New York Excelsior


The New York Excelsior is an American professional Overwatch esports team based in New York City, New York. The Excelsior compete in the Overwatch League as a member of the league's Atlantic North Division.
Founded in 2017, the team is one of twelve founding members of the Overwatch League and is the first professional esports team to represent the city of New York. The franchise is owned by the venture capital fund Sterling.VC, who is supported by New York Mets principal owner Sterling Equities, and operated by Andbox, an esports organization founded by Sterling.VC. They also own XL2 Academy, an academy team for NYXL competing in Overwatch Contenders.
Hyun-sang "Pavane" Yu was appointed the team's first head coach and has led New York to two conference titles, all seven stage playoff appearances, two stage titles, and a two season playoff berths. On October 21, 2019, after the end of OWL Season 2, Yu announced his decision to step down as head coach on Twitter.

Franchise history

Beginnings

On July 12, 2017, Overwatch developer Activision Blizzard officially announced that Jeff Wilpon, co-founder and partner of Sterling.VC and chief operating officer of the New York Mets, purchased the New York-based Overwatch League franchise for an estimated $20 million. With the purchase, the franchise became the first professional esports team to represent New York City. "We sort of skirted around it in the periphery, looked at a couple of teams, made a couple of investments in some companies that do work within esports but never had the real opportunity to buy a team like this," Wilpon said in an interview. "Knowing how committed Activision Blizzard is in this space, it made sense to come in. With people like the Krafts involved, it just gave a good feeling to this."
On October 30, the franchise revealed they would be called the New York Excelsior, as well as unveiling their team branding and inaugural season roster. The roster would entail the acquisitions of the complete LuxuryWatch Blue team, LuxuryWatch Red's Hong "Ark" Yeon-jun and coaches Yu "Pavane" Hyun-sang and Kim "WizardHyeong" Hyeong-seok, and Meta Athena's Kim "Libero" Hae-seong.

Early years (2018–present)

On January 11, the Excelsior opened their inaugural season with a 3–1 victory over the Boston Uprising. They would end Stage 1 of the 2018 Season with a record, earning them the top spot and first-round bye in the Stage 1 Playoffs. However, the team lost in the finals to the London Spitfire in a reverse sweep. Stage 2 played out much like Stage 1 for New York, as the team went on to post again a 9–1 record and a first-round bye into the Stage 2 Playoffs. Also like Stage 1, the playoff finals ended in a 3–2 reverse sweep, but this time New York was on the winning side, defeating the Philadelphia Fusion on March 25 to claim the Stage 2. In Stage 3, New York once again posted a 9–1 record, giving them the second seed for the Stage 3 Playoffs. In the semifinals, the Excelsior swept the Los Angeles Valiant 3–0. The team won in the Stage 3 finals against Boston Uprising in another 3–0 sweep, giving New York back-to-back stage titles. New York posted their worst record, 7–3, in Stage 4, but still claimed the third seed for the Stage 4 Playoffs. Their first matchup was in the semifinals against the Dallas Fuel, in which the Excelsior won 3–2. However, they lost in the Stage 4 finals against the Los Angeles Valiant by a score of 1–3. New York ended their 2018 season with a league-leading 34–6 record and qualified for the Season Playoffs prior to the beginning of Stage 4. The team had a first-round bye and faced the Philadelphia Fusion in the semifinals on July 18 and 21. New York lost both matchups by scores of 0–3 and 2–3, eliminating them from the playoffs. Support player Bang "JJonak" Seong-hyun was named the inaugural Overwatch League season MVP.
Looking to bounce back from their disappointing playoff loss to the Fusion, New York began their 2019 season with a perfect 7–0 record in Stage 1, giving them the top seed in the Atlantic Division for the Stage 1 playoffs. However, the team lost 1–3 to the Seoul Dynasty quarterfinals. NYXL posted a 5–2 record for Stage 2 and claimed the fifth seed for the Stage 2 Playoffs, but they lost in the semifinals to the Vancouver Titans by a score of 1–4. Another perfect 7–0 record in Stage 3 gave New York the top seed in the Stage 3 playoffs; however, team failed to claim the stage title, as they fell 1–3 to the Shanghai Dragons in the quarterfinals. Following a 3–1 victory over the Paris Eternal on August 2, the Excelsior clinched the second seed – and the top seed in the Atlantic Division – in the 2019 playoffs. The team finished the regular season with a 22–6 record. NYXL opened their playoffs with a decisive 4–1 victory over the London Spitfire on September 6. For their next match, they took down the Atlanta Reign, 4–2, and advanced to the winners' finals, where they faced the Vancouver Titans. A 2–4 loss to the Titans dropped New York to the lower bracket of the tournament. The Excelsior's playoff run ended in the lower bracket finals, as they were defeated by the San Francisco Shock, 0–4.

Team identity

The franchise's name is based on the New York state motto,, which means 'ever upward' in Latin. The motto was selected for embodying the team's commitment to "reaching the top and never letting up". It and its abbreviation XL, also represent the endless ambition of ever-growing New York City at its most powerful.
Unique as the only flag-based logo in the Overwatch League, the logo symbolizes the coming together of people, cultures, and ideas. The lines and shapes featured on the flag are also representative of New York specific things, such as the subway systems, skylines, and grid of the city.

Sponsors

New York Excelsior currently has two partnerships. In November 2018, New York Excelsior partnered with Raynor Gaming as its official gaming chair partner. In February 2019, New York Excelsior partnered with telecommunications brand T-Mobile as a new sponsor.

Personnel

Current roster

Head coaches

Awards and records

Seasons overview

Individual accomplishments

Season MVP
Role Stars selections
All-Star Game selections
All-Star Game head coaches
On February 20, 2018, the Excelsior formally announced their academy team would go under the name XL2 Academy for Overwatch Contenders North America, as well as revealing their initial 6-player squad.