Home » Guard and Krillin: What do they bring to the London Spitfire?

Guard and Krillin: What do they bring to the London Spitfire?

Publish Date: October 19, 2018

The Overwatch League Champions London Spitfire have brought in DPS player Hee-dong “Guard” Lee from Element Mystic, and support player Jung “Krillin” Young Hoon, a relatively unknown player from CRusher. This comes only days after the team sent Won-sik “Closer” Jung to the Dallas Fuel. With these two players coming in, how will they fit into the team, and will there be a ripple effect throughout the league?

Guard

Many viewed the London Spitfire duo of Joon-yeong “Profit” Park and Ji-hyeok “birdring” Kim as unstoppable. Why then, bring in another DPS player? For one, Guard plays a stellar Sombra. In the current Meta, Sombra is an integral part of a great composition. Neither Profit nor birdring are known for their Sombra skills, and Guard fills that gap very well.

Courtesy of Liquipedia

His play with Element Mystic for the better part of a year has been important. Most recently, he helped his team to a semifinal appearance in Season 2 of Korean Contenders. His strong Tracer and Sombra play were strong in that season. Eui-Seok “Fearless” Lee also played for Element Mystic, before departing for the Shanghai Dragons.

Having a third option at DPS is always a good idea for a backup in case of injury (if birdring keeps playing Getting Over It) or a drop in form. A backup that specializes in certain heroes also can be subbed in to counter other teams and their strategies. Guard brings that specialization and ability to be an important piece of the puzzle.

Krillin

Krillin was not a household name in the Overwatch community. According to the Spitfire, he “impressed in the Open Trials” for the team. Krillin played flex support for CRusher, most recently in Open Division in Korea, where his team lost in the first round of the playoffs. Krillin plays Zenyatta, and more importantly to this current meta, Ana.

Courtesy of Liquipedia

Seung-tae “Bdosin” Choi and Jong-seok “NUS” Kim, the current support players for the Spitfire, will most likely stay on as the starting supports, playing in most games this season. However, the introduction of a young, impressive support player to learn from and grow with the current supports, it is a wise investment. Assuming that he will not play most games, it is reasonable to assume his contract is not very lucrative, when compared to the rest of the team. A relatively cheap player, monetarily, could benefit the Spitfire in multiple ways. One, he could pop off and become a strong contender for a starting role. This could lead to either him asking for more playtime, or another player leaving for more playtime, thus being a good business decision. Another situation could be that he continues to grow and learn under the wings of NUS and Bdosin, and truly evolves into a high caliber player that gels with the team.

The introduction of young, promising players is good for both the players and the teams in the Overwatch League. If this experiment with Krillin goes well, other teams may be more inclined to host these open trials and sign young, relatively unknown players that have high potential. Krillin’s success could be a turning point for the Overwatch League.