Overwatch League 2020 Week 25: Chengdu Hunters' Top Plays, Prize Money

The Chengdu Hunters went from mediocre, yet intriguing, in 2019 to outright bad in 2020. But the league's meta has shifted to a faster pace and, suddenly, everyone's favorite masters of chaos have won three straight in the past two weeks.

The Hunters finished 2019 at 13-15. Despite adding a highly touted rookie DPS, Leave, in the offseason, they were 4-14 through 23 weeks of 2020 action. After beating the New York Excelsior 3-2 in Week 24 followed by the Seoul Dynasty (3-2) and Hangzhou Spark (3-0) this weekend, Chengdu has now overcome multiple top-10 teams and proved that it won't hesitate to take advantage of disorder.

With Genji defining the meta and LateYoung settled in as the team's flex-tank, the Hunters look more comfortable than ever. Running Leave and JinMu at DPS, Ameng and LateYoung at tank and Molly and Yveltal at support—Chengdu hasn't needed to make a substitution in two weeks.

Here's another week of high-octane disarray played out, with some analysis of the Hunters' top plays and outlook heading toward the OWL postseason.

Friday, July 24

Atlanta Reign 3-1 Boston Uprising

Florida Mayhem 1-3 San Francisco Shock

Saturday, July 25

Seoul Dynasty 2-3 Chengdu Hunters

Shanghai Dragons 3-2 London Spitfire

New York Excelsior 3-0 Guangzhou Charge

San Francisco Shock 3-0 Vancouver Titans

Florida Mayhem 3-0 Washington Justice

Boston Uprising 1-3 Dallas Fuel

Philadelphia Fusion 3-2 Los Angeles Gladiators

Sunday, July 26

Chengdu Hunters 3-0 Hangzhou Spark

Shanghai Dragons 3-0 Seoul Dynasty

Los Angeles Gladiators 0-3 Paris Eternal

Toronto Defiant 0-3 Philadelphia Fusion

Washington Justice 3-1 Houston Outlaws

Full schedule and standings available here.

Ameng is known as the "Yottachad" because of his relentless confidence in playstyle and prioritization of an unconventional hero like Wrecking Ball. In metas that have been defined by a slower, methodical pace, this style hasn't been very successful. In a messy meta, his comfort in chaos is crucial—as evidenced by a near slapstick sequence of events in the match against Seoul.

With a constantly rotating flex-tank and recently uncertain flex-support, Chengdu's momentum has always depended directly on the success of its brashest players, Ameng and JinMu. While JinMu excelled in 2019 and emerged as an All-Star, this season has been shakier.

But the projectile DPS and his companion, the hitscan-leaning Leave, make a tremendous pairing, as both are comfortable running Genji despite each having his preferred style. With Leave locking down hitscan needs as Ashe and Ameng wreaking sporadic destruction, JinMu proved why Genji is so deadly in Chengdu's match against Hangzhou.

Genji nerfs are likely coming, but nothing is certain. That's perfect for Chengdu, which has proved that it can thrive when improvising to the spontaneity of uncertainty. The Hunters' regular season is over, so now they head toward the playoffs with more momentum than they've had all year.

The 2020 playoffs will award $1.5 million for first place, $750,000 for second and $450,000 for third. Those numbers haven't been particularly relevant to Chengdu this season but, meta withstanding, they certainly are now.