We published the first part of our analysis on the Atlantic Division and its teams last time. This is the second part of our analysis on the OWL teams, where we will be analyzing the 6 teams in the Pacific Division, including Team Dallas, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai, and LA. Will the Dallas Fuel, the team that dominated NA Contenders, be able to once again display their great plays, or will the Seoul Dynasty live up to their name and rule over the league as well?
▶ The Schedule for the Overwatch League Preseason
December 6th, Thursday (PDT)
16:00 Florida Mayhem vs San Francisco Shock
18:00 Los Angeles Valiant vs San Francisco Shock
20:00 Seoul Dynasty vs Shanghai Dragons
December 7th, Friday (PDT)
14:00 Los Angeles Gladiators vs London Spitfire
16:00 Dallas Fuel vs Houston Outlaws
18:00 New York Excelsior vs Boston Uprising
December 8th, Saturday (PDT)
(Matchups based on results from matches on 6th and 7th)
16:00 Not decided yet
18:00 Not decided yet
20:00 Not decided yet
December 9th, Sunday (PDT)
(Matchups based on results from matches on 6th and 7th)
11:00 Not decided yet
13:00 Not decided yet
15:00 Not decided yet
▶ Dallas Fuel - Team EnVyUs, the dominator of the Contenders, reborn as Team Dallas
The Dallas Fuel is mainly comprised of players from Team EnVyUs, a former top-tier NA Overwatch team. There were jokes about EnVyUs being a NA team with no NA players back then. They naturally settled down as an NA team as they expanded their attacking options by recruiting Seagull, a popular streamer and well-known Genji and Hanzo player, near the end of Contenders.
After Seagull joined the team, EnVyUs seized glory along with the cup at Contenders, overwhelming the other teams with great skill. After the league, they signed the contract to become the representative team for Dallas and recruited xQc, the tank player from Canada, and Custa, the sub healer, making the team balance more stable.
Alongside the aforementioned members, they also have Taimou, the player that mastered hitscan heroes and has the world’s best aim, EFFECT, who is known for his amazing Tracer plays; not only that, coco, Mickie, Chipshajen, and HarryHook add further stability as tanks and supports. That is the reason why the Dallas Fuel is seen as the most powerful team among the league teams. The new team synergy between the old members and the new members, xQc and Custa, is certainly worth noting.
▲ The official trailer for the Dallas Fuel roster.
▶ LA Gladiators - We are the true LA team!
The LA Gladiators is the team that represents LA along with LA Valiant. In the case of the Gladiators, they have a total of 7 players including 3 DPS, 1 Flex, 1 Tank, and 2 Supports on their roster. They may have one more player than the Florida Mayhem, but they still have a small number of players in comparison to other teams. Since they only have iReiix as their main tank, Bischu is expected to play as the sub tank.
A player worth noting within the LA Gladiators is Surefour, a star player from Canada who has played in OWWC twice in a row. Surefour has been famous for his greatness in playing hitscan heroes like McCree and Soldier:76, along with projectile heroes like Pharah, since the early phase of Overwatch eSports. He has recently proven to be one of the best Tracers, contributing greatly to his team’s victories.
They also gained attention for having two more Korean players, including Asher, a former member of CONBOX, Bischu, a former member of TSM, and Kungarna, on their team. Additionally, they have Shaz and BigGoose, a duo that led their team Gigantti to victory in the 1st season for Contenders and is likely to be a major threat to other teams.
▲ The official trailer for the LA Gladiators roster.
▶ LA Valiant - Add star players from Rogue to Immortals
The LA Valiant is another team that represents LA along with the LA Gladiators. They initially announced their roster with a total of 11 players including 4 DPS, 2 FLEX, 2 Tanks, and 3 Supports, but SPACE was later moved to the inactive roster, making it 10 players participating in the preseason.
The LA Valiant is also known for having most of the Immortals players on their team; GrimReality, Agilities, envy, Fate, Verbo, and KariV are all part of this team. Also, SoOn and uNKOE from Rogue, and numlocked, a former tank for NRG eSports, were added to the lineup. Lastly, silkthread, a skilled Tracer player in NA, was added to this collection, completing the roster for the LA Valiant.
It is noticeable how 4 out of their 10 players are DPS. They are GrimReality, Agilities, SoOn, and silkthread, who are each skilled players, making their team seem quite aggressive. Not only that, plays by envy & Fate, the Korean tank duo, and KariV & uNKOE’s tank and healer skills are something worth looking forward to.
▲ The official trailer for the LA Valiant roster.
▶ San Francisco Shock - They’ve got 5 DPS mains on their team!
The San Francisco Shock is the team participating the preseason for the Overwatch League with a 9-player roster. Their ratio of DPS players is high, and even Danteh and babybay, their flex players, mainly use DPS heroes, which gives them access to a variety of aggressive strategies.
They have many players that were well-known for their fantastic DPS skills, starting from iddqd, a Swedish player who has been well known for his great skills since the early phase of Overwatch eSports, sinatraa, the top-teir NA Tracer player, and Nevix from Cloud9 EU, making the Shock one highly aggressive team.
On the other hand, this means they have a relatively low number of players that main as tanks. It’s likely that their flex player, super, will have to make up for this by playing as sub tank. How well the overall teamwork between each role will turn out during the preseason is something to look forward to.
▲ The official trailer for the San Francisco Shock roster.
▶ Seoul Dynasty - Will their ‘dynasty’ be able to rule over the Overwatch League?
As for Seoul Dynasty, Lunatic-Hai, a Korean Overwatch pro team, will make up the majority of their roster. Lunatic-Hai has won 2 consecutive victories at the Overwatch APEX, which is considered the Overwatch league with the highest standards. Each one of their players has great skills as well as popularity, so it would not be a stretch to call them the ‘Lunatic Dynasty’. Lunatic-Hai has withdrawn from APEX as they joined the Seoul Dynasty.
Seoul Dynasty is one of the two teams, the other being London Spitfire, that is comprised entirely of Korean players, and also considered one of the strongest in the league. Even though Lunatic-Hai ended up not making it to the semifinals for the APEX league, they managed to win in the Overwatch Seoul Cup by defeating C9 KongDoo once they had Fleta, Munchkin, and xepheR join their team.
The Dynasty completed their 11-player roster with the addition of Bunny from the 2nd Lunatic-Hai team, KuKi from MVP Space, and Wekeed from LW Red. Many Overwatch fans are looking forward to what the Dynasty has to show in the future Overwatch League. With many speculating that this team will become even stronger than Lunatic-Hai was, fans will definitely want to keep an eye on them.
▲ The official trailer for Seoul Dynasty roster.
▶ Shanghai Dragons - The only Chinese team in the League
It’s Shanghai Dragons, the team representing Shanghai. They gained much attention from the Overwatch community when they revealed their team franchise, logo, and skin before anyone else. Just as the team is franchised to a region in China, all of their players are from China.
Their roster is made up of highly skilled players like uNdeAD, Altering, and MG from several pro teams like LGD Gaming, Vici Gaming, 1246, Team CC, etc. With such a lineup, many fans are reminded of the Chinese Overwatch All-Star teams.
Among their players are uNdeAD, MG, and Fiveking, who have led Team China to the playoffs with their exceptional plays during the OWWC 2017 Qualifiers. The plays that uNdeAD made as Reaper were some of the most notable moments of the OWWC. Apart from Reaper, uNdeAD is also great with McCree and Tracer, meaning he will likely be the main DPS in the Shanghai Dragons.
The Shanghai Dragons will surely show the world just how fierce the prowess of the Chinese Overwatch players is, and how far that power will carry them in the Overwatch League. How much impact will the 8 Chinese warriors have on the League? We will have to wait and see.
▲ The official trailer for the Shanghai Dragons roster.
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