Please, strap yourselves in. Ever since the conclusion of the 2020 Overwatch League Season, rostermania has been insane in the seen. As I’m writing this article, there are a total of 198 changes which have shaken up teams, making up the Overwatch Rostermania. Read on for me!
Accordingly, in order to appropriately cover the topic, we’ll be dividing this into a two part series, split per region – we want to do more than just provide a blande list and offer our thoughts too. In this initial article, we’ll be focusing exclusively on the first ten teams, hailing from the Atlantic Conference.
To save time we’ll only be listing the current active rosters and not addressing former players. The term ‘NS’ refers to ‘new signing’, as in, within the last month while we will not be listing staff changes outside players. Note that the rating focuses on the magnitude of the change and not the quality of the new roster – the more exciting the change, the better the rating.
#1 Boston Uprising
- Kelsey “Colourhex” Birse
- Cameron “Fusions” Bosworth
- Sangmin “Myunb0ng” Seo
- Leyton “Punk” Gilchrist
- Jin-ui “im37″ Hong – NS
- Seo “Stand1″ Ji-won – NS
Probably one of the best signings for the West Conference, “Stand1” coming from the stellar Shanghai Dragons brings a massive update to the roster. As a thank, he was a great contributor to the Dragons’ multiple podium finishes last year.
#2 Philadelphia Fusion – Overwatch Rostermania Highlight
- Jaehyeok “Carpe” Lee
- Gael “Poko” Gouzerch
- Josue “Eqo” Corona
- Kyung-bo “Alarm” Kim
- Daniel “FunnyAstro” Hathaway
- Donggyu “Mano” Kim – NS
- Niclas “sHockWave” Jensen – NS
Last season was very tough for Philadelphia Fusion. Despite everything they tried, they could never beat out San Francisco Shock, landing 4 second place finishes. They definitely needed change to really claim those matches and leave their mark – “Mano” from New York Excelsior and the Contenders player of “sHockWave” seem to be an answer.
#3 Paris Eternal
- Nikolai “Naga” Dereli – NS
- Stefan “Onigod” Fiskerstrand – NS
- Elliot “ELLIVOTE” Vaneryd – NS
- Daniel “Dean” Scheltema – NS
- Alberto “neptuNo” Molinillo – NS
- Emir “Kaan” Okumus – NS
This is the newest and most prospective roster in the Western Conference. All six players are fresh on the roster, joining just a few days ago. Just like that, predictions are all over the place as the majority of this team hails from the Contenders scene – can they handle the pressure of the League?
#4 Washington Justice
- Lee “TTUBA” Ho-Sung
- Gui–un “Decay” Jang – NS
- Kim “Mag” Tae-sung – NS
- Taehee “Jerry” Min – NS
- Huichang “BeBe” Yoon – NS
- Wonsik “Closer” Jung – NS
- Junho “Fury” Kim – NS
- Sungwook “Ria” Park – NS
Changes, changes, changes – despite a rubbish regular season, they managed to blow everyone away completely and finish third at the North American Playoffs. However, the staff certainly didn’t believe this was enough as evident in their overhauled roster.
#5 Toronto Defiant
- Andreas “Logix” Berghmans
- Adam “Beast” Denton – NS
- Park “Aztac” Jeong-su – NS
- An “ANSOONJAE” Soon-jae – NS
- Sumin “SADO” Kim – NS
- Heesu “Heesu” Jeong – NS
- Minhyuk “Michelle” Choi – NS
Similarly, but not to the same extent, Toronto Defiant headed into the off-season desperate for change. Once again, a lot of chances are being taken on fresh players from Contenders as exemplified by “Beast”. Finishing 15th in the regular season last year, they can only improve.
#6 Atlanta Reign
- Blake “Gator” Scott
- Petja “Masaa” Kantanen
- Xander “Hawk” Domecq
- Kim “Edison” Tae-Hoon
- Hugo “SherP” Sahlberg
- Seunghyun “Lr1s” Kim
- Oh “Pelican” Se-hyun – NS
On the other hand, Atlanta Reign is sticking to their guns with the majority of their players. Otherwise, the new Support and DPS in the form of “Lr1s” and “Pelican” respectively are on the roster and ready to cause havoc with a strong history in the Contenders.
#7 Florida Mayhem
- Sangbeom “BQB” Lee
- Beomjum “Gargoyle” Lee
- Junki “Yaki” Kim
- Namjin “Gagnamjin” Kang
With a 6th place finish in the regular season of last year, Florida Mayhem are in a typical spot – risk a swap or build on what you have? It seems that they’ll be doing some building on a core four, with some spots unoccupied for the time being, though they’re probably eyeing some youngsters. The Contenders scene is very present in this year’s Overwatch Rostermania.
#8 Houston Outlaws
- Daniel “Boink” Pence
- Dante “Danteh” Cruz
- Jaoa Pedro “Hydration” Goes Telles
- Taehong “MekO” Kim
- William “Crimzo” Hernandez
- Jungwoo “Happy” Lee
- Shin “PIGGY” Min-jun – NS
- Cho “JJANGGU” Myung-heum – NS
- Kyle “KSF” Frandanisa – NS
What can we say about Houston Outlaws? They had a dreadful performance last year and all the fans are crying for changes. Up until now, they’ve paved the way for three new players, all being young prospects who can help out with perhaps pushing this team further next year.
# N/A London Spitfire
Kim “Fuze” Tae-hoon
Currently, London Spitfire is a blank sheet after dropping off multiple players. Everything looks to be rebuilt around Fuze who’s been on the roster for a while now.
#N/A New York Excelsior
- Seonghyun “JJoNak” Bang
Another empty team, I’d consider both London Spitfire and New York Excelsior to be the most likely spot for the many free agents currently in the transfer market.
In conclusion, I’d like to make the observation that most of the new talent is originating from South Korea. We’ll see how this trend develops in the Eastern Conference.
Stay tuned for part 2 here: https://www.esportsguide.com/news
