Overwatch players have discovered that you can actually end a Competitive match on a payload map in a draw, based on how the payload automatically moves.
There’s always the chance that an Overwatch Competitive match could end in a draw, except on King of the Hill maps, but players usually don’t see it happen on maps that involve pushing a payload.
Being such a rare occurrence could be why Reddit user MexieSMG’s clip of a Competitive match on Eichenwalde ending in a tie has gotten so much attention.
How can a payload map end in a draw?
When you first think about it, Payload maps ending in a tie seems like it should be impossible – there should be no way that both teams pushed it the exact same distance to force the draw.
But in the case of MexieSMG’s clip, it’s not the players moving the payload, but the automatic movement of the payload itself.
On every payload map there are usually at least two checkpoints the payload has to pass through to complete the map, which the payload moves through automatically.
The checkpoint is usually a gate, or in the case of Eichenwalde, the wooden doors of the castle that the Payload breaks down.
After breaking down the doors, the payload actually moves on its own for a pretty good distance past the checkpoint.
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This appears to be what happened in Mexie’s game, both teams got the payload past the second point on Eichenwalde, but were unable to push it any further than the distance the payload travels automatically – ending the match in a rare, but not impossible, draw.
What’s coming next to Overwatch?
After Baptiste’s Reunion Challenge ended on July 1, there’s been a bit of a lull in new Overwatch content and updates, but we do know that the Summer Games event will be starting sometime in early August.
Hero 31, whoever or whatever it may be, is also supposed to be arriving sometime this summer, but other than a possible teaser in Baptiste’s “What You Left Behind” short story, Blizzard has kept quiet.
Overwatch players may be starving for more info on the new Hero and Summer Games, but so far Blizzard has kept a tight lid on any upcoming content for the game.