We're getting closer and closer from the last tournament of the Overwatch League regular season with a new stage of competition; the Countdown Cup!
Following the Summer Showdown, the League is taking a shot break and will return on July 17 with this last tournament. After the Countdown Cup, an additional two weeks of games will take place, so that all teams have played a total of 21 games this season.
Countdown Cup
Starting July 17, the Countdown Cup will take place for three weeks. Each team in North America will play 3 placement matches, and 4 for Asia. After these matches, the winners, the map record, and the tiebreakers will determine the distribution of teams in two regional tournaments. These will take place from August 7 to 9. Broadcasts will also take place on Friday to better distribute the matches.
This regional tournament will work more or less in the same way as the previous ones. The placement matches will take place from July 24 to August 2, while the cup itself will be played from August 7 to 9. For this tournament, there will be no Heroes Pool!
Format
Here are the tournament seeding tiebreakers:
- Match win percentage in qualifying matches
- Map differential in the qualifying matches
- Head-to-head match differential in the qualifying matches
- Head-to-head match differential this season, excluding tournament matches
- Head-to-head map differential this season, excluding tournament matches
- Overall regular-season win percentage, excluding any bonus wins
- Overall regular-season map win percentage
- Overall regular-season win percentage, including bonus wins
- Map differential against shared opponent(s), starting with the highest seeded shared opponent in the region
Both tournaments have a combined US $275,000 prize pool with the following tiers:
- Tournament champions—$50,000
- Second-place teams—$25,000
- Third- and fourth-place teams—$10,000
- Each tournament win per team—$5,000 (in addition to placement prizing)
The teams competing in each region for the qualifying matches and Countdown Cup tournaments are the same that were in place for the Summer Showdown:
- North America (13): Atlanta Reign, Boston Uprising, Dallas Fuel, Florida Mayhem, Houston Outlaws, Los Angeles Gladiators, Los Angeles Valiant, Paris Eternal, Philadelphia Fusion, San Francisco Shock, Toronto Defiant, Vancouver Titans, and Washington Justice
- Asia (7): Chengdu Hunters, Guangzhou Charge, Hangzhou Spark, London Spitfire, New York Excelsior, Shanghai Dragons, and Seoul Dynasty
Shared tournament rules
- Hero Pools are suspended for all tournament matches—all heroes will be available.
- Matches are first-to-three map wins until the finals, which will be first-to-four maps.
- Higher-seeded teams pick the first map.
- The losing team of each map picks the next map in the series.
- In case of draws, the team that picked the previous map picks again.
Specific rules for the North America tournament
- Qualification: The 12 vs. 13 seed match does not count for prizing.
- Knockouts: The 5-7 seeds get to pick their opponent, with the 5 seed selecting first. Teams will select their opponents at the conclusion of the 12 vs. 13 match on Sunday, August 2.
- Quarterfinals: The 1-4 seeds get an automatic bye to this round, and the 1-3 seeds get to pick their opponent from advancing teams, with the 1 seed selecting first.
- Semifinals and Finals: Fixed matchups based on progression through the bracket.
Specific rules for the Asia tournament
- All seven teams qualify with no qualification match.
- Quarterfinals: The 2 and 3 seeds get to pick their opponent, with the 2 seed selecting first. Teams will select their opponents at the conclusion of matches on Saturday, August 1.
- Semifinals and Finals: Fixed matchups based on progression through the bracket with the 1 seed getting an automatic bye into the semis.
New Overwatch Patch Notes 1.49.1 has just come out with some Hero Updates, but also the return of Competitive Games in Free Selection.
Original content by Jean-Vincent "Durvil" Cannata.
