After the Seoul Dynasty franchise was announced, it seemed inevitable that the Lunatic-Hai roster would be picked up to represent the Mecca of esports. By achieving back-to-back APEX victories in Season 2 and Season 3, the Koreans cemented themselves as one of the best teams in the world. With soov at the helm, they became the masters of the dive meta, adapting and overcoming every team in their path. While they dipped in Season 4—going out to GC Busan—they have replaced their DPS players and strengthened the rest of the roster too in preparation for Overwatch League Season 1.
The Lunatic-Hai core have all established themselves as some of the best in their fields. Miro lit the world on fire with his Winston play in the 2016 World Cup, raising the bar for Winstons across the globe. zunba accompanies him upfront and was the standout player for this years Team South Korea, putting on a masterclass on all roles: Zarya, D.Va, and Roadhog. This impressive tank line is enabled by one of the best backlines in the business.
ryujehong has been lauded as the best Ana in the world for well over a year and has become an equally effective Zenyatta. The Ana veteran has a flair for the big plays, with his Sleep Darts becoming a thing of legend. jehong has also demonstrated formidable ability on DPS, opening up more aggressive compositions for Seoul Dynasty. He is well protected by longtime support partner, tobi. The young Korean has been at jehong’s side throughout his career, and they’ve formed the ultimate duo. With this foundation Lunatic-Hai were able to outplay their opponents, even with less impactful DPS players.
Lunatic-Hai have had success previously bringing in mechanically gifted youngsters and slotting them into the experienced base of their team. In APEX Season 2 they did this with Whoru and in Season 3 with Gido. The former is too young to compete in this season, and the latter will most likely be starting on the bench. The expected first choice DPS players are Munchkin and Fleta who have both stood out in smaller teams but have never featured on a roster of this calibre. At the OGN Seoul Super Cup the possible starting roster was previewed as Lunatic-Hai picked up another trophy.
It should be taken into consideration that both Fleta and Munchkin will have come from teams where they were the star players and subsequently would have had a lot of resources dedicated to them. If it wasn't for the fact that the coaching staff on Dynasty are some of the most accomplished in the scene, there may be some doubt whether they would get the resource management correctly balanced. They are in safe hands with soov and the rest of his team though.
The coaching staff have brought in significant reinforcements across the board too. Bunny has been recruited from Lunatic-Hai #2 and gives the team another Tracer expert. Considering the original Lunatic-Hai team never had a ‘star’ Tracer, they now have two at their disposal. Rounding out the DPS squad is Wekeed who was Luxury Watch Red’s projectile specialist, adding yet another weapon to Seoul’s artillery.
Gido has been listed as a flex player on the team's roster page, suggesting a role swap—one that will probably suit his more supportive style. Joining him at the front is Xepher—best known for his time on Cloud9—who will also be providing offtank cover. KuKi also joins from the MVP Space side that beat Lunatic-Hai in last season’s group stages and will offer cover for the main tank position. All three are more than capable of competing with the best in the world and have proven so in their time in APEX.
From the outside, it appears Seoul Dynasty are looking to build a roster not just to compete for the title in Overwatch League Season 1 but a team full of young talent that they can bring through to dominate for years to come. One position they have chosen not to strengthen is the support role, leaving tobi and ryujehong as their only cover.
While they are two of the most proficient players in their roles, it does seem odd that there are no immediate backups. It is expected that they will instead rely on the same approach as Lunatic-Hai, where all players practised all roles to ensure they have suitable replacements for any situation. One area they do seem weak on, however, is Mercy. Both tobi and ryujehong have struggled when the meta forced them to run the Swiss healer. With Overwatch League Season 1 spanning six months and several metas, it could expose one of the rare chinks in Dynasty’s armour.
Lunatic-Hai have won championships with what many would consider to be subpar DPS players, an area where they now have an abundance of talent. To label Seoul Dynasty as Lunatic-Hai with upgraded DPS players is a disservice to the coaching team though. What allowed Lunatic-Hai to win multiple championships and come back from so many deficits is not just their raw skill but their ability to operate and adapt as a single entity. The mental resolve to never give up is what makes them the most dangerous team going into Season 1.
The Seoul Dynasty roster is:
- Chae "Bunny" Joon-hyuk (DPS)
- Kim "Fleta" Byung-sun (DPS)
- Choi "Wekeed" Seok-woo (DPS)
- Byeon "Munchkin" Sang-beom (DPS)
- Mun "Gido" Gi-do (Flex)
- Koo "xepheR" Jae-mo (Flex)
- Kim "zunba" Joon-hyuk (Flex)
- Gong "Miro" Jin-hyuk (Tank)
- Kim "KuKi" Dae-keulk (Tank)
- Ryu "ryujehong" Je-hong (Support)
- Yang "tobi" Jin-mo (Support)
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