2019 Atlanta Reign season


The 2019 Atlanta Reign season was the first season of the Atlanta Reign's existence in the Overwatch League as one of eight expansion franchises added for the 2019 season.
The Reign's first ever regular season OWL match resulted in a 4–0 victory against Florida Mayhem on February 15. Atlanta finished Stage 1 with a 4–3 record and secured a spot in the Stage 1 playoffs, but a 1–3 loss in the quarterfinals by the Philadelphia Fusion ended their playoff run. Prior to Stage 2, multiple roster changes took place, including the retirement of Daniel "dafran" Francesca. The Reign struggled throughout Stages 2 and 3, posting a combined 5–9 record and no stage playoff appearances. The team hit their stride in Stage 4, when the league implemented a 2-2-2 role lock. A 4–0 victory over the Boston Uprising on August 25 gave the Reign a perfect 7–0 record in Stage 4, a 16–12 record for the season, and the sixth seed in the season playoffs.
Atlanta's first playoff match resulted with a 4–3 victory over the San Francisco Shock on September 6. However, the team fell 2–4 to the New York Excelsior the following match, sending them to the lower bracket. A 0–4 loss to the Hangzhou Spark in the following match ended the Reign's playoff run.

Preceding offseason

On September 9, 2018, Atlanta announced the hiring of former San Francisco Shock head coach Brad "Sephy" Rajani as the team's head coach. On October 28, 2018, the Reign announced their full roster, consisting of eight players. It did not include any player that had previously competed in the Overwatch League; instead, the team signed the following players from various Overwatch Contenders scenes:
On November 7, initial roster signee Daniel "dafran" Francesa announced via Twitter that he would be leaving the Overwatch League; however, the resignation was short-lived, as just two days later, dafran decided to remain a member of the Atlanta Reign. On February 11, Reign promoted Dusttin "Dogman" Bowerman from ATL Academy.

Regular season

Stage 1

The Reign's first regular season OWL match was against the Florida Mayhem on February 15. Atlanta swept Florida 4–0 with the help of some well-timed Gravitation Surge eats from flex tank Dong-hyeong "DACO" Seo and strong Lúcio play from Petja "Masaa" Kantanen. The Reign's next match was a 2–3 tiebreaker loss to the Philadelphia Fusion on February 17. The following week, Atlanta took on fellow expansion franchise Toronto Defiant on February 22. After dropping the first map on Busan, Reign grabbed the next three maps to win 3–1. In their only match of week three, Atlanta faced Paris Eternal on March 2. On the second map of Hollywood, DPS Daniel "Dafran" Francesca on Zarya and support Petja "Masaa" Kantanen on Lúcio worked together to send Dafran over the roof of the second choke point; Dafran deployed his Gravitation Surge on to five of the Eternal's players and wiped the team en route to taking all three points of the map and, ultimately, sweeping Paris 4–0.
For their only match of week four, the Reign faced the Los Angeles Gladiators. Atlanta lost the match, getting swept 0–4 for the first time in the season. For their first match of the fifth, and final, week of Stage 1, Atlanta faced the Chengdu Hunters. While Atlanta was able to force a tiebreaker map after winning map four, the team could not overcome the Hunters DPS-heavy composition in map five and lost 2–3. The next day, Atlanta took on Houston Outlaws, needing a win to qualify for the Stage 1 playoffs. The Reign took the match 3–1 to finish the stage with a 4–3 record and claim the fifth seed in the playoffs.
The Reign took on Philadelphia Fusion in the Stage 1 Quarterfinals on March 22. Although the match was tied 1–1 at halftime, the Atlanta dropped the final two maps to lose the match 1–3.

Stage 2

Multiple roster changes occurred prior to the beginning of Stage 2. Five days after Reign's Stage 1 playoff loss, Dafran announced that he was, again, officially retiring from the Overwatch League and became an official Atlanta Reign streamer. On March 31, the team announced that British main support player Daniel "FunnyAstro" Hathaway had been signed to the Atlanta Reign and ATL Academy on a two-way contract. Two days later, the team announced that American DPS player Andrej "babybay" Francisty had been transferred to the Reign from the San Francisco Shock. On April 3, Atlanta acquired off-tank player Nathan "frd" Goebel from the Los Angeles Gladiators academy team Gladiators Legion.
Atlanta began Stage 2 with a match against the Boston Uprising on April 4. Despite winning the first two maps of the match, the Reign yielded a reverse sweep to the Uprising, losing the match 2–3. Three days later, the Reign took on the 2018 champions London Spitfire. Atlanta could not find get much going in the match and was swept 0–4. Atlanta's struggles continued into the first match of week two with a 2–3 loss to the previously winless Los Angeles Valiant on April 12. The Reign yielded the first map Lijiang Tower but quickly turned it around by setting a record for fastest completion of the assault map Paris and not giving up any progress on the third map Blizzard World. However, the Reign struggled to adjust to the DPS-based defense that the Valiant used on Junkertown and ultimately lost the final two maps. Atlanta's first win in Stage 2 was a 3–1 victory against the Washington Justice two days later, which snapped the team's three-game losing streak.
The Reign's next match was against the undefeated New York Excelsior on April 19. Despite being heavy underdogs, as ESPN reported that the Reign had a 5.6% win probability, Atlanta took the match 3–1, with many attributing the surprise victory due to the return of off-tank Daco back into the lineup. The team faced the Guangzhou Charge the two days later. Charge took the match 3–1; with a combined total score of 33 points, the match became the highest scoring game in Overwatch League history. After a week off, Atlanta's final match of Stage 2 was rematch against the New York Excelsior on May 4. The teams split the first two and second two maps to bring the match into a tiebreaker map; with strong performances from Babybay and Daco, Atlanta took the match 3–2 and handed New York their second loss of the season.
Atlanta finished Stage 2 with a 3–4 record, giving the team an overall record if 7–7, and did not qualify for the Stage 2 playoffs.

Stage 3

Atlanta began Stage 3 with a match against the Stage 2 champions San Francisco Shock on June 6. While the Reign were able to take the first map, which snapped Shock's OWL record regular season 28-map win streak, and build that to a 2–1 lead heading into the fourth map, the team lost the final two maps to lose the match 2–3. Two days later, Atlanta took on the Stage 2 runners-up and regular-season-undefeated Vancouver Titans. While the Reign were able to tie up the match 1–1 going into halftime, they dropped the final to maps to lose the match 3–1.
For their third match of the stage, Atlanta faced Shanghai Dragons on June 14. The Reign were able to jump out to a quick 1–0 lead in part due to strong, aggressive support play from Dusttin "Dogman" Bowerman, the Reign yielded three of the last four maps to the Dragons and lost the match 2–3. A day later, the team fell to Seoul Dynasty in a 0–4 sweep.
The Reign's struggles continued into their only match in week three against the Philadelphia Fusion. Atlanta was able to force the match into a tiebreaker map after taking map four of Havana, thanks in part to a strong performance from Babybay, but lost the final map to lose the match 2–3, marking the third time in the stage that Atlanta lost in a five-map match. The loss officially eliminated Atlanta from Stage 3 playoff contention.
After a week off, Reign headed to the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in Atlanta to host the "Atlanta Reign Homestand Weekend". Their first match at the homestand was against the Toronto Defiant on July 6. Dogman and Babybay put on strong offensive performances in the match, as Atlanta went on to win the match 3–1, giving the team their first win of Stage 3. The next day, Atlanta faced the Florida Mayhem. The Reign closed out Stage 3 on a high note, sweeping the Mayhem 4–0 to post a perfect record in front of their home crowd in Atlanta.

Homestand Weekend

Week five saw the "Atlanta Reign Homestand Weekend" – the second of three Overwatch League "Homestand Weekends" of the 2019 season. The two-day event, which took tale place at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in Atlanta, Georgia on July 6–7, featured four matches per day among eight Overwatch League teams. The Homestand, which saw a sold-out crowd of 2,700 attendees for both days, was smaller than the Dallas Fuel Homestand, as the Allen Event Center in Dallas, Texas. Sponsors for the event included Bud Light and Atlanta-based company Coca-Cola. In reference to the League's plan to hold matches in the 2020 season locally, Activision-Blizzard Esports Leagues President & CEO Pete Vlastelica said, "It's showing us the model can work. If these were just fun events that fans were attending because they love the Overwatch game, it would be less exciting. But what we saw in Dallas and are seeing here is these are home events. At the Dallas event, when the Dallas team took the stage, the whole crowd of 4,500 people started screaming, 'Let’s go Dallas.' … That gives us a lot of optimism going into next season to see the demand for these events to fill pretty nice sized arenas."

Stage 4

The Reign's first match of Stage 4, along with the first match with a 2-2-2 role lock, was against the Hangzhou Spark on July 27; Atlanta won the match 3–1.
The following week, Atlanta faced the Paris Eternal on August 3. DPS Jun "Erster" Jeong put on a strong performance in the match, as the Reign swept the Eternal 4–0. The next day, Atlanta took on the Houston Outlaws. Erster, again, performed at a high level, as the Reign did not lose a point on Lijiang Tower and full-held the Outlaws on Blizzard World en route to defeat Houston by a score of 3–1.
After a week off, the Reign took on the Washington Justice, who were undefeated in Stage 4, on August 16. Atlanta took the first map, Busan, and tied on the second map, Hanamura, to enter halftime up 1–0. Washington struck back on Hollywood, full-holding Atlanta on their attack, to tie the series heading into Junkertown. Erster, again, shined in the map, leading the Reign to a win on the map and a 2–1 victory in the match. Two days later, the team faced the London Spitfire. Atlanta took the first map Busan, as the team got far more value out of their ultimates and did not allow London to claim a single point. For map two, Hanamura, the Reign were to complete both points and held London from claiming a point on their attack, as they went up 2–0 going into halftime. Map three, Blizzard World, played out similarly to Hanamura, as Atlanta was able to complete the map and London could not cap the first point; with the match already won, the Reign yielded two points on the fourth map, Havana, but were able to push the payload further to take the map and claim a 4–0 sweep over London.
For their final week of regular season play, the Reign headed to The Novo in Los Angeles to play in the Kit Kat Rivalry Weekend, hosted by the Los Angeles Valiant. Their first match was against the Dallas Fuel on August 24. After the Reign took the first map with little resistance, both teams completed Volskaya Industries twice, to push the map to a second overtime round, but Dallas came out victorious, tying the series 1–1. Coming out of halftime, close wins on King's Row and Havana gave Atlanta a 3–1 match victory. The Reign's final regular season match was against the Boston Uprising a day later. Claiming both points on Lijiang Tower and winning two of three on Volskaya Industries, the Reign entered halftime up 2–0. The team completed both King's Row and Junkertown after halftime, while preventing Boston from doing the same, to complete a 4–0 sweep. The win give Atlanta a perfect 7–0 record in Stage 4 and a 16–12 record for the season. Additionally, the team's +19 map differential put them just ahead of the London Spitfire, who had the same record, in the regular season standings to give them the sixth seed in the season playoffs.

Playoffs

Atlanta opened the double-elimination season playoffs with a match against the third-seeded San Francisco Shock on September 6. The two teams traded blows throughout the entirety of the match, with Atlanta winning maps one, three, and five, and San Francisco winning maps two, four, and six. For the final map of the series, the Reign sent the match to Rialto, while the Shock opted to attack first. On their attack, the Shock managed to reach the first two checkpoints, but the Reign held them from completing the map as the cart stopped at the choke near the end of the map. On defense, San Francisco yielded the first two checkpoints to Atlanta. With about 30 seconds remaining on their attack and the payload only a few meters away from the Shock's distance pushed, the Reign engaged the Shock at the choke; Atlanta's DPS, and former Shock player, Andrej "babybay" Francisty eliminated San Francisco's main tank Yoo "smurf" Myeong-hwan, who was the only Shock player preventing the payload from advancing. With all of the other Shock players focused on other engagements, none of them were near the payload, and the cart rolled forward far enough for Atlanta to take the map claim a 4–3 victory.
Moving on the first round of the winners' bracket, the Reign next faced the second-seeded New York Excelsior two days later. New York jumped to a quick lead, winning on Busan and King's Row in the first to matches, but Atlanta closed the gap after the match break, claiming a win on Hanamura. For map four, New York selected Rialto, and while the Reign nearly took that map to even the score, excellent defensive Bastion play by New York's Park "Saebyeolbe" Jong-ryeol ensured that the Reign would fall short. The Reign selected Lijiang Tower for map five and won it in two rounds, again closing the gap. However, the Excelsior closed out the series with a win on Numbani. The 2–4 loss sent the Reign to the lower bracket.
Atlanta's next match was against the forth-seeded Hangzhou Spark on September 12 in the second round of the lower bracket. Like their two previous matches, the Spark jumped out to an early 1–0 lead after winning on Busan. For map two, the Reign selected Numbani – a map that the Reign had performed historically well on. After both teams completed the map on their respective attacks, the map went to overtime rounds. With only one minute in the time bank, the Spark rolled on their second attack, completing the map second time; Atlanta failed to complete the same feat and took the map loss. The Spark carried their momentum into the following to maps, winning them both, as the Reign were swept, 4–0, ending their playoff run.

Final roster

Transactions

Transactions of/for players on the roster during the 2019 regular season:

Record by stage

League

Game log

Regular season

Playoffs

Awards

On May 8, Dusttin "Dogman" Bowerman was named as a reserve for the 2019 Overwatch League All-Star Game.