Overwatch League 2020 Week 4: London Spitfire's Top Plays, Prize Money

The London Spitfire won the Overwatch League's Grand Finals two seasons ago and then revamped their entire roster and coaching staff after a disappointing second season. That new unit's Week 1 debut was...unimpressive, with just one map win across two matches.

Since then, the retooled roster has gone 3-0 in three straight matches that went the full five-map distance—including two Week 4 wins against the hometown Houston Outlaws and Florida Mayhem.

While the flu wreaks havoc across the league, the Spitfire's highly anticipated rookie DPS, Glister, has decided to inflict some ill will of his own.

As the Spitfire have overcome their nerves and begun more steadily creating space, their hitscan specialist, formerly of Gen.G and X6-Gaming, has been comfortably finding heads, clicking them and leading his team to wins. 

Saturday, February 29

New York Excelsior 3 - 0 Florida Mayhem

Toronto Mayhem 0 - 3 Atlanta Reign

London Spitfire 3 - 2 Houston Outlaws

Sunday, March 1

Boston Uprising 0 - 3 Philadelphia Fusion

Paris Eternal 3 - 1 Atlanta Reign

London Spitfire 3 - 2 Florida Mayhem

Toronto Defiant - Houston Outlaws

Full schedule and standings available here.

London's resurgence could be attributed to matches against consecutive flu-ridden teams in the Washington Justice and Outlaws, but the Paris Eternal proved sickness is no excuse with their own dominant "Flu Game" against the Atlanta Reign. 

Instead, what's likely catapulted the Spitfire into a winning record is their roster rotations. In all three wins, London has replaced their flex-DPS, Babel, with the versatile Schwi. They've also made use of their roster depth by rotating in their flex-tank, Clestyn, for Bernar who was reportedly dealing with some sickness. 

The Spitfire's JMAC is an obnoxiously aggressive main tank, but that play-style has meant more eating and less feeding with Schwi's emergence as a reliable contributor across a variety of heroes. While Babel brought a mediocre Mei, Schwi has brought an average Mei with the capacity to flex and pop off on other heroes like Genji, Sombra and Pharah (which was especially potent against the Outlaws, who bizarrely decided to play without a hitscan in their map-five loss).

But make no mistake, the team is well aware that the captain of their ship (or the driver of their bus, according to Sanguinar) is the devastatingly accurate, relentlessly confident Glister. 

It's not every day that a professional team asks its league to nerf their best player, but that's probably because Glister doesn't play every day. 

Spoiling the bottom-ranked Outlaws' hometown debut isn't much to write home about, but the Spitfire's Sunday win over the improved Florida Mayhem is intriguing. The Mayhem have impressed this season, bolstered by improvements from BQB and Gargoyle as well as the addition of Runaway's Gangnamjin—but the Spitfire still outlasted and outdueled them. 

What's most impressive about this team, though, is the clutch factor. To get a taste of the Overwatch League's 2020 $5 million prize pool, teams need the mental fortitude to absorb punches and come back strong. 

With a reverse-sweep under their belt and the most map-five wins in the OWL this season, this rookie team is certainly not dominant—but they have a carry and rare unflappability. Three consecutive wins is great, but we won't know how legitimate London is until their Week 6 matchups against the esteemed Philadelphia Fusion and Atlanta Reign.