This year's Overwatch League season playoffs will use a new format. Whereas in order to advance in last year's playoffs a team had to win a best two-of-three matches, each of those consisting of a first-to-three series of maps, this year will feature a double elimination bracket. Essentially, this means that the Hangzhou Spark, for example, who narrowly lost to the L.A. Gladiators, may still have a chance at the Grand Finals despite their early loss.

A double elimination bracket features a more-or-less separate winner's bracket and loser's bracket, with, as these names suggest, the losers of each match in the winner's bracket being relegated to the loser's bracket. It's only from there (with the exception of the Grand Finals) that a team can be eliminated entirely from playoff contention.

via:overwatchleague.com

An Example Of How This Works

While two teams will be eliminated from the first round of matches in the loser's bracket, another two matches will take place in the subsequent loser's bracket round due to an additional two teams being eliminated from the winner's bracket. Whichever team loses Sunday's match between the Gladiators and Vancouver Titans, for example, will then be relegated to the loser's bracket to face the winner of Match 8 (which, to give one potential scenario, could be the winner of London vs. Atlanta if both of those teams lose their initial playoff matches). The overall winner of the loser's bracket will then go on to face the overall winner of the winner's bracket in the Grand Finals.

This format serves a couple of purposes. First, a team having put in the work during the regular season to reach the playoffs doesn't have to face the prospect of an early elimination following just one match loss. Fans get to see their team compete in at least two playoff-level matches at minimum.

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Additionally, this sets up teams that might underperform in their initial playoff match, or else lock into the meta partway into the playoffs (as season champs London did last year following one decisive match loss at the hands of the Gladiators before going Super Saiyan) for a redemption arc.

Unlike traditional double elimination brackets, the Grand Finals will consist of just one match. In most fighting games that utilize double elimination, the winner of the winner's bracket can lose one match in the final round, given that the player/team to make it out of the loser's bracket has done the same (and can't lose again). This will not be the case in OWL, likely due to time and hype constraints. A Grand Finals with the potential for either one or two matches could be challenging in light of program considerations. Potential weirdness aside, this format allows for twice the top-level gameplay. Even though a couple of teams will have already lost their initial matches, they could still come back and win it all.

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