The 2019 Philadelphia Fusion season is the second season of the Philadelphia Fusion's existence in the Overwatch League. Fusion had a solid Stage 1 performance, finishing the stage with a 5–2 record and making it to the Stage 1 Playoffs but lost in the Semifinals against San Francisco Shock. After posting a 3–4 record for Stage 2, Philadelphia failed to reach the Stage 2 Playoffs.
Preceding offseason
Player resignings
From August 1 to September 9, 2018, all Overwatch League teams that competed in the 2018 season could choose to extend their team's players' contracts. Fusion elected to release Georgii "ShaDowBurn" Gushcha, Park "DayFly" Jeong-hwan, and Joseph "Joemeister" Gramano.[1]
Free agency
All non-expansion teams could not enter the free agency period until October 8, 2018; they were able to sign members from their respective academy team and make trades until then. On September 25, Fusion promoted support player Elijah "Elk" Gallagher from Fusion University on a two-way contract.[2] On October 17, Fusion transferred Choi "Hotba" Hong-jun to 2019 expansion team Guangzhou Charge.[3]
Regular season
Stage 1
Fusion opened their season on February 14 against London Spitfire – a rematch of the 2018 Overwatch League Grand Finals; Philadelphia took the match by a score of 3–1.[4] The team defeated Atlanta Reign three days later to start their 2019 season 2–0.[5] Fusion's second fell short of expectations, as the team lost their matches against both Florida Mayhem and Dallas Fuel.[6] Philadelphia bounced back, winning their final three matches against Washington Justice, Los Angeles Valiant, and Paris Eternal to finish Stage 1 with a 5–2 record and a Stage 1 Playoff berth.[7] At the end of Stage 1, Fusion was tied with Toronto Defiant for the third seed of the playoffs. By rule, the teams would have to compete in an offline match to determine seeding; however, both teams agreed on a coin-flip, instead. Philadelphia received the fourth seed and took on Atlanta Reign in the Quarterfinals.[8]
Fusion's quarterfinal match took place on March 22. After losing the first map, Philadelphia took three maps in a row to defeat to Reign move on to the Stage 1 Semifinals against San Francisco Shock.[9] Fusion was defeated handily by Shock in the semifinals match, getting swept 0–4 and ending their playoff run.[10]
Stage 2
Philadelphia began Stage 2 on April 4 with a 0–4 loss against undefeated New York Excelsior.[11] After a string of two wins against Florida Mayhem[12] and Toronto Defiant,[13] Fusion was set to take on Spitfire in a rematch of week 1 of Stage 1. London managed to claim the victory, as the team took the match 2–1.[14] After losing two of their last three matches, Fusion finished Stage 2 with a 3–4 record, missing the Stage 2 Playoffs.[15]
Stage 3
Fusion began Stage 3 the same way as Stage 2, with a 0–4 loss; this time it was against Hangzhou Spark.[16]
On May 1, Lee "Carpe" Jae-hyeok was named as a starter for the 2019 Overwatch League All-Star Game.[18] A week later Gael "Poko" Gouzerch was named as a reserve for the All-Star Game.[19]