The offseason for the Seoul Dynasty has been emotional. Tiger Nation lost a majority of the original core of the team going into Season 3. Jehong ‘Ryujehong’ Ryu and Joonhyeok ‘Zunba’ Kim departed, while Jinhyuk ‘Miro’ Gong and Gido ‘Gido’ Moon left at the end of Season 1. This has left a void in the team. It has also opened up new opportunities for growth within the Seoul Dynasty. The team has been making moves in the offseason to get ready for the impending Season 3. Here is a look at the Seoul Dynasty preview for Season 3.
Recap of Season 2
Season 2 showed improvement from Seoul’s performance in Season 1. A few milestones that were checked last season was reaching a stage playoff, beating the London Spitfire and the New York Excelsior, as well as making it to the season playoffs. Legends have come and gone, but Season 2 was a season of slow progress in the right direction.
The offseason brought Chanhyung ‘Fissure’ Baek to the Seoul Dynasty. It was a major pick up that excited many of the fans. That excitement turned to confusion when Fissure spent many matches on the bench. On the flip-side, Tiger Nation got to see Minseo ‘Marve1’ Hwang and Minhyuk ‘Michelle’ Choi in action, two relatively unknown players. Michelle became known for his Sombra, hitting his EMPs and hacks to impact crucial moments in matches. The ultimate eating machine became a meme for the Tiger Nation, as Michelle kept impressing fans with his skills on D.Va. Marve1 picked up the slack as the only Main Tank after Fissure departed the team. He was also seen in the majority of the matches before Fissure departed the team midway through Season 3.
Roster Musical Chairs
Before the San Francisco Shock and other teams began to alternate their rosters, the Seoul Dynasty used all of their 12 man roster to take advantage of being able to sub players between maps. It was a great time to be a part of Tiger Nation as each player got time on stage and time to highlight their own skills. It was especially nice to see players who were on the bench like Zunba, Sunghyeok ‘Highly’ Lee, and Fissure. Analysts and the desk tried to label the teams A and B, but then the different combinations of players showed that it wasn’t squads but which players fit the map and team the best.
Season Highlights
The Seoul Dynasty made it into their first stage playoffs in Season 2. In the process, they beat the NYXL on Rialto for the first time, a lot off of the back of Michelle’s Sombra. The matches that were the most heartbreaking to lose in the past seasons for the Seoul Dynasty was against the NYXL. This was validation for the team that they were not held back from the shortcoming of Season 1. The second match that helped define the season for the Seoul Dynasty was against the London Spitfire. In Stage 1 Week 5 the Dynasty took the first win ever from the old GC Busan roster. Ryujehong looked at top form and Fissure again brought the curse of beating his old teams to the table. He was the player of the match with his aggressive team play shining through.
The end of Season 2 brought the Seoul Dynasty all the way to the play-in playoffs. The Dynasty being a higher seed only had to play the Guangzhou Charge. Byungsun ‘Fleta’ Kim set the pace of the match pulling out McCree against Nero’s Pharah. Dongeon ‘FITS’ Kim and Fleta really carried the weight of the team to victory. The Dynasty were eventually defeated by the Hangzhou Spark and consequently knock out of the playoffs. In an emotional speech from the two elder players, Tobi and Ryujehong, apologized to the fans for letting them down. It was easy for any fan to see how invested the team was not only for themselves but also for all the fans that supported them. They ended the season with a 15-13 record.
Returning Roster
The Dynasty have a good number of players returning for Season 3.
DPS: Jemin ‘Illicit’ Park
DPS: Dongeon ‘FITS’ Kim
Main Support: Jinmo ‘tobi’ Yang
Off Tank: Minhyuk ‘Michelle’ Choi
Main Tank: Minseo ‘Marve1’ Hwang
Head Coach: Changgeun ‘Changgoon’ Park
Tanks
The majority of what this team brings back in Season 3 is the old synergies. Off Tank and Main Tank Michelle and Marve1 have been a tank duo since before being brought into the Overwatch League. At the end of Season 2, Tiger Nation saw Marve1 put the performance of his life on the new Off Tank Sigma during the playoffs. His accretion kills set him apart from the other Overwatch League players on Signma. Michelle subsequently moved onto Orisa as a Main Tank. These two coming back will allow for previous synergies to grow and evolve.
DPS
Fits and Illicit have a similar situation as Michelle and Marve1. Fits popped off during the Season 2 playoffs with his Doomfist play that was essential to winning maps. The difference is that Fits and Illicit many times were put in alongside Fleta. Fits is known for his hit scan heroes, but enjoys greatly heroes with all mobility such as Doomfist and Tracer. Illicit has a very similar hero pool to Fleta. He can be seen on more projectile heroes like Genji, Pharah, and Junkrat. Illicit is quite flexible and can adjust to what needs to be played, though he has big shoes to fill with Fleta being traded to the Shanghai Dragons. The meta is still in flux, so it is unsure whether or not it will play to the strengths of the two returning Seoul Dynasty DPS players.
Support
Tobi brings back to the team a solid Main Support. He has been the shot caller on and off for the Seoul Dynasty. It is unknown if he will reprise the role in Season 3, but his on and off stage presence will be a strength for the younger players to lean on. His Lucio skills has always been a strength of his. Tobi comes from a DPS background before becoming a Main Support, so heroes like Baptiste are up his alley. He is a strong Ana, which previously hasn’t been seen as much in the Overwatch League as he played along aside the Ana God himself, Ryujehong. Tobi has also played Zen at a high level in the past, while Ryujehong was on Ana. Tobi brings a strong kit of heroes into Season 3.
New Pickups
DPS: Junyoung ‘Profit’ Park
Main Tank: Jaehui ‘Gesture’ Hong
Flex Support: Youngwan ‘Creative’ Kim
Flex Support: Seungtae ‘Bdosin’ Choi
Coach: Seongwon ‘MMA’ Mun
Strategic Coach: Hyeongseok ‘WizardHyeong‘ Kim
These pickups allow the Seoul Dynasty to have a much more solid foundation. The Dynasty has had the same core of players from Lunatic Hai since APEX in the form of Zunba, Ryujehong, Tobi, (Miro from Season 1). The new blood will bring in a new perspective and competition to keep a starting roster spot.
Supports
The two new flex supports will bring new playstyles for Tobi to learn from. Creative has a solid Flex Support hero pool. It was during Korean Contenders that his Ana play was recognized. Creative has a hard road ahead of him as he is a relatively unknown Flex Support that is stepping into Ryujehong’s shoes. Bdosin is in the same position, but he already has set up his legacy being on the Season 1 Overwatch League Champion team as well as the 2019 Overwatch World Cup team. Fans already know his abilities and what to expect from him on the stage. His aggressive support style has the potential to match up well with Tobi’s support play.
DPS
The pick up of the three former London Spitfire players come in with an already existing synergy so that the team doesn’t have to start from scratch building up cohesion. Profit is a highly flexible DPS. In the previous seasons of the Overwatch League fans have seen Profit flex over to Zarya and other Off Tanks as well as a multitude of DPS heroes. Of the three Seoul DPS Profit’s hero pool is the largest, and it will be exciting to imagine a Profit Tracer and Fits Doomfist duo. All three DPS do have overlapping hero pools. It will be a surprise to all, who will play what hero.
Main Tank
Gesture is another legendary Main Tank to join the ranks of the Seoul Dynasty. His Winston has been said to be one of the top of the League at one point in time. In will be interesting to see whether or not Gesture will start over Marve1. It is very reminiscent of when Fissure, another legendary Main Tank, joined Seoul to not start as frequently as Marve1. With the previously mentioned synergy that Michelle and Marve1, the combination of tanks to start will be up in the air. Gesture brings that veteran leadership for the younger players and another Main Tank for Marve1 and Michelle to learn from.
Coaching Background
The addition of the new coaching staff will improve on how the returning and new players view the game. WizardHyeong was the prodigy strategic coach for the NYXL Season 1. Before the Overwatch League he was a part of many well-known teams. From early 2017 to 2019 he was a coach for: Splyce, SoloMid, Gale Force eSports, LW Red, LW Blue, which then turned into NYXL. In Season 2 of the Overwatch League he joined Washington Justice. It was a rough season with his team placing 17th overall, but at the end of the Season 2 with GOATs meta fading away, the team started to show potential.
Along with Creative, MMA was brought up from the Gen G. contenders roster. He was formerly a Starcraft pro player but turned to coaching Overwatch. With Gen G. he has had pretty good results, having the team place in 2019 always in the top five. He brings a lot of potential to the team. Hopefully, he can have the same impact on Seoul Dynasty that he did with the Gen G. contenders’ team.
Player Background
London Spitfire Trio
What the community has been talking about is Seoul Dynasty picking up three of the Season 1 champion team members of Profit, Gesture, and Bdosin. All three have worked with Seoul’s head coach Changgoon previously. Bdosin comes from the now dismantled C9 Kongdoo roster. He then joined the London Spitfire roster for Season 1 and 2 of the Overwatch League. He was joined by Gesture and Profit who came from GC Busan. These two players royal roaded APEX Season 4 and then went on to win the Overwatch League Championship in Season 1 alongside of Bdosin. All three are veterans in the Overwatch scene and bring to the team heaps of experience to share with the younger players.
Gen G. Maknae
The newest player on the team is Creative. He comes to the team fresh off of the Gen G contenders team. Creative was previously on a couple much smaller teams such as EXL-CLEA and Machi Esports; he has also been a part of a couple bigger teams like Seven and X6-Gaming. In matches in Contenders with Gen G fans saw him on most of the support heroes like Ana, Moira, Zen, as well as flexing on to heroes like Roadhog. With his old teammate Bliss being the one to usually flex onto Mercy and Baptiste it will be interesting to see if Creative will pick up those heroes or if it will be one of the veteran Supports to do so.
Analysis of the Team’s Schedule
The Seoul Dynasty do not have the easiest travel schedule but also not the worst. The majority of the Dynasty’s games are based in Asia. There are two overseas trips for the Seoul Dynasty. In Week 9 Seoul will be traveling to America until the All-Star Weekend break in Week 13. The Dynasty will have their homestead the week after the All-Star Weekend and a week break before heading back over to America. They stay in America from Week 16 to Week 19; with a break of no games in Week 15.
With the large period of times in America the question is will the Seoul Dynasty set up home base in LA where Gen G has their American HQ? The rest of the time will be over in China. The players will definitely get their miles in this season. The beginning of the Season looks a little harder for the Dynasty, but could end of the Season strong with teams like the Boston Uprising and Toronto Defiant in Weeks 24 and 25.
Homestead Locations and Dates
We’re excited to host our first-ever home game at Seoul’s landmark, DDP!
Weekend VIP ticket package sales go live on December 19th KST 🎟
Get hyped, get ready, #RoarOn🐯#TigerNation pic.twitter.com/RpwcDN8rEy— Seoul Dynasty 🐯 (@SeoulDynasty) December 12, 2019
The Seoul Dynasty’s home arena was announced as the Dongdaemun Design Plaza. This is in the middle of Seoul with plenty of public transportation, space, and good food for the venue. DDP is highly regarded as a cultural center for the city. Many fans were in disbelief that the Seoul Dynasty were able to secure such a venue for the Tiger Nation’s homesteads. The first homestead is on March 7 and 8.
The teams that will be at the first homestead are the Chengdu Hunters, the Dallas Fuel, the Los Angeles Gladiators, the Guangzhou Charge, the Vancouver Titans, and the San Francisco Shock. Seoul will be facing off against the LA Gladiators on March 7th and then the San Francisco Shock on the 8th.
Their second homestead is on May 9 and 10. Unlike the first homestead less teams will be appearing with just the Guangzhou Charge, the Shanghai Dragons, the Chengdu Hunters, and the Hangzhou Spark. Seoul will be playing against the Chengdu Hunters on May 9 and the Hangzhou Spark May 10.
Most anticipated game of the year
The most anticipated match of the season is going to have to be on March 1 when the Seoul Dynasty play the Vancouver Titans. March 1 is a National holiday in South Korea, and the two full Korean squads will want to prove themselves to the fans. Both of these teams have deep friendships from the past. There surely will be lively banter in the match chat when these two teams face off.
Ryujehong and Fissure, past Seoul Dynasty members, are now Titans which adds another competitive edge to the game. There is going to be competition between Ryujehong and whichever Flex Support that starts for the Seoul Dynasty. Will Fissure’s curse of winning against his old teams continue (at least the first game after the change of teams he wins) or will the Seoul Dynasty stop that tradition?
Player to Watch this Season
The player to watch is Illicit. Last season he wasn’t able to shine as brightly as he could’ve as Fleta was on the team. Both of these DPS players have a similar hero pool, and there is a reason why people say “Fleta is the meta.” Illicit was seeing more playtime at the end of Season 2. Hopefully his confidence is higher this year after playing a whole season.
Look out for Illicit’s projectile heroes, especially Pharah and Genji as he has mastered the mobility of these characters. He is also seen on the ladder on hit scan like Mccree, Tracer, and Widow, though there is little chance of him playing those heroes over Profit. The 2/2/2 lock will ensure that he will be not stuck in GOAT purgatory this season. The cub is no longer the youngest and his potential is sky-high.
Keys to a Successful Season
The Seoul Dynasty are at a precarious edge. In Season 2 they improved from the inaugural season. They are now on their third season and out to prove themselves. The key to success for this team is going to be time management and leadership. The culture of the Seoul Dynasty in the past two seasons has been intensive practice. The players prepared for long hours, and then would go home and stream. Their sleep and eating schedules must have taken a beating as they would wake up and then practice or go to the Burbank Arena.
Time Management
With the 2020 season having games localized in the team cities, there is going to be a massive increase in travel time. The players are no longer just in the Burbank area. They will be flying back and forth from China to Korea to America. It is essential that they do not burn out at the beginning of the season from intensive training, travel, and matches. With only a roster of nine, using the players effectively in matches as well as managing their time so that they can rest will be important. Players like Tobi do have injuries that could flare up if pushed too much.
Leadership
Leadership is also going to be essential. With the lost of their captain of two seasons, Ryujehong, the Dynasty are looking for that replacement. In connection with time management, having a player that the younger players can rely on will be important. Without that leader the team could fall apart. This could be the tipping point of which the Seoul Dynasty will excel or fall.
Scrim bucks are the esport equivalent of monopoly money. If Tiger’s Nation allows themselves a little bit of hope it sounds like the 2020 roster is already popping off in scrims. To get an idea how the Seoul Dynasty might look coming into Season 3, the Gen G con Seoul vs NYXL show match is a good place to start. As always Roar On.
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