and Park “Viol2t” Minki). The franchise had earlier let go of Kwon “Striker” Nam-joo, Colin “Coluge” Arai, Michael “mikeyy” Konicki, Samuel “s9mm” Santos, and more recently DPS Jung “Kilo” Jin-woo.

Many fans expect the San Francisco Shock to continue adding talented rookies from O2 Blast, the team’s academy team in 2022, to its roster in 2023. This is because the Shock acquired many of its top players from O2 Blast, a Korean Overwatch Contenders team, last season.

The Dallas Fuel have not yet announced the players that will participate in the Dec. 26 show match. At present, all members of the Dallas Fuel team, including the coaches, are unrestricted free agents, which means they are able to receive offers from any team in the Overwatch League. It is uncertain whether the championship-winning roster will appear in the show match.

The Overwatch League’s free agency period is scheduled to commence on December 23, provided that there are no further delays. After this date, teams will be able to officially sign and reveal their new acquisitions.

The upcoming event, which has been described as a “best-of-seven with a twist,” is sure to be an exciting one for Overwatch fans. It is unclear at this time what the twist will be, but it seems that there will be some special rounds of play beyond the typical Overwatch League format. To see what the teams have been preparing for this event, fans are expected to tune in at 10 pm CT on December 26th.

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According to reports from the North American franchise, Kilo made a personal decision to leave the San Francisco Shock ahead of the 2023 season, which was well received by the entire team. Despite the fact that he is a plausible addition to the team, they bid him farewell as he delved into the very busy free agency market.

��Today we say goodbye to @0w_kilo as he decides to test the waters of free agency,�� the franchise announced.

��Kilo was an integral part of the Shock this season. With his skill and amazing personality, we know that wherever he goes, he will undoubtedly pound.
Thank you for your hard work, Kilo.��

The 19-year-old has shown reputable gameplay throughout his early career, which started up in 2019 with him being signed to Light Gaming. However, the Overwatch player made his debut with the North American team in October 2021, making his stint in the organization a period of one year. The player has also played for Overwatch trophy winners O2 Blast, where he spent a period of a year before transferring to San Francisco Shock, which acquired O2 Blast as an academy roster on February 10, 2022.

Kilo played a significant role in San Francisco setting a new record with consecutive victories in 2022 and was undoubtedly one of the best picks the team made. The San Francisco Shock came in second place overall after being narrowly defeated 4-3 by the Dallas Fuel in the 2022 Grand Finals.

Kilo and San Francisco Shock had a spiraling 2nd place in almost all events of the 2022 season; the team came in second place at the 2022 Overwatch League Midseason Madness, the Summer Shutdown, the Regular Season, and the Playoffs, in which they won a group prize of $500,00.

The American franchise have soared by garnering both tournament and individual awards from their players. The Regular Season MVP, Role Star – Damage, and Rookie of the Year Awards in the 2022 Overwatch League were all won by their DPS player Kim “Proper” Dong-hyun.

San Francisco Shock will also be heading down the path of overhauling their roster ahead of the 2023 Overwatch season, as the team parted ways with four of their key players on November 11. This included damage dealers Samuel “s9mm” Santos, Korean Overwatch pro Kwon “Striker” Nam-joo, and tank players Michael “mikeyy” Konicki and Colin “Coluge” Arai.

The team also announced on Monday the departure of their assistant coach, Cas “Casores” Andel. Currently what is left of the North American roster is support player Park “Viol2t” Min-ki, who joined the team in 2018, South Korean support Oh “FiNN” Se-jin, and another previous O2 Blast player, Proper.

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The organization announced the unexpected development, revealing that the player would be with the team for the rest of the 2022 season.

The announcement was made via the San Francisco Shock��s official Twitter page as the franchise welcomes the Korean player back to their fold.

“Three years ago today we won our first championship with him,” the tweet read.”Today, STRIKER’S BACK.Welcome back to the Shock Fam, @STRIKER_OW”

Striker started his Overwatch League career in the Boston Uprising and gave an impressive performance as a Tracer player and clutch DPS. He was moved to the San Francisco Shock after the 2018 season along with the head coach, Park “Crusty” Dae-hee, and built himself into one of the top DPS in the league.

Striker was integral to the team��s back-to-back championship wins in 2019 against the Vancouver Titans and 2020 against the Seoul Dynasty. The player��s impressive plays with meta like Tracer and Widowmaker earned him a deadly reputation in the OWL. The DPS also notably earned the title of Grand Finals MVP in 2020.

Despite his success in the previous years, Striker announced his retirement from the San Francisco Shock as well as competitive Overwatch in its entirety. To replace the player, the San Francisco Shock brought in Lee “ANS” Seon-chang.

Like most retired competitive gamers, Striker indicated an interest in returning to competitive gaming not long after leaving. He was welcomed back by Boston Uprising, his first OWL team, in late 2021.

The reunion did not last long, as the player was dropped from the squad just a few months down the line. While no particular reason was given, the Boston Uprising put together a cold goodbye post for Striker. At the time, there was speculation concerning the player that during his time with Boston, he prioritized himself over the rest of the team.

Striker did not mention retirement this time and remained in free agency after the Boston Uprising. His lack of an active Overwatch League contract placed him in an excellent spot for the San Francisco Shock, especially in time for the trade deadline of the Overwatch League. The team recently lost back-to-back stage finals and was looking for a boost.

The only veteran talent on the San Francisco Shock’s young roster is their support player, Park “Viol2t” Min-ki, who was a part of the team��s previous championship run. The team is clearly trying to increase their number of veteran talent in order to put up a better performance and hopefully win another tournament soon.

Prior to the signing, the San Francisco Shock already had three top DPS players. Samuel “s9mm” Santos, Jung “Kilo” Jin-woo, and Kim “Proper” Dong-Hyun, who was a top candidate for the 2022 Rookie of the Year award. Striker��s efficiency on Tracer will enable the rest of the players to move on to other hero specializations or take on other roles.

The next match for the San Francisco Shock is slated for September 30, and the team will face off against the Toronto Defiant. It is not certain whether Striker will play with the team then or wait till the postseason to make his reentry.

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Despite San Francisco Shock��s great run in the Overwatch Leagues Kickoff Clash tournament. The franchise makes a rookie signing with more collegiate Overwatch talent heading into the big leagues like Enrique ��Joobi�� Triana.

Shock took to its Twitter page to announce the main tank joining the team ahead of the Mid-Season madness. The acquisition is, however, pending league approval and can only be confirmed when the OWL approves.

For some North American Overwatch Contenders circuit fans, mikeyy is probably a familiar name. The 21-year old was among the players who were let go by Uprising for having underperformed.

Chris ��HuK�� Loranger, president of gaming for Boston Uprising had nothing but praises for the player. Despite his brief experience in the Overwatch Contenders space, he was deemed to be the right fit.

��Though mikeyy hasn��t been in the Overwatch Contenders scene for very long, we like what we��ve seen from him in that short amount of time,�� said Uprising president of gaming Chris ��HuK�� Loranger. ��We��re also happy to add a New England local to the team and hope our fans will root for this hometown player.��

But five months later he was dropped by the team as the Uprising attempted to clean its roster after a disappointing 2020 Overwatch League season. In their response to the poor season, the team parted ways with its main support Kobe ��Halo�� Hamand alongside mikeyy.

With the Uprising, mikeyy was designated as the substitute main tank under Cameron ��Fusions�� Bosworth. He had joined the team in May 2020 from the North American Overwatch Contenders team Noble, where he spent two months. After being dropped by the Uprising, he has since been a part of some successful esports teams like North American Contenders Ardour and Bobby Wasabi.

With his time in Wasabi coming to an end after days with the franchise, mikeyy joined Collegiate team Maryville Esports of Maryville University, on August 15, 2021. He won the Overwatch Collegiate Championship series in April with Maryville. The Missouri-based franchise took on Northwood University in the Finals and won in a best-of-5 series.

Through the Kickoff Clash qualifiers and the tournament itself, Shock featured only one tank, Coli. ��Coluge�� Arai. The acquisition of mikeyy will give room for both players to specialize on certain heroes as Coluge had resorted to using heroes like Winston and Doomfist in the tournament, a massive leap from his usual off-tank standbys. Mikeyy being on the team affords it the opportunity of making subs in different maps, as metals change, making the team flexible.

Shock had an amazing run in the first part of the season. The franchise recorded all wins, posting a 6-0 record making them the only team in the West Region in the Kickoff Clash qualifiers with such a record. Their run was, however, ended by the Atlanta Reign and they later crashed out after being swept by the Dallas Fuel in the lower bracket of the tournament.

With their first Midseason Madness qualifiers game kicking off on June 16. Mikeyy will possibly make his debut for the San Francisco Shock next week as they take on the Dallas Fuel again.

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Los Angeles Valiant are a team no one expects to shine this season, which to some degree holds true for Guangzhou Charge as well. Both sides enter this match with a 0-2 record, but the Valiant hold a slightly better map differential due to their four-map series against Chengdu Hunters (1-3).

LA have not looked as bad as we thought they would, but that doesn’t mean we believe they’re a good team. The Charge are in the same boat, but they have as higher ceiling despite going 0-6 on the season.

We would have sided with the Charge at more appealing odds, but at this price, it makes more sense to take the Valiant with a map handicap.

New York Excelsior looked awful in their 0-3 loss against Chengdu Hunters, but they seemed much improved in their 3-1 win against the Spark. Seoul Dynasty, on the other side, had a solid performance against Guangzhou Charge (3-0) but disappointed in their 1-3 loss against Philadelphia Fusion.

What might make the Dynasty a more appealing pick is that they forced the Fusion to match point on all four maps. However, there is something about their playstyle that leads us to believe this one could end in favour of the Excelsior.

At the offered OWL betting odds, you have to take a shot with the outsiders.

The OWL betting odds suggest this will be an extremely one-sided affair, but we have reason to doubt that. On paper, Hangzhou Spark look extremely weak, but they did not perform too poorly in their bout with Philadelphia Fusion last week.

Even though the Spark lost 1-3, they still took the series lead and held the Fusion to match point on all maps. They followed that up with a very poor showing against New York Excelsior (1-3), so they might not be a very consistent team.

It will all depend on which version of Hangzhou we get here. Shanghai Dragons aren’t as good as last year, so there is a world where the Spark steal at least two maps.

Boston Uprising are priced as -188.68 favourites for this match, which may seem fair, but we weren’t convinced with their recent performances.

Both of these teams faced Los Angeles Gladiators last week, and they both lost 0-3. Boston won four rounds (4-7), whereas London Spitfire won only two (2-7).

Regardless of what those results might suggest, it’s the performances these two sides have shown on the final day of the week that makes us trust the Spitfire more. This could be a close one, but there is no denying London are more consistent.

Florida Mayhem are a weird team. Even though they are winning games (2-0), they are also showing weaknesses – most notably in their 3-1 win against Vancouver Titans.

San Francisco Shock are an entirely different story. They played well in their 2-3 loss against Houston Outlaws, and it was ultimately a poor coaching decision that lost them the game.

Florida might steal one map, but they seem far too shaky for us to believe they can achieve much more. Expect a straightforward win for the reigning OWL champions.

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?After years of mediocre results, the Houston Outlaws put their foot down and completely restructured their roster for the 2021 season by signing some of the best talent from the Overwatch Contenders competition. Perhaps the most notable signings of the offseason were tank Cho ��JJANGGU�� Myung-heum and off-tank Shin ��PIGGY�� Min-jun, who joined the Texan outfit with a built-in synergy from their time together at Talon Esports.

The Dallas Fuel have hit the reset button as well, keeping only Kim “Doha” Dong-Ha from their 2020 roster. The new lineup looks adaptable to a possible meta shift due to the flexibility of their players, but much of their long-term success will come down to coach Hee-won “RUSH” Yun.

The Fuel should improve as the season goes on, but due to all the roster and coaching staff changes, they will likely be in for a slow start. We prefer the Outlaws at this price.

?It may seem weird seeing the Los Angeles Gladiators priced this short considering how uninspiring they were last season, but they made all the right roster changes during the offseason and now field a very capable side that can make some noise during the 2021 Overwatch League campaign.

If their performance at the SteelSeries Invitational is any kind of indicator, the addition of Kim “MuZe” Young-hun, Jin-seo “Shu” Kim, Grant “moth” Espe, and Min-seok “skewed” Kim could take LA to their best season yet. They are still weaker than the San Francisco Shock, but the gap is not nearly as big as it might seem at first glance.

It��s important to note that the Shock haven’t played a single official match since they won the 2020 OWL Grand Finals in October, whereas the Gladiators already have two games under their belt from the SteelSeries Invitational. We wouldn’t bet on LA to finish the season higher than San Fran, but they definitely can surprise the ring-rusty champions in the season opener.

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SAN FRANCISCO SHOCK vs PHILADELPHIA FUSION OWL BETTING & MATCH DETAILS

SAN FRANCISCO SHOCK vs PHILADELPHIA FUSION OVERWATCH LEAGUE 2020 BETTING PREVIEW

The reigning Overwatch League (OWL) champions and the current North American leaders will clash this Saturday when San Francisco Shock and Philadelphia Fusion meet for the third time this season.

Philadelphia have looked strong throughout the 2020 Overwatch League campaign, and they enter the final match of the season ranked first in the North American standings with a 23-2 record. Despite their success in league play, the Fusion can��t be too happy with their second consecutive grand final loss in OWL tournaments last weekend.

Philly finished the July schedule with a perfect 4-0 record, which they earned with wins against Los Angeles Gladiators (3-2), Toronto Defiant (3-0), Dallas Fuel (3-0) and Los Angeles Valiant (3-0). Jaehyeok “Carpe” Lee and his crew extended their momentum into the Countdown Cup, where they had no issues taking down Gladiators (3-0) and Paris Eternal (3-1) but had to admit defeat to San Francisco Shock (2-4) in the decider.

While losing a grand final is devastating enough on its own, that the Fusion suffered the same fate a month prior against Paris Eternal (3-4) in the Summer Showdown makes it a much harder pill to swallow. They still need to work on keeping a cool head in crucial matches, especially when facing a team they have not beaten since the inaugural OWL season.

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San Francisco Shock might not be as dominant as they were in 2019 campaign, but they’re not far from it. The reigning OWL champions enter this bout with a 22-2 record, which sits them one win behind the Fusion in the North American OWL standings and guarantees them a top-five finish.

Not many teams have managed to hold their own against the Fusion and Shock this season. In fact, no other team in the North American division has come close to catching the two frontrunners, seeing how the third-placed Paris Eternal are still five wins behind San Francisco.

Much of these teams’ strength comes from their depth of talent. Both are also very adaptable to different situations and don’t hesitate to put their deadly arsenal to use.

When it comes to roster depth, we have to give the Shock an edge over the Fusion because they have Matthew ��super�� DeLisi and Grant ��Moth�� Espe on the bench and ready to jump in if need be. Both are household names and arguably possess enough quality to be starters in any other OWL team.

If we also take into consideration that San Francisco field tank Myeong-hwan ��smurf�� Yoo, who is living up to his name, and Minki ��Viol2t�� Park, who is one of the best off-healers in the league, they take the cake for the most stacked roster in the division.

SAN FRANCISCO SHOCK vs PHILADELPHIA FUSION OVERWATCH LEAGUE 2020 BETTING PREDICTIONS

The San Francisco Shock are priced as huge favourites for this bout, which is not surprising when you consider their aforementioned roster depth and head-to-head advantage. For the Philadelphia Fusion to stand a chance here, a lot will fall on the shoulders of star support Kyung-bo “Alarm” Kim.

Alarm has been exceptional this season and is one of the main candidates to win the MVP award. What makes him even more dangerous this week is that none of his signature heroes have been banned, which is something the Shock will have to be careful about. On the negative side, the Fusion will need to rethink their strategy and compositions since both Zarya and Genji – who they used frequently last month – are ruled out.

While San Fran won this matchup 4-2 last weekend, Philly looked solid and had their chances to force a seven-map series at the very least. If Alarm shows up and the Fusion can keep their cool, they should be able to keep the series close.

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