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The Overwatch League’s third stage is set to begin, but during the break leading into Stage 3, roster mania has been in full effect. With the rumor mill continuously churning, and the signing window ending on April 4th, many teams will continue to sign and add players through the week. That being said, let’s take a look at what has been confirmed by the league and how the new signings could affect the teams involved.
Disclaimer: This article was written before the games on April 5th.
After playing on the DPS rotation for the Los Angeles Valiant, Ted "silkthread" Wang will remain in LA but will play for the Gladiators leading into Stage 3. Silkthread now reunites with former teammate Joao Pedro "Hydration" Goes Telles whom he played with during his brief stint with Counter Logic Gaming.
The addition of silkthread fills out the Los Angeles Gladiators’ DPS rotation as he will join Tracer specialist Joon-seong "Asher" Choi and flex DPS stars Hydration and Lane "Surefour" Roberts. I view this addition similarly to how the Philadelphia Fusion has Eqo and ShaDowBurn. Both player similar things, but their style and intangibles make them very different players. He shares similar heroes to Hydration; he could potentially act as a substitute projectile player or could share the stage with him if the metagame allows it. The overlap in hero pool is something that has been apparent in many teams and could be necessary when fielding this many players. The depth of the LA Gladiators DPS roster lends itself to the future of Overwatch, specifically Season 2.
If we look at the player test realm (PTR) the future could be centered around Mei and Reaper. With their recent buffs, this roster has plenty of flexibility to age well with Season 2. Overall, silkthread is a solid pick up, although I wouldn’t be surprised to see one of the members of the DPS line to start to off role a bit more than usual.
Veteran French support formerly of teams like Rogue and the Los Angeles Valiant, Benjamin "uNKOE" Chevasson, has been traded to the Dallas Fuel. This is just another addition that has been furrowing my brow. Firstly, the team overall is not hurting for talent. The Dallas Fuel is packed chock full of APEX era superstars. Secondly, the team needs structure and the player they traded for uNKOE was one of their vocal leaders, Custa.
To touch on the inner turmoil the team has going for it, Dallas Fuel’s star DPS Hyeon "EFFECT" Hwang mentioned, on his personal stream, that “Stage 3 will be cancer. Of course, if OGE comes things might be different. But we’re seeing no answers.” This is a team that is in desperate need of a leader to start to lay the foundation of some form structure. Communication has to take a toll in-game when tension and emotions are this high. Not to mention there now will be three different languages spoken on this roster, which will not help matters at all.
uNKOE has been performing fairly okay, in terms of just mechanics, but I don’t expect that performance to last on this team. If there is any solace, Dallas does now have two players to attempt an all-French rebuild come Season 2. Outside of that, nothing is going to change and I would expect more fuel added to this fire.
Support Scott "Custa" Kennedy formerly of Arc6 and Fnatic has left the Dallas Fuel and was transferred to the Los Angeles Valiant. He reunites with former Fnatic teammate and acting coach for the LA Valiant, Warsi Faraaz "Stoop" Waris.
After the move, some of the Dallas Fuel players took to their own personal streams and talked about the matter. Pongphop "Mickie" Rattanasangchod went on his stream and was questioned about the roster change. “He took the Captain role in the team,” Mickie mentions, “and he did very well, but I have no idea why Dallas [traded] him. I don’t know.” This sentiment echoes the similar notion that has surrounded Custa since his addition to the team. He has been a huge vocal presence to the Dallas Fuel and acted as a leader on top of being a solid support player.
As for the LA Valiant, they have lacked direction in-game if support player Stefano "Verbo" Disalvo has been on the bench. With the many other roster changes this team has faced in the break leading into Stage 3, I certainly would lean on Custa’s veteran status and leadership skills to smooth over any rough edges as this team starts from the ground up. Custa should be a great addition to this team!
Jun-woo "Void" Kang returns as a professional player with the Los Angeles Gladiators. Formerly a world-class flex tank and one of the better D.Va players to come out of South Korea, and the APEX era, he formerly was a player for Cloud9 KongDoo. What is exciting is who he is returning to play with.
Main tank Chan-hyung "Fissure" Baek has changed the team within a short time and has played formerly with Void in the past on Cloud9 KongDoo. The pre-established synergy is something that I think will definitely make this signing a huge addition to the team in the long run. Having another player to add to an evolving dive-centric metagame should be a solid acquisition for this team.
My only concern is the experience he has playing the new D.Va at the highest level. We’ve seen some of the old guard falls in skill after the Defense Matrix changes came in. Void’s success is going to be predicated on how he can survive in this new climate along with how he has picked up the new D.Va. All in all, the trio of Void, Fissure, and Joon-seong "Asher" Choi should really push this team in the right direction and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this team transition into a full Korean roster come Season 2.
Outside of the fact that his name means “nobody knows me," not much is known about Tae-sung "ANAMO" Jung. He played support formerly for MightyAOD in APEX Season 3 and Ardeont during OPC in Season 2. He is known for his Lucio play, which could help fill out a solid substitution choice if any of the NYXL support players are injured or are unable to play. Allowing someone like Yeon-joon "ArK" Hong or Sung-hyeon "JJoNak" Bang to take a much-needed break could also become increasingly beneficially. But in terms of skill level, it’s hard to peg ANAMO currently, but this is the team that pulled JJoNak from what was relatively the ladder, so I trust that the NYXL talent scouting department has a good eye for talent. This could also fill out any hero pool issues the team may or may not fall prey to leading into the Stage 3 map pool and the new metagame around.
Hard to read, but I’d keep my eye on him.
Joon-hyuk "Bunny" Chae has transferred from the Seoul Dynasty to the Los Angeles Valiant. A veteran Tracer specialist, Bunny has played since the early APEX era of Overwatch. Playing for teams like BK Stars and Lunatic-Hai #2, Bunny built up an early reputation for being one of the best Tracer players in South Korea.
Stage 2 is coming off a metagame where the synergy between Winston and Tracer is at top priority; the Los Angeles Valiant now should have a better chance at facilitating that duo. My only concern is whether or not that synergy remains a top priority during Stage 3. You could actually argue that having a top-tier flex support player could be near the same priority, but with the prominence of Dive, I still feel that having a good sync between your Tracer and Winston will net you more overall success.
This combats rumors that French DPS player Terence "SoOn" Tarlier would be looking for a transfer to another team. With his addition prowess on Tracer, questions arise that the overlap in hero pools could be concerning. I’d wager that SoOn will start to flex off the Tracer pick and lean on the new and reworked Sombra.
Bunny joins forces with Pan-seung "Fate" Koo, a well-respected tank and one of the better main tank players in the Overwatch League. If head coach Byung “MBC” Chul Moon and the Valiant coaching staff can get these two powerhouses on the same page, they’ve really got some a rock-solid duo to rely on.
With the recent news that Won-hyeop "ArHaN" Jeong had signed with the Houston Outlaws, I’ll be honest - I was a bit taken back. Touted as one of the better Genji players by many of the South Korean players, you can’t deny his skill on the character. While at times he may have been overly aggressive, overall, he is quite talented. There were rumors swirling around that this was happening for a while, but I wasn’t sure of it. He has ties with head coach Tae-yeong "TaiRong" Kim as ArHaN played under him during his time in his former team Afreeca Freecs Blue. I have my concerns, but I don’t hate it. It’s more of an eyebrow scratching addition more than anything, but oddly enough could work if things line up properly. On Twitter, general manager Matt "flame" Rodriguez noted that the signing of ArHaN was late and his visa will need to process and we won’t see the newest Houston Outlaws player for some time.
First, one of the biggest criticism that the Outlaws faced was their lack of a Tracer specialist. While I don’t necessarily agree that, the lacking Tracer presence was the only issue, I feel like the Outlaws had a rough time playing around Tracer in general. Even with someone like Jiri "LiNkzr" Masalin being able to pilot Tracer at a high level, the team still found mixed success with the pick. Now, if you put LiNkazr on Tracer full time and leave ArHaN on Genji - that's a different story, but it still leaves you scratching your head on my second point: adding ArHaN could mix up communication.
With a language barrier, ArHaN could possibly have a hard time syncing with main tank Austin "Muma" Wilmot, which is a huge problem. With the Winston and Tracer synergy being incredibly important in Stage 2, having two key pieces of your puzzle, not on the same page could spell disaster early. Of course, this operates on the logic that Stage 2’s metagame will consist of Stage 3.
My third point is less of concern and more of hopefulness and it leans ArHaN’s extreme proactivity. Historically, he has rushed in head first without any follow up. If he and the coaching staff can quicken the tempo of this team they could see a push in the right direction. I don’t really want to think of a world where they try and tame ArHaN. If anything, he is the shove they need to play up to their potential and play slightly more proactive. That being said, his over aggression could be a blessing and a curse.
Kyle "KSF" Frandanisa has recently received the call-up to the big dance from his North American Contenders team, Simplicity. From his former performances in the team, ‘You guys get paid?’ it was clear to some people that this player had some serious talent and potential behind him. He is a name that many people have not heard of, but KSF has been dancing around the Overwatch scene for some time. He seems like he is going to compete with teammate Brady "Agilities" Girardi in terms of projectile play, but if he brings more communication or perhaps has a better in-game psychology, he could see some time on the starting six.
Great pick up for the long term.
The other late addition to the Los Angeles Valiant has been former Movistar Riders and 123’s flex tank, Finnbjorn "Finnsi" Jonasson. His wide hero pool and familiarity with coach Julien "daemoN" Ducros I expect Finnsi to be a great second string D.Va and could possibly become the teams leading Zarya player. With a little bit of fine tuning, Finnsi could be an incredible tool for this team when it comes to tank favored maps. His veteran status in the Overwatch community cannot be understated and is a skill set on its own. Finnsi has played in a high-pressure situation and should be ironclad in his mental state when it comes to Overwatch’s largest stage.
Again, a great addition for the future, but will take some integration.
The former captain of KongDoo Uncia has been added to the Shanghai Dragons. Dae-min "Daemin" Kim, a noted South Korean Tracer specialist now joins a majority Korean roster that has the task of crawling out of the grave and rope Chinese fans back into the game. Overall, there isn’t much to say. The Shanghai Dragons are on a major map losing streak and their season is practically over. Both Daemin and his partner Gi-hyeon "Ado" Chon have are quite talented, but they need some time to gel with their Chinese counterparts.
Their best chance is during their Stage 3 opener against Dallas Fuel and Daemin will play a large role if they do find a victory.
Overall, I think the team that has made sweeping changes actually has made some great moves; therefore, the Los Angeles Valiant, for my money, has restructured and added some amazing talent like Bunny and Custa to their roster. With their added redundancy and a talented bench, they could have a return to form. On top of that, their reach into future stages has improved with a solid coaching staff and talented players. SoOn and Bunny could give many teams problems leading into the Sombra metagame. Having Agilities and KSF to fall back on in a projectile role for maps like Junkertown and Blizzard World is a serious boon. And on top of all that, Custa paired with Verbo should be able to lead this new roster to a glorious Stage 3. Big changes and big moves, but overall and thumbs up in my book.
Joseph “Volamel” Franco has followed esports since the MLGs of 2006. He started out primarily following Starcraft 2, Halo 3, and Super Smash Bros. Melee. He has transitioned from viewer to journalist and writes freelance primarily about Overwatch and League of Legends. If you would like to know more or follow his thoughts on esports you can follow him at @Volamel.
Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment and OGN