Overwatch League extends trade deadline, temporarily suspends Hero Pools as Summer Showdown looms
More tournament action.
The Overwatch League announced a full slate of changes today as it continues making up for lost time in the wake of the global pandemic.
Two Summer Showdown tournaments are coming up–one in Asia and one in North America–each offering a $275,000 USD prize pool. A series of qualifying matches will take place over the last three weeks in June to seed the teams with Hero Pools suspended for the tournament.
Those pools–which ban certain characters for a period of time based on an “algorithm-driven system”–will now only be in effect for the next two weeks and the first two weeks of qualifying for the third (and final) regular season tournament. All other weeks, the tournaments proper, and the playoffs will have full access to all heroes available.
This weekend will see the Toronto Defiant and Vancouver Titans once again squaring off. In week 20, the Defiant will take on the Atlanta Reign while the Titans take on the Dallas Fuel. Week 21 will see the Defiant challenging the fuel while the Titans receive a double-header, first taking on the Boston Uprising, then the Atlanta Reign. That last match won’t count for qualifying for the Titans but will for the Reign, while the results will count to both team’s regular season standings.
The League concluded the announcement by extending the trade and free agent signings from this month until the end of July.
