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Shock defeat NYXL, advance to OWL grand final

The San Francisco Shock swept the NYXL 4-0 to finish a 16-0 run in the losers' bracket of the Overwatch League playoffs after losing their opening match against the Atlanta Reign. Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment

The San Francisco Shock swept the New York Excelsior 4-0 in the losers' bracket final in Burbank, California, on Sunday to book a spot in the grand final of the Overwatch League playoffs.

The Shock will face the top-seeded Vancouver Titans -- who beat the Excelsior 4-3 in the winners' bracket final on Friday -- on Sept. 29 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, with $1.1 million going to the winner. The runner-up will pocket $600,000.

The Titans and Shock met in each of the first two stage playoff finals this year, with the Titans winning the Stage 1 title with a 4-3 victory and the Shock claiming Stage 2 with a 4-2 win. The sides also split two regular-season meetings, a 3-1 Vancouver win in February and a 3-2 San Francisco victory in August.

The third-seeded Shock, who fell 4-3 to the Atlanta Reign in the first round of the winners' bracket, took it to the second-seeded Excelsior from the start on Sunday. They won 2-1 on Lijiang Tower, 3-2 on King's Row, 6-5 on Temple of Anubis and 3-2 on Rialto.

Since losing to the Reign, the Shock have swept four straight matches. The 16-map win streak is the second-longest by any team in 2019, behind only their own 28-map run during a perfect Stage 2.

The Excelsior earned $450,000 for the third-place finish.

Overwatch League playoffs prize pool

Champion: $1.1 million

Runner-up: $600,000

Third: $450,000 -- New York Excelsior

Fourth: $350,000 -- Hangzhou Spark

Fifth-sixth: $300,000 -- Los Angeles Gladiators, Atlanta Reign

Seventh-eighth: $200,000 -- London Spitfire, Seoul Dynasty

Ninth-10th: no prize money -- Guangzhou Charge, Shanghai Dragons

11th-12th: no prize money -- Philadelphia Fusion, Chengdu Hunters

--Field Level Media