Overwatch League June Joust: Schedule, format, Hero and Map pools, and more

After a successful first stop during the May Melee, where Dallas Fuel completed a miracle run to get their first championship win, it’s time to turn the page and prepare for the second Major tournament of the 2021 Season.

For the June Joust, the Overwatch League will reintroduce a banning system known as Hero Pools, which will diversify the possibilities of team comps from now on.

Overwatch League June Joust: Schedule and format

The road to the June Joust will start on 21st May at noon PT, with three more weeks of qualifying matches ahead of the global tournament, where the top six teams from the West and the top four from the East will move into the Regional Knockouts.

(Picture: Overwatch League)

Tiebreakers are set for a change with new “strength of schedule” tiebreakers being added to further mitigate against the possibility of needing to play an additional tiebreaker match.

The Regional Knockouts will feature a single-elimination bracket, getting different seedings according to the region:

• West: Top 2 teams start from the Semifinals, while the 3rd and 6th seed, and 4th and 5th seed will play an Elimination Round.
• East: 1st seed will face 4th seed, while 2nd will face 3rd.

In unexpected news, the Regional Knockout matches of the East region will be played in-studio with a live audience by the China-based teams, while the Korean teams will continue to play remotely.

(Picture: Overwatch League)

All matches from the Regional Knockouts will be played as a best-of-five series, with the best two teams from each of these facing off in the Tournament Weekend, featuring a double-elimination bracket and Bo5 clashes in all but the grand finals, which will have a best-of-seven format.

For the Tournament Weekend, the best seeded qualified team from the West will play against the second from the East, and vice versa. The patch chosen for the June Joust and its qualifiers will be v1.59.1.

Hero Pools and map pool

As mentioned, the June Joust will be played using the Hero Pools, a rotation-based system that removes four heroes from the game: two damage-dealers, one tank, and one support.

These heroes have been randomly selected from a pool of characters that have over 10% playing time across the League and will be banned from selection during the Major.

(Picture: Overwatch League)

As always, this tournament will feature 14 maps featuring all game modes (Assault, Hybrid, Escort, and Control), with the confirmed map pool for the June Joust being as follows:

(Picture: Overwatch League)

Prize pool

Overwatch League's June Joust boasts a total prize pool of US$200,000, the top three teams will also earn League Points, providing a pathway to the Overwatch League Playoffs.

• 1st Place: US$100,000 and 3 League Points
  2nd Place: US$70,000 and 2 League Points
  3rd Place: US$35,000 and 1 League Point
  4th Place: US$20,000

Overwatch League June Joust: How to watch

You can follow all the action from the Overwatch League and the June Joust through their official YouTube channel, as well as some of the best plays through their Twitter account.

Overwatch LeagueThe official account of the Overwatch League. We are a professional esports league with 20 city-based teams worldwide 🌍 Join us LIVE on stream RIGHT HERE throughout all of #OWL2020! This year the battle comes home, check tickets for an event near you 🎫YouTube

The 2021 Overwatch League June Joust will take place on 6-13th June.