Florida Mayhem uses ‘illegal’ play during Overwatch League match, forced to replay round

Overwatch 2’s newest maps are massive and include what feels like limitless places to spring attacks on unsuspecting enemies. As we learned during the Overwatch League’s opening weekend, though, some of the wilder areas have to stay in quick play.

During the second match of the day on May 8, the Florida Mayhem was facing off against the Paris Eternal on one of the game’s new maps, Circuit Royal. The Mayhem rolled out on attack using Mei and Symmetra and quickly used Mei’s Ice Wall to create a solid surface on a rooftop. They then used Symmetra’s Teleporter on top of the wall to bypass the first choke point and surprise the Paris Eternal.

While this was an exciting play that led to a quick map completion for the Mayhem, the excitement didn’t last long: the Overwatch League quickly ruled it was an “illegal maneuver” and paused the match after the Eternal’s attack.

According to a Twitter post by Sean Miller, head of the Overwatch League, “using a Mei wall to reach unusable locations with the Symmetra teleport is an exploit and has never been allowed in OWL matches.” The core issue is the wall creates a flat surface for the Teleporter on an otherwise inaccessible surface, like the slanted roof of Circuit Royal.

Miller said in his tweet the rule had been “shared with teams and players” before the season began on May 5. As punishment for using the exploit, the Florida Mayhem was forced to restart its attack on Circuit Royal. 

Paris Eternal’s general manager, Molly “AVALLA” Kim, said on Twitter “multiple staff from different teams” brought the exploit up to league officials. She also noted league had already decided to have the Mayhem restart its attack before her team could even ask for it.

Unfortunately for the Eternal, the Florida Mayhem took Circuit Royal, even without the use of an exploit. The Mayhem won the match with a 3-1 scoreline.