We’re only about a quarter of the way into the Overwatch League’s inaugural season, and things are already heating up. With Stage 2 coming up this week, we’ll be seeing a rather significant shakeup in the meta, and in team rosters. The midseason signing window was just a couple of weeks ago, and various teams have already made changes to their lineups. Here are the ones we know of so far.
Shanghai Dragons
If there’s one team in the Overwatch League that desperately needed some roster changes, it’s the Shanghai Dragons. The Dragons made two major pickups during the signing season, and they’ve brought on Kim ‘Geguri’ Se-yeon and He ‘Sky’ Junjian. Geguri is known for her prowess as Zarya and other off-tank roles, while Sky was formerly part of the popular Chinese team Miraculous Youngsters. Sky previously went by the moniker ‘Zhufanjun’ and he played support for his team. These are two very important picks for Shanghai because the most of the team’s problems have stemmed from their weak tank line and poor support play.
The Shanghai Dragons have also signed Gi-hyeon ‘Ado’ Chon and Lee ‘Fearless’ Eui-seok. Ado was a projectile DPS player for MVP Space, while Fearless was a tank player on Element Mystic. Both of Shanghai’s current DPS players, Undead and Diya, are skilled at hitscan heroes, but aren’t quite as effective on projectile heroes, so Ado should help with composition flexibility at the very least.
Florida Mayhem
The Florida Mayhem struggled quite a bit in Stage 1 as well, considering that the team didn’t have any available subs. Going forward, things should start looking better for them with the signing of Joonas ‘Zappis’ Alakurtii, Ha ‘Sayaplayer’ Jung Woo, and Kim ‘aWesomeguy’ Sung Hoon.
Zappis is a rather flexible player who can play tank, if the Mayhem ever needs one of their current tanks to flex over to DPS. He’s also a rather good shot-caller, from all accounts, so he could help the Mayhem out in terms of teamwork and coordination. Sayaplayer and aWesomeguy are DPS and tank players respectively. Logix and TviQ are a great DPS duo, but the addition of some much-needed subs will give the Mayhem the flexibility it needs to run more diverse compositions.
Dallas Fuel
The Dallas Fuel performed rather poorly in Stage 1 of the Overwatch League, and the answer to all their problems is… signing even more DPS players, apparently. Dylan ‘aKm’ Bignet was formerly part of Rogue before the team disbanded, and he’s known for playing hitscan heroes.
According to ESPN, Dallas has also managed to acquire Kim ‘Rascal’ Dong-jun from the London Spitfire. Rascal is… another DPS player, though he’s proven to be quite the wildcard during his showing in Stage 1, with unorthodox picks like Mei during escort and assault maps. Rascal is rather proficient with projectile DPS heroes, and considering that the Fuel doesn’t really have a good Genji player at the moment, he could be exactly what the team needs. But we shouldn’t forget about the Fuel’s faltering tank line and support play either. Not to mention their communication issues.
Houston Outlaws
Houston seems to have it all at the moment. They’ve got great tanks, great supports, and a star DPS player in the form of Linkzr. So it came as a bit of a surprise when the team announced that Russell ‘FCTFCTN’ Campbell would be joining the roster. FCTFCTN is know for playing Winston and other tank roles, so he could be a great substitute for Muma if he happens to be having an off-day. He also has a history of playing with Coolmatt and Rawkus during the Overwatch World Cup, so that team synergy should already be there.
All in all, it’s a pretty solid pick for Houston, though we still think Linkzr deserves a good DPS partner to really round up this team nicely.
Los Angeles Gladiators
This isn’t a confirmed trade just yet, but ESPN has also reported that the Los Angeles Gladiators have managed to acquire Chan-hyung ‘Fissure’ Baek from the London Spitfire. If true, this could be really good for the Gladiators.
The team didn’t perform that well in Stage 1, and it was mostly due to their faltering tank line and iRemiix’s insistence on over-extending and dying first in so many team fights. Fissure didn’t get a lot of playtime in Stage 1, but he’s more than capable of running Winston in a main tank role, and he could be a good complement to Bischu’s D.Va.
These are all of the player signings and trades we know of so far, and we’ll be sure to update you when more info is available. Overwatch League Stage 2 is set to kick off this Wednesday evening, so be sure to search for Twinfinite for the latest match updates.
About the author
