A month has passed by after the 2020 Overwatch League season ended, with teams showing no signs of slowing down as they rework their rosters during the offseason. This week's roundup comes before this Friday, where those whose contracts were not extended become free agents.
Gladiators, Charge, and Spark begin roster rebuild
Multiple teams have begun to rebuild their rosters after parting ways with their previous players since the start of the offseason.
The Los Angeles Gladiators Los Angeles Gladiators OWL Rank #4 Shu Kim Jin-seo flex support kevster Kevin Persson dps Patiphan Patiphan Chaiwong dps Reiner Corey Scoda tank FunnyAstro Daniel Hathaway support signed tank player MuZe , flex support Shu , and support player Moth . They also added coach Tydolla to the team, and promoted Director of Operations Brenda Suh to general manager of the team.
MuZe will play in his first season of the Overwatch League after playing in Contenders. Shu and Tydolla were previously with the Guangzhou Charge, and Moth joins after spending nearly three years with the San Francisco Shock.
Over at the Guangzhou Charge Guangzhou Charge OWL Rank #9 Cr0ng Nam Ki-cheol (남기철) off tank Farway1987 Cao Jiale (曹家乐) flex support choisehwan Choi Se-Hwan (최세환) dps Develop Chae Rak-hoon (채락훈) dps Rio Oh Seung-pyo (오승표) tank Unique Yoo Dong-hyun support , the franchise signed former Shock coach Arachne as head coach, and released DPS’ nero and Happy . They then began their own rebuild by signing four players, which include flex support KariV , support player Mandu , and DPS’ MYKaylee and choisehwan .
KariV and Mandu join after they parted ways with the Toronto Defiant and the New York Excelsior respectively. MYKaylee and choiSehwan on the other hand will be rookies in the league next season from Bilibili Gaming and Element Mystic respectively.
The Hangzhou Spark Hangzhou Spark OWL Rank #6 BERNAR Shin Se-won (신세원) off tank irony Kim Hyeong-woo (김형우) flex support Shy Zheng Yangjie (郑杨杰) dps AlphaYi Kim Joon (김준) dps guxue Xu Qiulin (徐秋林) tank superich Wu Gengtuo (吴梗拓) support continued to sign new players, bringing in tank player Takoyaki , off-tank LiGe , and flex support MCD to the team.
All three will play in their first Overwatch League season, Takoyaki was with Team Diamond, LiGe was on Team CC, and MCD is also another Element Mystic alumni. LiGe also takes the place of QOQ , who parted ways with the Spark.
Mano and FDGod move to new teams
Tank player Mano and main support FDGoD moved to new teams over the past few weeks. Mano parted ways with the New York Excelsior New York Excelsior OWL Rank #18 Gangnamjin Gang Nam-jin (강남진) flex support Myunb0ng Seo Sang-min (서상민) flex support Flora Lim Young-woo (임영우) dps Yaki Kim Jun-gi (김준기) dps Kellan Kim Min-jae tank and moved to the Philadelphia Fusion Philadelphia Fusion OWL Rank #11 AimGod Min-seok Kwon flex support MN3 Yoon Jae-hee dps ZEST Kim Hyun-woo (김현우) dps Belosrea tank FiXa Kwon Young Hoon (권영훈) support , while FDGod was acquired by the San Francisco Shock San Francisco Shock OWL Rank #2 Viol2t Park Min-ki flex support Finn Oh Se-jin (오세진) flex support Proper Kim Dong-hyeon (김동현) dps s9mm Samuel Santos dps Coluge Colin Arai tank from the Paris Eternal Paris Eternal OWL Rank #20 Kaan Emir Kaan Okumus flex support Glister Lim Gil-seong (임길성) dps Wub Cameron Johnson dps Dove Jesse Palomo dps Malthel Josh Gonzales dps Daan Daniël Vincentius Paulus Scheltema tank Krawi tank dridro Arthur Szanto support Lukemino Luke Fish support Rakattack Kyle Rakauskas support .
The Fusion will be Mano’s first new team in three seasons; he was with the NYXL since the inaugural season in 2018. Joining the Fusion also marks the team’s first player pickup this offseason.
FDGod was with the Eternal in his first Overwatch League season this year. He joins the team as their new main support after Moth was acquired by the Gladiators.
Fearless, Jesce, and Xzi signed to Fuel
The Dallas Fuel Dallas Fuel OWL Rank #1 Fielder Kwon Joon (권준) flex support Doha Kim Dong-Ha (김동하) dps SP9RK1E Kim Young-han (김영한) dps FEARLESS Lee Eui-seok (이의석) tank ChiYo Han Hyeon-syuk (한현석) support continue the Element Mystic reunion with the signing of Shanghai Dragons tank player FEARLESS , support player Jecse , and Eternal DPS Xzi to the team.
FEARLESS and Xzi were traded to the Fuel from their respective teams, while Jecse was previously with the Houston Outlaws and became a free agent last month.
All three of them are former Element Mystic players alongside the rest of the Fuel’s new players for next season. Jecse and the recently signed rapel also played together on the Outlaws this season.
Fate and ErsTer join Dragons
The Shanghai Dragons acquired Florida Mayhem tank player Fate to the team, and signed DPS ErsTer as well.
Fate was with the Mayhem since the middle of the 2019 season, while ErsTer recently split with the Atlanta Reign after two seasons with them.
They’re the first two players to be signed to the Dragons this season after parting ways with five of their players and trading Fearless to the Fuel.
Multiple teams part ways with players
Multiple teams shook up their rosters with the departure of many of their players, including those that were long time veterans on their teams.
The Fusion parted ways with tank player SADO , DPS Ivy , and off-tank Fury . SADO had been with the team since their first 2018 roster, while Ivy and Fury were signed during the 2019 offseason. SADO’s departure also comes after they signed Mano to the team, who are both tank players.
The Eternal meanwhile splitted with the rest of their remaining roster, which includes DPS’ SoOn and NiCOgdh , and tank player BenBest . All three had been with the Eternal since their first 2019 roster.
The New York Excelsior parted ways with DPS’ Libero and Saebyeolbe , and main support ANAMO . The three of them have been with the team since the 2018 season.
The Washington Justice then parted ways with flex support AimGod , DPS Stitch , and off-tank JJANU . AimGod was picked up by the team during the 2019 offseason, while Stitch and JJANU joined after a brief stint under 14-day contracts.
The Paris departures as well as the trade of FDGod and Xzi leaves no players left on the Eternal; they currently only have assistant general manager AVALLA on their staff.
Contenders Korea players signed to league
A number of Contenders Korea players have made the jump over to the Overwatch League for the 2021 season. Two of them that are joining are DPS Pelican , who joined the Atlanta Reign Atlanta Reign OWL Rank #10 Kai Kai Collins dps nero Charlie Zwarg dps Hawk Xander Domecq tank UltraViolet Benjamin David support Ojee Christian Han support , and flex support Aztac , who was signed to the Toronto Defiant Toronto Defiant OWL Rank #14 Twilight Lee Joo-seok (이주석) flex support Heesu Jeong Hee-su (정희수) dps Finale dps MuZe Kim Young-hun (김영훈) tank Ch0r0ng support .
Pelican played for O2 Blast, while Aztac was on WGS Phoenix. The two of them have won Contenders Korea championships; the former won Contenders 2020: Season 1 Korea, while the latter won Season 2. Pelican is also the first pick for the Reign this offseason.
Spitfire bring in two coaches, release two players
The London Spitfire London Spitfire OWL Rank #12 Landon flex support SparkR William Andersson dps Backbone Jamie O'Neill dps Hadi Daniel Bleinagel tank Admiral Oliver Vahar support began to fill in their coaching lineup by signing reprize as head coach, and promoting CommanderX from their academy team, the British Hurricane, to assistant coach of the Spitfire.
reprize returns to the league after he was dropped by the Los Angeles Valiant earlier this year. CommanderX has been with the Hurricane since late 2019.
The Spitfire also released off-tank player BERNAR and support player SanGuiNar . They currently have Glister and Fuze left as the team plans to shift towards a Western and European based lineup.
Other developments
- The Seoul Dynasty Seoul Dynasty OWL Rank #3 Ir1s Kim Seung-Hyun (김승현) FITS Kim Dong-eon (김동언) dps Profit Park Joon-yeong (박준영) dps smurf Yoo Myeong-Hwan tank Vindaim Junwoo Park support parted ways with strategic coach WizardHyeong , and promoted data analyst Bongwoori to a coaching role for the 2021 season.
- The Boston Uprising Boston Uprising OWL Rank #16 Valentine Kim Byoungju dps punk Leyton Gilchrist tank Faith Hong Gyu Kim support Crimzo William Hernandez support signed DPS im37 to the team, marking his return to the league since the 2019 season. He had also played for the Uprising Academy this year and was on loan to WGS Phoenix.
- The Uprising also parted ways with DPS Jerry and tank player Axxiom . Both of them were previously in discussions with the team for the 2021 season. Afterwards, Jerry joined the Washington Justice.
- Hocury joined the Justice as a personal coach. He was previously a coach and general manager for the Seoul Dynasty.
- The Defiant re-signed tank player Beast after he was released by them last month. Interim general manager and assistant coach Albless also departed from the team.
- The Fusion announced that DPS’ Carpe and EQO , off-tank Poko , and support player FunnyAstro will return for the 2021 season. Carpe is on the second year of a three-year contract extension that was signed back in late 2019.
- The Chengdu Hunters Chengdu Hunters OWL Rank #13 Mmonk Zhou Xiang (周翔) flex support Daizi Ni Yuandong (倪远东) off tank Jinmu Yi Hu (易虎) dps Leave Huang Xin (黄馨) dps GA9A Qiu Jiaxin (仇佳鑫) tank Nisha Tan Li (谭力) support added coaches creed and yaoxie to the team. creed was a coach for the Charge, while yaoxie coached for Flag Gaming.
- NYXL re-signed flex support JJoNak for the 2021 season. He is the only player left from their first 2018 roster as well as this season’s.