The 2018 London Spitfire season was the first season of the

London Spitfire London Spitfire is a professional ''Overwatch'' team representing the city of London, United Kingdom. The Spitfire compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's West region. Founded in 2017, London Spitfire is one of the le ...

's existence in the

Overwatch League The Overwatch League (OWL) is a professional esports league for the video game ''Overwatch'', produced by its developer, Blizzard Entertainment. The Overwatch League follows the model of other traditional North American professional sporting lea ...

. The team finished with a regular season record of 24–16, which was the fifth best in the

. London qualified for the Stage 1 and Stage 2 Playoffs. In the stage 1 playoffs, London defeated the

Houston Outlaws The Houston Outlaws are an American professional ''Overwatch'' esports team based in Houston, Texas. The Outlaws compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's West region. Founded in 2017, Houston Outlaws is one of the leag ...

in the semifinals and

New York Excelsior The New York Excelsior (often stylized as NYXL) is an American professional ''Overwatch'' esports team based in New York City, New York. The Excelsior compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's West region. Founded in 2017 ...

in the finals. The team lost in the Stage 2 semifinals to the

Philadelphia Fusion Philadelphia Fusion is an American-based professional Overwatch (video game)#Professional competition, ''Overwatch'' esports team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Fusion compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's E ...

. The team also qualified for the Season Playoffs, in which they won in the

Grand Finals Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final (sometimes colloquially abbreviated to "grannie") is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Sy ...

against the Philadelphia Fusion.

Preceding offseason

Cloud9 Cloud9 Esports, Inc., or simply Cloud9 (C9), is an American professional esports company based in Santa Monica, California. The company was originally founded as a professional ''League of Legends'' team by Jack and Paullie Etienne in May 2013 ...

was awarded the London slot for an OWL franchise on 10 August 2017 and was later named the London Spitfire. Shortly afterwards, they disclosed their 12-player inaugural season roster, the maximum permitted, which would be entirely composed of the following

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

n players: * Kim "birdring" Ji-hyeok *

Park "Profit" Joon-yeong Park Joon-yeong (, born November 19, 1999), better known by his online alias Profit, is a professional South Korean ''Overwatch'' player for the Seoul Dynasty of the Overwatch League (OWL). Prior to the OWL's inception, he played for GC Busan, w ...

*Kim "Rascal" Dong-jun *Lee "Hooreg" Dong-eun *Hong "Gesture" Jae-hui * Baek "Fissure" Chan-hyung *Choi "Bdosin" Seung-tae *Kim "NUS" Jong-seok *Jung "Closer" Won-sik *Jo "HaGoPeun" Hyeon-woo *Kim "Fury" Jun-ho *Seong "WooHyaL" Seung-hyun The roster would mainly be an amalgamation of their current Cloud9 KONGDOO core and OGN's

Overwatch APEX ''Overwatch'' Apex, or simply Apex, was a competitive esports tournament series in South Korea for the video game ''Overwatch'' run by South Korean cable television channel OnGameNet (OGN) from 2016 to 2017. The tournament was contested mostly b ...

Season 4 champions GC Busan.

Review

Regular season

On 11 January, the Spitfire played their first regular season Overwatch League match in a 3–1 victory over the

Florida Mayhem Florida Mayhem is an American professional ''Overwatch'' esports team based in Miami and Orlando, Florida. The team competes in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's West Division. Founded in 2017, Florida Mayhem is one of the ...

. They would end Stage 1 of the 2018 Season with a record, earning them the third and final spot in the Stage 1 Playoffs. The team then became the first-ever stage playoffs champions, after achieving victories over the

(3–1) and the

(3–2) in a reverse sweep. On 7 March 2018, midway through Stage 2, the Spitfire parted ways with head coach Lee "Bishop" Beom-joon for undisclosed reasons. The team finished

Stage 2 ''Stage 2'' was a UK television anthology series produced by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Thirteen episodes aired on BBC2 under ''Stage 2'' billing from 1971–73. They were all productions of classic plays shown previously o ...

with an improved record and attained another stage playoffs berth. However, they fell short to the

in a thrilling 2–3 semi-finals series. However, after stage 2, the Spitfire failed to make another stage playoffs, going 5–5 in stage 3 and 4–6 in stage 4. They had to bank on their earlier results to edge them over the finish line. They would end the season with a record, good for 5th place and a spot in the postseason where they would face the

Los Angeles Gladiators The Los Angeles Gladiators are an American professional ''Overwatch'' esports team based in Los Angeles, California. The Gladiators compete in the Overwatch League (OWL) as a member of the league's West region. Founded in 2017, the Los Angeles ...

Playoffs

London lost their first postseason matchup against the Gladiators on 11 July by a score of 0–3 in the

quarterfinals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

. The Spitfire turned it around the next two games against the Gladiators, winning in 3–0 sweeps in matches two and three and advancing the team to the

semifinals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final matc ...

. London won both games against the

Los Angeles Valiant Los Angeles Valiant (stylized as VΛLIΛNT) is an American professional Overwatch (video game)#Esports, ''Overwatch'' esports team representing the city of Los Angeles, California, although the team is operated in China. Valiant compete in the O ...

in the semifinals, winning 3–0 in match one and 3–1 in match two. London claimed the 2018 Overwatch League championship after defeating the

on 27 and 28 July by scores of 3–1 and 3–0, respectively.

Final roster

Transactions

Transactions of/for players on the roster during the 2018 regular season: *On 20 February, Spitfire transferred Baek "Fissure" Chan-hyung to

. *On 21 February, Spitfire released Kim "Rascal" Dong-jun. *On 8 March, Spitfire signed Hwang "TiZi" Jang-hyeon. *On 18 June, Spitfire released Jo "HaGoPeun" Hyeon-woo, Hwang "TiZi" Jang-hyeon, Seong "WooHyaL" Seung-hyun, and Lee "Hooreg" Dong-eun.

Preceding offseason

Review

Regular season

Playoffs

Final roster

Transactions

Standings

Record by stage

League

Game log

Preseason

Regular season

Playoffs

References