Florida Mayhem Part Ways with 6 Players

The Florida Mayhem have announced the departure of six players from their 2020 roster. Sang-bum “BQB” Lee, Beom-jun “Gargoyle” Lee, Nam-jin “Gangnamjin” Kang, Seung-hun “Checkmate” Baek, Sung-jun “SLIME” Kim and Min-seok “OGE” Son were all released. The six of them will now enter free agency as they look to find new teams. However, the Mayhem did not release everybody. Jun-ki “Yaki” Kim still remains a part of the team.

However, if the recent reports and rumors are true, the Mayhem will likely be shopping Yaki to all parties interested in acquiring his services. The recent reports of Florida looking to transition to a Western roster now appear to hold some weight. Arran “Halo” Spake reported this was the case last week along with potential Yaki trade rumors.

Underperformance

The Florid Mayhem posted disappointing results in their 2021 campaign. After a successful season one year prior, they posted a 5-11 record. The Mayhem’s year appeared to have promise at first. In the May Melee, they posted a 3-1 record in the qualifiers and came in third place in the tournament.

However, the team could never find that level of success again after that. The Mayhem won only 2 games the rest of the way through and missed the Playoffs. Their efforts weren’t good enough to make the Play-Ins either. Some issues regarding meta adaptations and Main Tank cost them many potential wins. Their brutal strength of schedule in the second half of 2021 didn’t help either.

Given the Mayhem’s lackluster results, a rebuild may feel warranted to some fans. After all, other teams such as the Toronto Defiant appear to be doing the same thing. There is also a possibility the Mayhem organization intended to have a fresh start going into Overwatch 2. Whatever the reason may be, Mayhem fans now must return to a state of uncertainty.

The Future

Image credit: Stewart Volland for Blizzard Entertainment

The core Florida Mayhem Players let of were their only real successful results in Overwatch League history. This franchise is bound to face serious question marks and pressure because of this decision. Delivering in a big way is desperately needed.

The future is also uncertain for the former players though. As a new era of Overwatch begins, there is no telling how many of them will find new jobs. Thankfully, many of the Mayhem’s former talents could be in high demand. Players such as BQB, Gangnamjin and Gargoyle have received abundant praise in the past. The future of this franchise and their former players will be interesting to follow as the offseason progresses.

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