Overwatch League 2020: Washington Justice's Top Plays, Prize Money for Playoffs

Everyone loves an underdog—actually, almost everyone does. The bottom-seeded Washington Justice are storming through the Overwatch League playoffs, to the joy of many and to the dismay of their recently acquired superstar's former team.

In 2019, rookie DPS Decay was an All-Star for the Los Angeles Gladiators. In the following offseason, the Dallas Fuel acquired him. After months as the team's centerpiece, he was benched by the Fuel in June 2020 and subsequently released in August, with speculation buzzing that he preferred Valorant over scrimmages.

The Justice, who lost their own All-Star DPS to the pursuit of a Valorant career in May, acquired Decay less than a week after his release. This made him the third highly touted addition to the team since May, when the Justice acquired 2019 grand finalists Stitch and JJANU, who were bizarrely released amid the Vancouver Titans' implosion in May.

With just two of Washington's six starters remaining from Week 1, the Justice entered the OWL playoffs tied for the bottom-ranked No. 12 seed in North America, and of course, their first match was against Decay's Fuel.

In one weekend, Decay got his revenge and the Justice absolutely shocked the league, surviving through to the fourth round. Having faced the No. 8 seed Fuel, No. 2 San Francisco Shock and No. 3 Paris Eternal, here's how Washington's big weekend played out.

Thursday, September 3

Boston Uprising 3-1 Houston Outlaws

Washington Justice 3-0 Vancouver Titans

Friday, September 4

London Spitfire 1-3 Chengdu Hunters

Toronto Defiant 2-3 Los Angeles Gladiators

Boston Uprising 1-3 Atlanta Reign

Washington Justice 3-0 Dallas Fuel

Saturday, September 5

Chengdu Hunters 2-3 New York Excelsior

Seoul Dynasty 3-0 Hangzhou Spark

Los Angeles Gladiators 0-3 Philadelphia Fusion

Los Angeles Valiant 3-2 Florida Mayhem

Washington Justice 2-3 San Francisco Shock

Atlanta Reign 3-2 Paris Eternal

Sunday, September 6

New York Excelsior 1-3 Shanghai Dragons

Seoul Dynasty 3-0 Guangzhou Charge

Los Angeles Gladiators 0-3 Florida Mayhem

Washington Justice 3-0 Paris Eternal

Los Angeles Valiant 0-3 Philadelphia Fusion

Atlanta Reign 2-3 San Francisco Shock

Full schedule and standings available here.

Fittingly, Washington's weekend started with a 3-0 sweep of the No. 8 Fuel in the first round, eliminating them from the postseason and prompting some unsavory reactions from Decay's former teammates.

It shouldn't be surprising that the loss wasn't particularly palatable, as the team's former superstar was unbelievably ruthless in his smackdown. Playing a hefty Zarya, the tracking maestro could not be touched by the Fuel and made that very known, using abilities with reckless abandon and waving to enemies mid-fight before putting them down.

Unbothered by his former teammates' complaints about their uncomfortable breakup, Decay and the Justice proceeded to finish their weekend in incredible form. Next, they managed to take the No. 2 seed and 2019 champion San Francisco Shock to five maps in a losing effort before sweeping the No. 3 seed Paris Eternal in the losers' bracket.

Against the Eternal, TTuba got in on the highlight plays by securing an entire team kill by himself. In the flurry of Pharah rockets, he showed off some projectile prowess by nailing shots on two of the smallest hitboxes in the game, bullying down Hanbin's Baby D.Va and SoOn's Tracer.

Washington will face the No. 5 seed Los Angeles Valiant on Friday. With a week of preparation, fans (and the Fuel) will be eager to find out if the Valiant can stop the Justice's run and prevent Decay from pulling in a fatter cut of the postseason's $4 million prize pool.