On February 20, 2018, New York 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, where notably, 17-year-old star DPS player Hwang "Fl0w3R" Yeon-oh was not on the roster, as he was waiting to become eligible for the Overwatch League.

[2] The 17-year-old had been an inactive member of parent team Excelsior, after being deemed ineligible to compete in the inaugural Overwatch League season due to age restrictions.

After defeating Mayhem Academy and NRG Esports in the quarterfinals and semifinals, respectively, XL2 went on to face Fusion University in the North America Grand Finals; however, XL2 was swept 0–4 in the contest.

Nonetheless, the team qualified for the playoffs for the fourth time in four seasons, where they were swept 0–3 in the first round to ATL Academy.

[10] Advancing past the group stages, XL2 first took down Team Envy in a 3–0 sweep,[11] but in their next match, they were swept, 0–3, by ATL Academy, eliminating them from the tournament.