The franchise is owned by NYXL, which was founded under the name Andbox by venture capital fund Sterling.VC, supported by Sterling Equities.

Hyun-sang "Pavane" Yu was appointed the team's first head coach and led New York to two conference titles, all seven midseason tournament playoff appearances, midseason tournament titles, and a two-season playoff berths in his time from 2018 to 2019.

"[3] 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.

[4][5] The Excelsior first OWL regular season match was on January 11, 2018, and resulted in a 3–1 win over the Boston Uprising.

New York defeated the Philadelphia Fusion, 3–2, on March 25 to claim their first midseason tournament title.

The team won in the Stage 3 finals against Boston Uprising by a score of 3–0, giving New York back-to-back midseason tournament titles.

[23] The Excelsior's playoff run ended in the lower bracket finals, as they were defeated by the San Francisco Shock, 0–4.

With large number of outbreaks in New York State, the team decided to relocate to South Korea, where they would be competing in the league's newly formed Asia region thereafter.

[27] After a 10–3 record through the regular season, NYXL signed 2019 Rookie of the Year Kim "Haksal" Hyo-jong.

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.

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.