Hello, everyone, and welcome to Part 1 (P1) of Day 1 (D1) of Week 5 (W5) of the West Region Summer Stage Qualifiers (SMQ) for the 2023 Overwatch League season. After a 2 week break in the action as everyone from OWL pros to us forumgoers fought against the Invasion, the Overwatch League now enters the home stretch of the season. And for today, the West Region has a quadrupleheader of matches for your viewing pleasure, which of course doubles our pleasure, doubles our fun, and also DOUBLES the match discussion threads for today!
For our first match of the quadrupleheader, we have a match that some unkind folk would refer to as “The Toilet Bowl Of The Week”, as the London Spitfire (LDN) (4-2, +3 Summer; 6-8, -5 Overall) hope to stay on the right side of the play-in tourmament cutoff line while battling against the Los Angeles Valiant (LAV) (2-4, -7 Summer; 2-12, -27 Overall), who are eliminated from the playoffs and are hoping to salvage some pride as the season comes to a close. After the dust settles on that matchup, we have the Houston Outlaws (HOU) (4-2, +3 Summer; 11-3, +17 Overall) hoping to lock up a spot in the playoffs this week. To do so, though, they’ll have to make sure they don’t “Houstonable” their opponents, the Las Vegas Eternal (LVE) (0-6, -14 Summer; 0-14, -37 Overall), who having been eliminated from the playoffs could easily spoil the Outlaws chances of auto-qualifying for the playoffs, if the Eternal can grab the victory. And be sure to stick around for the second half of the quadrupleheader!
It’s Saturday, the League is entering the home stretch of the season, and we’ll possibly see the debut of Flashpoint in the League…what more could you ask for? So grab your popcorn, take a 6-pack of your favorite age-appropriate beverage out of the fridge, and settle in to your favorite chair. The Summer Stage Qualifiers continues…NOW!
REGARDING RECENT NEWS: I, and several other fans/followers, are fully aware of recent news reports regarding the owner’s vote at the end of the season…and as I’ve said earlier, if the owners voting to sunset the League at least helps in hastening Kotick’s exit, then I’ll gladly take that deal every day of the week and twice on Sunday. THAT BEING SAID, if this season is to be the last, then let whatever fans remain enjoy the last several weeks of League bliss in peace. Attempting to “celebrate” the possible demise of the League by using my threads to name and shame, bash, and/or troll myself or other forumgoers, especially if it’s excessive or blatant, will not be tolerated and will be flagged without hesitation. Don’t be THAT guy who missed the “League is Dead” party cos of a forced forum vacation.
A FINAL NOTE: While I certainly understand that Overwatch 2’s Season 6 launch, not to mention the World of Warcraft Classic Hardcore launch, has left much to be desired by Blizzard…the same rules still apply to this and all other match discussion threads: keep the conversation at a T for Teen rating and keep the trolling to a minimum. As always, thank you in advance and ENJOY THE MATCHES!