Trade Information
After a July 10th preliminary report published on twitter by Arran “Halo” Brown on the subject, at 1:00 pm EST on July 17th, the Guangzhou Charge officially publicly confirmed that they would be trading Finley “Kyb” Adisi to the Philadelphia Fusion in exchange for Joona “fragi” Laine, as well as purchasing Hyung-seok “Bischu” “Aaron” Kim from the Los Angeles Gladiators. The Fusion and Gladiators twitter accounts relayed the info at this time as well. These Guangzhou Charge trades comes following a season where all three players have seen little or no play time.
Let’s make it official.
Please join us in welcoming the incredible @fragi and @BischuGG to the team!#FeelTheCharge #OWL2019 pic.twitter.com/ll5s8f80Ac
— Guangzhou Charge (@GZCharge) July 17, 2019
Fragi to the Charge
Fragi has been a fan favorite of the overwatch league since the very beginning of Season 1. He was the sole main tank for the Fusion for the first 30 games of the season while Sumin “SADO” Kim was ineligible. However, since SADO played his first match on May 27th, 2018, Fragi has not been played for a single map. Due to this, much fan uproar has been caused for Fusion to play him in that time.
Fragi to the Charge would give their current main tank Seungpyo “Rio” Oh a bit more breathing room as main tank. The Finnish tank is known as an amazing Reinhardt player, and might begin to see playtime over Rio if the meta or map leans towards a Reinhardt again. Fragi also has the benefit of experience playing with Guangzhou’s current off-tank Hongjun “HOTBA” Choi from their time on the Fusion together.
Acquiring Bischu
Bischu has been another fan favorite player from the Inaugural Season who’s been benched as of late. He played for most of Season 1, but began seeing less playtime when Junwoo “Void” Kang was picked up in March of 2018. Bischu has not seen playtime in 2019 so far due to an illness in Stage 1, and due to being loaned to Gladiators Legion. He has also received a large fan following due to his vibrant and cheerful personality.
Bischu’s acquisition is another instance of providing breathing room for a current tank. Bischu has been a D.Va specialist, and if she stays in meta then he might be a better starter. However, with HOTBA’s prowess on D.Va and Zarya, it’s likely he will continue to be played for his flexibility. Yet Bischu might also have begun to broaden his range, and when he comes back it’s possible he might be able to play more.
Losing Kyb
Trading away Kyb will certainly be a loss for the Charge. Yet they still have a deep DPS pool already to choose from. With Charlie “nero” Zwarg demonstrating amazing flexibility, Jungwoo “Happy” Lee being a stellar hitscan, and Yiliang “Eileen” Ou filling in any gaps from these two, it’s likely Kyb would not see much play time continuing on the Charge. Kyb to the Fusion should hopefully give him the playtime he deserves. His Roadhog skill might even allow him to be played as an off-tank to backup Gael “Poko” Gouzerch.
Overall Value
The value given by these Guangzhou Charge trades is monstrous. They now have a backup tank line and an 11-man versatile roster. They also now will have two prior Overwatch League players on the team with much to prove and experience to share. However, for Guangzhou as a brand, this is perfect. Guangzhou has potentially the smallest fanbase of the league, at least outside of China. But they now have acquired two players with huge long-time western fanbases. This should not only grow their skill, but their brand in the west; it will allow them to sell more merch and gain more of a following. And despite losing a player they can assume he will get more play time now with a struggling Fusion roster. For the Charge, it’s a win-win.
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