In a bid to guarantee fans the Overwatch League showdown they deserve, Blizzard has gone the extra mile to organize two dedicated All-Star Weekend events for 2020. The events will take place in North America and Asia and help avoid dealing with travel restrictions.
Blizzard Adds Changes to OWL All-Star Weekend Format
Blizzard will host two events for the customary Overwatch League All-Star weekend this year split between Asia and North America. Each event will feature several formats, including a Talent Takedown, a Widowmaker 1v1 Tournament, the All-Star Game, as well as a number of other game mode competitions.
Set for September 26, the All-Stars Asia roster will come with 24 shortlisted players or more than the 20 who will partake in the North American game. Two teams will be assigned Asia to Cho “J1N” Hyo-Jin and Moon “Moon” Byung-chul.
? All of the moments, all of the hype, all of the best ?
Coming together for TWO All-Star weekends!
Take a look at your #OWL2020 All-Stars and the events we have planned ➡ https://t.co/XwlMKaveTp pic.twitter.com/mNqph9cqBp
— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) September 17, 2020
For the All-Star North American game the two squads will be led by Kim “KDG” Dong-Gun and Florida Mayhem’s Kim “Kuki” Dae-kuk. KDG is also the coach for Philadelphia Fusion’s team who is currently ranked second in the overall standing in the regular standing behind Shanghai Dragons.
A Seasonal Finale in the Offing
The All-Star events are a precursor to the Overwatch League Grand Finals which will take place on October 8 and October 10. For the All-Star, fans chose the players who they would like to see participate, but Blizzard introduced a few corrections of its own, so that each team may have at least one representative.
While North America will focus on a Widowmaker 1v1 Tournament and a Talent Takedown, Asia will also come with a set of challenges based on individual heroes from the game. To introduce more variety to the All-Star format, Blizzard has introduced a few more changes.
Give it up for the representatives o top646 f All-Stars NA ?
On October 3rd, the best North America has to offer will be putting on a show!
Visit here for details on the upcoming events ➡ https://t.co/XwlMKadE1R pic.twitter.com/u3wTlGgMJt
— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) September 18, 2020
The second map played in the All-Star event will allow opponents to pick each other’s lineup and role lock in force. Players won’t be bound to a specific role, however, and they may rotate freely.
For the third map, Blizzard has come up with an idea to scale down players in size and let them grow as they start doing more healing and damage. The Talent Takedown will be different in Asia and North America as well.
Players in Asia would be allowed to pick a buff at the beginning of each map whereas the North American game will stick with the familiar format. Meanwhile, Blizzard has confirmed that fans will have an opportunity to purchase exclusive skins for Reinhardt and D.Va between September 29 and October 12.