Anyone who has played Overwatch knows what Assault and Hybrid game modes have the possibility to end in a tie, but what most people don’t know is that you can actually tie on Payload too.
Twitch streamer Halley0n was partaking in a wild match on Junkertown. Both teams had already completed the map and were on their second attack run. The enemy team was the first to try and ended up pushing the payload all the way to the second checkpoint.
On Junkertown, when the payload reaches the first and second checkpoints, players need to wait for a door to open, so for a good few seconds, the cart will stall. Halley0n’s team decided to take a team fight at that spot and started fragging out, despite the opposing spawn being so close.
Thanks to the streamer’s Wholehog and Ashe’s B.O.B Ulimates, the defenders managed to stop the payload with no additional progress being made towards the third and final objective.
When it was Halley0n’s team’s turn to attack, they cruised past Point A and were headed for B. Despite a rocky penultimate fight, they managed to snag Point B and tie the game at 5-5. Literally, any movement on the payload would have guaranteed them victory.
However, the enemy team came speed-boosting in with a Lucio and wiped them, not allowing any additional progress to be made.
The match then came to a surprising end when Halley0n was unable to get back to the payload on the Wrecking Ball, prompting the result screen to pop up. While he probably expected either a defeat, the “draw” screen appeared, confusing the streamer and everyone in the game.
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“Wait, what?!” he gasped.
“WTF?” a couple players typed in match chat. “How is it a draw?”
Drawing on payload is incredibly difficult and rare. While most may assume that both teams would need to completely full-hold the enemy at the very beginning of the map, matches that go extra rounds are actually more likely to result in a tie.
It all comes down to the time remaining when reaching those checkpoints where the payload needs to stop for a bit. In the first attacking phase, reaching a checkpoint puts more time on the clock for the attackers, but that doesn’t happen in overtime rounds.
There’s a reason why Overwatch League tie-breakers are always played on Control – it’s the only game mode where a tie is impossible.