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Overwatch League 2020 Week 15: Florida Mayhem's Top Plays, Prize Money
May 18, 2020
The Florida Mayhem, who were a combined 13-55 over the Overwatch League's first two seasons, have been on an absolute tear over their past five weeks.
While the Mayhem started this season at 2-4, they have since won five straight matches with a decisive 15-1 map score. This weekend, a 3-1 win over the revamped Washington Justice, was their first map loss since March.
Now the Mayhem sit at 7-4, the fifth-best record among teams in 2020, which grants them elevated seeding for the single-elimination North American May Melee tournament.
The OWL's 2020 overall prize pool is a hefty $5 million, but $225,000 of that purse will be parceled out by May 24 when the midseason tournament is scheduled to play out. If the Mayhem win the tournament, they'll rake in $40,000, along with the $5,000 teams are awarded per match win. If they come in second, that drops to $20,000 and, for third or fourth, $5,000.
Here's how Week 15, the May Melee final qualifier weekend, of the OWL's 2020 season shook out and why the Mayhem's lineup has a strong chance to pull in some ducats.
Saturday, May 16
Seoul Dynasty 0-3 Chengdu Hunters
London Spitfire 0-3 Shanghai Dragons
New York Excelsior 3-1 Hangzhou Spark
Vancouver Titans 0-3 Houston Outlaws
Florida Mayhem 3-1 Washington Justice
Los Angeles Gladiators 2-3 Boston Uprising
San Francisco Shock 3-0 Atlanta Reign
Sunday, May 17
Guangzhou Charge 3-2 Chengdu Hunters
Hangzhou Spark 3-0 London Spitfire
Dallas Fuel 0-3 Paris Eternal
Philadelphia Fusion 3-0 Vancouver Titans
Toronto Defiant 2-3 Los Angeles Valiant
Full schedule and standings available here.
While Florida rotated its lineup for much of 2020, the team has since mostly committed to a lineup consisting of Fate, Gargoyle, BQB, Yaki, Gangnamjin and Kris.
This lineup has since grown more consistent and, although still streaky, is now one of the league's most dangerous. Fate's flexibility as a main tank and Gangnamjin's skill ceiling as flex support are major reasons, but the DPS duo has really come into its own.
Rookie DPS Yaki is the most obvious reason. As a talented flex DPS from RunAway's 2019 roster, he was highly coveted coming into 2020. Although Echo has only been released for a couple of months, Yaki's domination as the unique hero put an exclamation point on what has been a hot streak for Florida.
Three ultimates for the price of one, Yaki's bold play on Echo resulted in possibly the weekend's greatest highlight. But that playstyle couldn't exist without BQB, who has come into his own and improved so much as a hitscan in his second season that fans can no longer wonder why the specialist has replaced Sayaplayer as a starter.
Florida hasn't played the most daunting teams over the past five weeks, but you can't fault the team for its schedule. The DPS play has drawn fanfare, but the lineup's overall cohesion has been markedly improved—key in such a team-dependent game.
Fittingly, May could be a good month for the Mayhem—by the end of it, we just may be calling them the Melee Mayhem.