The 2018 London Spitfire season was the first season of the London Spitfire's existence in the Overwatch League. The team finished with a regular season record of 24–16, which was the fifth best in the Overwatch League.
London qualified for the Stage 1 and Stage 2 Playoffs. In the stage 1 playoffs, London defeated the
Cloud9 was awarded the London slot for an OWL franchise on 10 August 2017 and was later named the London Spitfire.[1][2] Shortly afterwards, they disclosed their 12-player inaugural season roster, the maximum permitted, which would be entirely composed of the following South Korean players:[3]
Kim "birdring" Ji-hyeok
Park "Profit" Joon-yeong
Kim "Rascal" Dong-jun
Lee "Hooreg" Dong-eun
Hong "Gesture" Jae-hui
Baek "Fissure" Chan-hyung
Choi "Bdosin" Seung-tae
Kim "NUS" Jong-seok
Jung "Closer" Won-sik
Jo "HaGoPeun" Hyeon-woo
Kim "Fury" Jun-ho
Seong "WooHyaL" Seung-hyun
The roster would mainly be an amalgamation of their current Cloud9 KONGDOO core and
On 11 January, the Spitfire played their first regular season Overwatch League match in a 3–1 victory over the Florida Mayhem.[5][6] They would end Stage 1 of the 2018 Season with a 7–3 record, earning them the third and final spot in the Stage 1 Playoffs. The team then became the first-ever stage playoffs champions, after achieving victories over the Houston Outlaws (3–1) and the New York Excelsior (3–2) in a reverse sweep.[7]
On 7 March 2018, midway through Stage 2, the Spitfire parted ways with head coach Lee "Bishop" Beom-joon for undisclosed reasons.
Philadelphia Fusion in a thrilling 2–3 semi-finals series.[9]
However, after stage 2, the Spitfire failed to make another stage playoffs, going 5–5 in stage 3 and 4–6 in stage 4. They had to bank on their earlier results to edge them over the finish line. They would end the season with a 24–16 record, good for 5th place and a spot in the postseason where they would face the Los Angeles Gladiators.
Playoffs
London lost their first postseason matchup against the Gladiators on 11 July by a score of 0–3 in the
Philadelphia Fusion on 27 and 28 July by scores of 3–1 and 3–0, respectively.[12][13]
Source: The Overwatch League Rules for classification: 1) winning percentage; 2) map differential; 3) head-to-head map differential; 4) head-to-head record