Even though 2020 was a strange year for the Overwatch League, players kept up a level of competition that fans were used to despite the hardest of circumstances. Teams were scattered across the world, divided into two regions, and rosters were forced to deal with the difficulties of online-only competition.
Despite all these obstacles, certain plays stood out during 2020. Some plays were memorable for their undeniable hype or the exhibition of skill by a certain player, but all of them deserve a spot in the league’s history books.
Here are five of the top plays from the 2020 Overwatch League season.
Fleta deadlifts once again
Early in his career, the Shanghai Dragons’ DPS Kim “Fleta” Byung-sun earned such a reputation for carrying games that an entire Overwatch League statistic is named after him. The “Fleta Deadlift” refers to any map in which one player has over half the eliminations for a single team. Since joining the Shanghai Dragons, the 2020 league MVP hasn’t had to bring out his deadlift skills in a while.
That all changed in a game against his former team, the Seoul Dynasty.
All hope looked lost for the Dragons on the final point of King’s Row. Facing a number of ultimates from the enemy team, Fleta made a last-minute decision to switch to Widowmaker and finish the game by himself. In a matter of seconds, Fleta hit headshots on both of the Dynasty’s supports as well as their Sombra, denying an EMP that would have likely meant disaster for Shanghai.
Danteh says no
As the perpetual clutch DPS of the Houston Outlaws, Dante “Danteh” Cruz is no stranger to turning teamfights in his favor. In one match against the Los Angeles Gladiators, however, he used his Tracer expertise to bring back a fight he had no business winning.
The Outlaws were narrowly saved from imminent destruction thanks to healing from Kim “Rapel” Jung-keun, but the Gladiators were still in a prime position to stop the Houston push—that is until Danteh walked into the backline and assassinated the enemy Zenyatta. Over the next 20 seconds, Danteh took out a Sigma, charged up a Pulse Bomb, defeated the enemy Baptiste, and finished off the Gladiators’ Orisa. He simply decided to not lose that fight.
JinMu breaks the game
Some players are simply so good that the parameters of Overwatch can’t contain them. Or, at least, that’s what Yi “JinMu” Hu of the Chengdu Hunters would like fans to believe.
As the league switched to online-only play, technical difficulties often derailed matches and led to extended pauses. JinMu just happened to have the most immaculately timed disconnect of the season.
In a heated fight between the Chengdu Hunters and Hangzhou Spark on Oasis, JinMu used Genji’s Dragonblade to tear through the Spark’s roster. Immediately after taking out four players and winning the fight for his team, Jinmu turned and walked directly into deadly Oasis traffic. JinMu had apparently lost connection as soon as his Dragonblade finished but was quickly added back to the game after a short pause.
Moth and Smurf’s King’s Row shenanigans
Even though they’re Overwatch League champions, the San Francisco Shock’s players sometimes find themselves in over their heads. The truly dangerous thing about them is how they always find a way to climb back from imminent destruction, though.
On the final stretch of King’s Row, San Francisco was close to dropping another map to the Toronto Defiant in an overtime push. The Defiant took out nearly every member of the Shock and expected an easy win. Main tank Yoo “Smurf” Myeong-hwan and main support Grant “Moth” Espe had other ideas, however.
Smurf used Orisa’s Halt ability to pull up three members of the Defiant, including both of the team’s tanks. Moth then swooped in from above as Lúcio to “boop” them into the depths of King’s Row, effectively shutting down Toronto’s push with nothing but coordination and a whole lot of style.
Yaki’s triple Earthshatter
The Overwatch League’s first monthly tournament, the May Melee, brought a renewed sense of competition back to the players. It also brought the official introduction of new hero Echo into the league. While many players showed off their skills on the hero, no one managed to make a statement with Echo quite like Kim “Yaki” Jun-ki of the Florida Mayhem.
In a fast-paced fight against the Washington Justice, Yaki used Echo’s ultimate, Duplicate, to copy the enemy Reinhardt. Thanks to the accelerated ultimate charge of Echo’s ability, Yaki managed to charge up three Earthshatters in 15 seconds, demolishing the entirety of the Justice.
The bonus hype of this play comes from former player and current caster Jake Lyon, who had to solo cast the Florida Mayhem’s entire attack round after his partner, Andrew “ZP” Rush, was disconnected due to technical issues.
