Team Seoul have announced the acquirement of Fleta, Munchkin, and xepheR for their Overwatch League roster. The new recruits are a who’s who from Korea, joining the core of the Lunatic-Hai roster signed to the franchise.
The Seoul team has added three to their roster. Welcome to Munchkin, Fleta and xepheR!
— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) October 18, 2017
Full details ➡️ https://t.co/pjHSq4uXO0 pic.twitter.com/wjWtsbIFOg
Owned by Kabam co-founder Kevin Chou, Team Seoul were the first franchise to announce their initial members in August with the acquisition of Lunatic-Hai's core lineup, who marked their dynasty this year as the best team in the world with back-to-back APEX titles in Season 2 and 3. However their rule came to an end this month after being knocked out of the APEX Season 4 quarterfinals.
Fleta joins after his nine month toil on Flash Lux, and has been considered by some as one of the region’s star players. Despite his best efforts, he and FL were unable to progress beyond the group stage in the past three APEX seasons, with the team placing 13th-16th in the most recent APEX season.
Munchkin sees a return to the Lunatic-Hai core a quarter-year stay in Europe. He signed onto LH last spring, but quickly received accusations from the team's fanbase regarding his ranked ladder behavior on an alt account. The immense pressure eventually saw him admit to his actions and stand down from the roster in the process. Just a day after his resignation, he was quickly picked up by Laser Kittenz, and helped the team achieve 3rd-4th in Contenders Season Zero Europe. He left the kittens last July due to personal health and language barrier issues between his teammates.
xepheR’s pickup comes after spending time in North America since last spring, and his signing has brought back attention to his troubled past, primarily due to his involvement in the Geguri accusations. He vowed to leave if Geguri wasn't hacking in-game, and when Geguri’s innocence was cleared, he followed suit with his promise, only to break it when he joined Cloud9. xepheR competed in multiple tournaments with the North American team, and earned a 3rd place finish offline at TakeOver 2 in June. His last known appearance was in Contenders Season Zero North America, where C9 failed to pass the group stage, and wasn’t seen due to the team’s uncertainty (and eventual disbandment) up until now.
The trio recently flexed their muscles with the Team Seoul lineup at the OGN Seoul Supercup, where they garnered victories against Miraculous Youngster and Cloud9 KongDoo to grab the title. The Supercup is the roster's last tournament under the Lunatic-Hai banner as they begin preparations for the Overwatch League in Los Angeles.
With the inaugural season of the Overwatch League only months away, Team Seoul have also been bolstering their staff. Along with coach alwaysoov and manager Baek Kwang-jin from the initial signing, the franchise brought in former MVP coach nuGget and Meta Gaming CEO MaSsan last month.
Team Seoul's roster is now:
- Kim "Fleta" Byung-sun (DPS)
- Mun "Gido" Gi-do (DPS)
- Kim "EscA" In-jae (DPS)
- Byeon "Munchkin" Sang-beom (DPS)
- Koo "xepheR" Jae-mo (Flex)
- Kim "zunba" Joon-hyuk (Flex)
- Gong "Miro" Jin-hyuk (Tank)
- Ryu "ryujehong" Je-hong (Support)
- Yang "tobi" Jin-mo (Support)
- Chae "alwaysoov" Ho-Jeong (Coach)
- Baek Kwang-Jin (Coach)
- Kim "nuGget" Yo-Han (Coach)