Hangzhou Spark

OWL expansion

On 7 September 2018, Activision Blizzard announced that Chinese video sharing website Bilibili had purchased an expansion team based in Hangzhou for Overwatch League's second season. On 14 November, the team revealed their team name as Hangzhou Spark.

On 16 November, the Spark revealed their new head coach, Lee "Mask" Mu-ho. In the following week, the Spark revealed their 10-man inaugural roster through a series of Twitter posts, consisting of players from different Chinese and Korean Contenders teams.

Early years: 2019–present

Hangzhou's first regular season OWL match was a 3–1 victory over the Shanghai Dragons on 14 February 2019, in the 2019 season. The Spark qualified for both the Stage 2 and Stage 3 playoffs, but failed to reach the finals in either one. Hangzhou struggled at the beginning of Stage 4, which was the beginning of the enforced 2-2-2 role lock by the league, after suspending their starting damage player Cai "Krystal" Shilong — an event that later led to the Spark's parent company Bilibili taking legal actions. The team lost their first three matches of the stage but recovered by winning their final four matches, ending the regular season with an 18–10 record and the fourth seed in the season playoffs. The Spark began their playoff run with a 3–4 loss to the Los Angeles Gladiators, sending them to the lower bracket. The team defeated the Seoul Dynasty, 4–1, in the first round of the lower bracket, followed by a 4–0 sweep over the Atlanta Reign in the second round. The Spark's season came to an end after a 0–4 loss to the San Francisco Shock.

Prior to the 2020 season, the Spark made minor changes to their roster, departing with two players and promoting two from their academy team Bilibili Gaming. In the first two regional midseason tournaments of the 2020 season, the May Melee and Summer Showdown, Hangzhou lost 0–3 in the quarterfinals each time. Following, Hangzhou released head coach Lee "Mask" Mu-ho and promoted assistant coach Huang "Pajion" Ji-sub to head coach. In the third, and final, midseason tournament, the Countdown Cup, the Spark reached the finals, but lost to the Shanghai Dragons. The team finished the regular season with a 12–10 record. Hangzhou fell in the Asian play-in tournament to the Seoul Dynasty, 0–3, ending their season.

Looking to improve from their 2020 season, the Spark nearly instantly maxed out their roster with rookies in the 2021 offseason. After an 0–2 start to the 2021 season, the Spark released head coach Hwang "paJion" Ji-sub and promoted Hwang "Andante" Jae-hong to interim head coach. In the first week of June, the Spark hosted the first live OWL events of the 2021 season, marking the first time that live OWL events took place in China. Head coach Hwang "Andante" Jae-hong was released on 15 July 2021, due to "irreconcilable differences between Andante’s and the rest of Spark’s ideals," leaving assistant coach assistant coach Chen "U4" Congshan as the only member on the coaching staff. The Spark finished the regular season in fifth place in the Eastern region. Prior to the start of the postseason, starting Spark support player Lee "MCD" Jeong-ho was dropped from the team following reports that he had made xenophobic remarks towards a Chinese player. Their season ended after they were eliminated in the play-in tournament tournament semifinals, losing to the Philadelphia Fusion.