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Titans nip Excelsior, advance to Overwatch League grand final

The Vancouver Titans pulled out a 4-3 victory over the NYXL on Friday to advance to the Overwatch League playoffs grand final. Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment

In a tight showdown between the top two teams in the Overwatch League playoffs, the top-seeded Vancouver Titans edged the second-seeded New York Excelsior 4-3 on Friday in Burbank, California, to earn a spot in the grand final.

The Excelsior get another chance to earn their place in the final, as they will play in the lower-bracket final on Sunday.

They will play the winner of Saturday matchup between the third-seeded San Francisco Shock and the fourth-seeded Hangzhou Spark.

All playoff matches continue until one team wins four maps. The grand final will take place Sept. 29 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, with the winner earning $1.1 million and the runner-up pocketing $600,000.

The Titans opened the Friday match with a 2-0 win on Lijiang Tower before the Excelsior captured the next two maps, 3-2 on King's Row and 3-2 on Temple of Anubis.

Vancouver then won two consecutive maps, 3-2 on Watchpoint: Gibraltar and 2-0 on Busan, before New York leveled the score with a 6-3 decision on Numbani.

The decisive map, Dorado, ended in a 3-1 Titans victory.

Overwatch League playoff prize pool

Champion: $1.1 million

Runner-up: $600,000

Third Place: $450,000

Fourth Place: $350,000

Fifth-sixth: $300,000 -- Los Angeles Gladiators, Atlanta Reign

Seventh-eighth: $200,000 -- London Spitfire, Seoul Dynasty

Ninth-10th: no prize money -- Guangzhou Charge, Shanghai Dragons

11th-12th: no prize money -- Philadelphia Fusion, Chengdu Hunters

--Field Level Media