With so much new coming to Overwatch League Season 2, there is a lot to be excited about: A bigger prize pool of $5 million (up from $3.5 million last year), eight new teams and a series of remote events, among other changes. To begin, here are a few of the teams and players we are most interested to see.
Hangzhou Spark
Seven of the Spark's 10 players come from Seven or X6-Gaming from Korean Contenders, the latter team winning Season 1 of Contenders in that region. However, what has us most excited about Hangzhou is Chinese main tank Qiulin "Guxue" Xu.
At the 2018 Overwatch World Cup, Guxue made his presence known when he helped China advance beyond the quarterfinals for the first time and finish as runner-up behind three-time champion South Korea. According to Winston's Lab, Guxue was the highest rated Reinhardt (1478) and Winston (1470) player at the 2018 World Cup. Among Winston players with at least 30 minutes played, he ranked first in final blows per 10 minutes (9.2), percentage of his team's final blows (28 percent), and final blow to death ratio (2.1).
While Guxue's numbers were impressive, one thing that could hold his team back is their ability to incorporate him into a predominantly all-South Korean roster. Especially when playing a position that is often called upon to help lead team communications.
Seoul Dynasty
The Dynasty failed to live up to expectations last season, finishing 22-18 (8-12 after Stage 2) and missing the playoffs. A big reason for their down season was inconsistent play from the main-tank position. Last season, Seoul started with Jin-hyuk "Miro" Gong playing main tank, but were so unhappy with his play they decided to move star flex support player Je-hong "ryujehong" Ryu to that position because they had no better options at that time. This season they have arguably the best option at main tank, Chan-hyung "Fissure" Baek.
According to Winston's Lab, Fissure had an overall player rating of 1123 last season, second-best among all main-tank players (Gesture, 1125) and seventh among all players with at least 20 hours played. He also accounted for 18.6 percent of his team's final blows, highest rate among main tanks (minimum 20 hours). Aside from his stats, Fissure made a difference where it matters most -- the win column. After being transferred from the London Spitfire to the Los Angeles Gladiators at the end of Stage 1 last season, Los Angeles was a different team. The Gladiators were 4-6 (-10 map differential) in Stage 1 before acquiring Fissure, and then went 21-9 (+34 map differential) across the last three stages; the second highest winning percentage and map differential in that span (New York Excelsior, 25-5, +62 map differential).
All that being said, Fissure will be playing on his third team in the past 12 months and there are some legitimate concerns about his ability to be a team player.
Toronto Defiant
Four of the Defiant's eight players come from O2 Ardeont, who finished second in Korean Contenders Season 1 before under performing in Season 2. O2 finished the Season 2 group stage with a 4-1 record, tied for the second-best record behind KongDoo Panthera (5-0). However, they suffered a tough 3-0 loss to Meta Bellum in the quarterfinals.
One of the reasons for that loss was their new teammate, former OWL and Meta Bellum flex tank, Kang-Jae "Envy" Lee. Envy played the first two stages of the inaugural OWL season with Valiant before being released and signing with Meta Bellum. Envy's departure from the Valiant was unlikely due to his play on stage, his eliminations (20.0) and damage (7,173) per 10 minutes ranked first and fourth respectively among all tank players with at least 10 hours played last season. Also, Envy has been named team captain for the Defiant, which is a good sign that his coaching staff believes in him on and off the stage. On top of that, the Defiant also signed Jun-Sung "Asher" Choi (DPS) and SeHyun "Neko" Park (support) to their roster, both of whom proved to be OWL-caliber players last season and give Toronto players with OWL experience at every position.
Shanghai Dragons
We saved the last for the team that did the least in 2019, the Shanghai Dragons. Last season, the Dragons infamously went 0-40 with a -120 map differential; 42 more maps lost than the next closest team (Florida Mayhem, -78). However this is not the same team as last season, the Dragons return only three of their players from last season, tied with the Mayhem for the fewest returning players among the original 12 teams.
Four of the Dragon's seven new players come from KongDoo Panthera, who finished second in Overwatch Contenders Season 2. One of their new players, who did not come from Kongdoo Panthera, is Min-seong "Diem" Bae from Lucky Future Zenith; winners of Overwatch Contenders Season 2 China. What has us most interested in Diem is his longtime friendship with Season 1 All-Star Jaehyeok "Carpe" Lee from the Philadelphia Fusion. Both players have used part of the Latin aphorism carpe diem ("seize the day") as their name since shortly after the release of Overwatch. Diem, like Carpe, has shown to be an excellent Widowmaker and if he can perform anything like his friend on the OWL stage, that is something we can't wait to see.
The Dragons and above-mentioned Spark face off on Day 1 of Season 2, so no matter what a team from China will get their first win in the Overwatch League on Thursday.