With the regular season now officially coming to a close, we said goodbye to eight teams as the play-ins and playoffs are on the horizon. Throughout the season, we have seen many players stuck in situations that just aren’t the best fit, failing to get the best out of them. Additionally, there are some players here who deserve to be on better teams despite being a starter for their current team.
Number 5: Cameron Bosworth “Fusions”
Fusions was the proverbial glue that held the Boston Uprising together in the early stages, a Boston who seemed destined to perform poorly once GOATs died. Continuing through however one of the few bright sparks on the team was the UK main tank. There has been plenty of acknowledgement towards Fusions’ performances this past season. The desire to see Fusions move on comes from where Boston seems to be heading as well as the financial gain that could be made by selling him allowing Boston to strengthen across multiple areas.
Competent across all main tanks but best on Orisa and Reinhardt, Fusions’ ability to lead a team and hard carry comms is something almost unmatched in the league. Two teams that could benefit from someone of Fusion’s qualities are the Paris Eternal or the LA Valiant. Paris would be a better fit for Fusions due to his chemistry with his fellow European counterparts
New Destination: Paris EternalÂ
Number 4: NamJu Gwon “Striker”
Striker’s legacy has taken a bit of a nosedive since joining the SFS Shock. An amazing player amongst other amazing players riding the bench. Forced out by meta now even with 2/2/2, Crusty prefers the other 3 more flexible DPS for his rotation. A player of Striker’s quality does not deserve to and should not be watching from the side. Leading last season’s Boston Uprising to a top seed whilst going 10-0 in one stage, this man carried hard. It’s a shame for the league to see a player of his quality riding the bench.
Striker as a hitscan would instantly buff any team in need of a strong hitscan player, such as the Toronto Defiant or Seoul Dynasty. Striker on Seoul would be a strong redemption arc. If Striker could lead Seoul into a top seed next season, that would be some narrative, as it would end doubt and remind fans just how good he is. Striker would also be a good fit for his old team, however we doubt he would want to return. Striker is a damage player you can rely on even in a meta shift as he is far from a one-trick.
New Destination: Seoul Dynasty
Number 3: Andreas Karlsson “Nevix”
Nevix belongs on the Houston Outlaws or the Boston Uprising – he would slot right in without much integration and would instantly improve them both. Due to Houston’s lower likelihood to introduce more Korean players, Nevix would be a better fit there. The Shock doesn’t need to sell him, but Nevix being allowed to fully flourish on a team who desperately need him like the Outlaws would be great to see.
Stuck behind Choi Hyo Bin, a top 3 off-tank, is a rough spot. After transitioning to Off-tank purely to play for Season 1’s “Tank Francisco Shock” who was focused on developing Sinatraa and Super for the long game we saw Nevix shine in a situation where he didn’t really need to with limited talent around him. This man’s hype train is still rolling as he made limited appearances throughout the season clocking under two hours of game time.
New Destination: Houston Outlaws
Number 2: Won-Sik Jung “Closer”Â
“Closer might be one of the best main supports in the league, it’s just a shame he plays on an absolute joke of a team.”
Was the chain of copypasta started on a recent interview with the former GC Busan main support, it was echoed because it’s true. Closer is a good main support capable on Lucio, Mercy and Baptiste. It is his unique skill to almost perfectly track ultimate charge that makes Closer so valuable. As with all shot callers, a team that communicate in his native language is always ideal, it is unlikely Dallas try and go all Korean to accommodate Closer.
Any team in need of a better main support who speaks Korean would take Closer. With the wealth of flex supports Guangzhou, San Francisco (to finally go all Korean) and the Toronto Defiant could all be good fits. Other teams such as the Valiant or the Fusion would also receive a boost however the fit isn’t ideal however Closer would most likely be playing next to a Korean flex support for the 2020 season.
New Destination: Guangzhou ChargeÂ
Honourable Mentions
This section will include some who didn’t make the list either due to urgency or the unclear future of their organisation – will they be buyers or will they be sellers? In the case of Min Seok son “OGE”, for example, Dallas’ poor performance means that he could easily stay and be the centrepiece of a rebuild or he could be sold to a better team to really upgrade them.
Donghyung Seo “Daco” to the LA Gladiators.
Isaac Charles “Boombox” to the Paris Eternal.
Minseok Son “OGE” to the Guangzhou Charge.
YoungSeo Bak “Kariv” to the Seoul Dynasty.
Byong Ho Lee ”Panker” to the Toronto Defiant.
Joonhyeok Kim “Zunba” to the Boston Uprising.
WonJae Lee “Rise” to the Dallas Fuel.
Finley Adisi Kyb” to the Boston Uprising.
Number 1: Yeono Hwang “Flow3r”
Picture this: you announce yourself to the world by dominating team USA at BlizzCon and are robbed of an MVP by Twitch chat. Sure, the winner went to a solid performer in XQC, but most can agree the real standout was Flow3r. Now, two years on, you are eligible to make your appearance on the league stage after being stuck in Contenders until you turn 18. Stage 1 comes and goes, you see very little playtime, then Stage 2 rolls around, and the same thing happens. People start to doubt you, calling out “Is this kid really a top player or was it a fluke?”.
Fast forward to the end of Stage 4 and finally, Flow3r got the playtime he deserves. Much like Fusions, Flow3r needs to move to another team to try and make his case as the best player in the league, which he can’t do if he’s on the same team as JJonak. To offer another example from the NBA, Kyrie Irving, whilst rated highly, was never going to be an MVP candidate with LeBron on his team, it’s similar for Flow3r in NY.
Any team in need of a flex DPS would take Flow3r. The best candidates at this point are Dallas Fuel, HZ Spark and the London Spitfire. The latter two offer a high seed whilst also allowing Flow3r to showcase his impact as a player. Paired with either GodsB or Profit they could cover every DPS hero. Whilst Dallas could see an impression of the “Fleta Deadlift”, Flow3r’s performances would most likely fade into the darkness in the stacked Pacific division.
Flow3r’s Hero pool almost perfectly aligns with Profit and Birdring’s as he plays Pharah and WidowMaker to levels much better than Profit whilst offering the same level on other projectiles which compliment Birdring so well.
New Destination: London Spitfire Â
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