The Guangzhou Charge and the Shanghai Dragons kept alive their hopes of reaching the $3.5 million Overwatch League playoffs, posting wins Friday in the first night of the play-in tournament in Burbank, California.
The Charge defeated the Chengdu Hunters 4-1 to set up a match against the Seoul Dynasty, who had a bye. The Dragons edged the Philadelphia Fusion 4-2 to earn a date with the London Spitfire, who also had a bye.
The Dynasty-Charge and Spitfire-Dragons matches are scheduled for Saturday, with the winners advancing to the playoffs, which start Thursday.
All play-in and playoff matches are best-of-seven maps. In the case of Shanghai-Philadelphia, the match went to seven maps, with one map tied.
The Dragons jumped in front with a 2-1 win on Busan and a 5-4 victory on King's Row. After a 3-3 tie on Temple of Anubis, the Fusion captured Watchpoint: Gibraltar 4-3.
Shanghai claimed Lijiang 2-1, but Philadelphia stayed alive with a 3-1 decision on King's Row. The Dragons then led 3-0 on Dorado before the Fusion tied it 3-3. The map was leveled again at 4-4 before Shanghai secured a 5-4 decision.
The Charge weren't pushed as far in their victory. They started with 2-1 wins on both Ilios and Eichenwalde, but the Hunters took Horizon Lunar Colony 3-2. Guangzhou closed out the series by capturing Rialto 3-2 and Lijiang Tower 2-0.
The eight-team, double-elimination playoff bracket begins with first-round matches Thursday and Friday, starting with the top-seeded Vancouver Titans against the lowest-seeded play-in entrant. The first round of the losers bracket will be played Sept. 7, with the second round of the winners bracket a day later. All remaining matches except the grand finals will be played Sept. 12-15.
The grand finals are set for Sept. 29 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, with the champion taking home $1.1 million and the runner-up pocketing $600,000.
--Field Level Media