Overwatch League May Melee: Schedule, format, prize pool, and more

The 2021 Season of the Overwatch League reaches its first stop, as the best teams in the East and West regions prepare for what will be the May Melee.

The May Melee will bring together the current top four squads in a regional clash, having qualified through their respective Regional Knockouts where the West Top 6 and East Top 4 met for a ticket to this year's first international tournament.

May Melee: Teams and Format

On the West side there were big surprises from the qualifying teams, as Florida Mayhem (#4) and Dallas Fuel (#6) managed to overcome the best teams in North America, including Washington Justice (#1), Houston Outlaws (#2) and the current two-time champions, San Francisco Shock (#3).

Both teams finished their stint in the knockouts with impressive dominance, winning both series since the semifinals without much trouble.

From the East side we had a similar situation, with the Chengdu Hunters (#3) and the Shanghai Dragons (#4) defeating Seoul Dynasty (#2) and Philadelphia Fusion (#1) in their qualifying matches, in two best-of-five series that were more fiercely competed.

Now the final four teams will meet in the May Melee bracket, with their regular season standings defining who they'll face initially, with the Shanghai Dragons taking on Florida Mayhem, while Dallas Fuel will do its thing against the Chengdu Hunters.

This four-team bracket will have a double-elimination format, with best-of-five matches.

May Melee: Schedule and Prize Pool

With the NA traveling to Hawaii for these long-awaited duels in the first international event of the season, the schedule is as follows:

(Picture: Overwatch League)

The prize pool to be distributed for the best teams in this final stage will be $200k, in addition that the first three places will be able to accumulate League Points, being added to those they have accumulated in the regular season and will be used to access the 2021 Overwatch League Playoffs.

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

May Melee: Earn the new Ana Legendary skin

After being chosen as the winner during a poll posted on Twitter by Blizzard and T-Mobile, Overwatch League fans will be able to claim Ana's new legendary skin by watching the May Melee live.

To get this new skin for free, players must link their YouTube and Blizzard accounts through this website, and watch 4 hours of OWL content from 6-8th May in order to earn it. The skins will be added to accounts that qualify at a later date, by 31st May.

May Melee: How to Watch

You can follow all the action from the Overwatch League and May Melee through the competition's official YouTube channel, as well as some of the best plays through their Twitter account.

The 2021 Overwatch League May Melee Tournament Weekend will take place on 6-8th May.