Lunatic-Hai has always been a team name that has been able to bring fans out in the Overwatch Community. Of all the rosters that will be playing in the Legends Battle, Lunatic-Hai is the team that leaned the most into the nostalgia factor. They, by a long shot, have the oldest roster with the least amount of current Overwatch League players.
It is no secret that Lunatic-Hai throughout the years has stayed close. From streaming together or popping up in social media posts, the team members have stayed close. They were a part of the Runaway vs Lunatic-Hai show match. At that time Kim ‘Esca’ Injae was still in the military. This time around Esca will be participating but another member of Lunatic-Hai is out because of their mandatory service. Kim ‘Zunba’ Joonhyuk is currently serving and will not be participating in the event. Though it is sad for fans not to see the off-tank, the community doesn’t have to choose between him and Gong ‘Miro’ Jinhyuk.
Lunatic-Hai had many DPS players that they could have picked. This ranges from Byeon ‘Munchkin’ Sangbeom to Kim ‘Fleta’ Byungsun who were both on the team for a minimal amount of time. But the DPS went to the original APEX Season 2 and 3 stronghold of Esca, Lee’ Whoru’ Seungjun, and Moon ‘Gido’ Gido. These three DPS are synonymous with Lunatic-Hai during the APEX reign. Noticeably Lee ‘Leetaejun’ Taejun who was on the team on and off during the APEX era is missing.
Esca after APEX decided to leave the Overwatch community and pursued PUBG where he was very successful, picking up additional titles to his career resume. This came to an end once he had to enlist and when he got out of the military he has been streaming on Afreeca. His DPS skills are holding up against the younger players. His value came from the leadership position on the team.
Gido though the Overwatch League community will know him as a flex support, was a DPS player. His impact was so large that in the APEX season 3 he was awarded the MVP of the grand finals. On-stream he has played DPS and support, but it is nice to see that he is getting back to his roots on DPS.
Whoru from his time on Lunatic-Hai has also gone on to win many new titles from contenders on FU to on the Shanghai Dragons grand finals. His Genji skills have not diminished at all. He is the only ‘current’ Overwatch League member that is present on this team. Though he does not stream a lot the community has seen him play throughout the last season of the Overwatch League. The possibility of another the nano dragon blade is highly anticipated.
Miro is back! Though he is not on a team as a player he has had a couple of successes as a coach. He was last season a part of the Hangzhou Spark coaching staff. Miro seems to be taking this very seriously. From rarely streaming at all, he has been on Twitch streaming Overwatch multiple days before the competition. As the Lunatic-Hai main tank, he has never been in a match without his flex tank, which might take some getting used to. His Winston is still able to contend with the younger players. In scrims, his Ramattra did not look the best, but as he played more he seemed to start to get the hand of him. The biggest challenge is going to be when Miro jumps in as Winston leaving his back line open to attacks as Zunba is no longer there to peel.
The most notable core of Luantic-Hai has to be the support core. Ryu ‘Ryujehong’ Jehong and Yang ‘Tobi’ Jinmo were the supports during the whole time in APEX. Not only their little habits in game but also sass was known by the others. They worked well together being able to easily flex on and off of whatever characters were needed. But they were known for their signature heroes. For Tobi it was Lucio. He was granted the name the ‘boop god’ for how many environmental kills he was able to achieve on Lucio. While it was Ana that helped Ryujehong rise in popularity. His crucial sleep darts and nano became a staple in his gameplay. It was his sleep darts on Kim ‘Haksal’ Hyo-jong that helped make his name as an ‘Ana God’ within the Overwatch community.
No matter the result of the Lunatic-Hai match, the fans are excited to see their old team back in action. Hopefully, the team can pull out some of the old spark to up-end some of the younger rosters to show that Lunatic-Hai is still a team to be recognized for their continual gameplay prowess. The team is going to need to lean into their synergy more than anything else. The communication is going to have to be on point as well as practice to ensure that their styles of play realign. Unlike Runaway and Kongdoo, Lunatic-Hai and GC Busan have not been streaming practice or scrims as much. Therefore their power level is still more of a mystery than some of the other teams in the Legends Battle.
The English broadcast will be Wolf and Achilios on the Overwatch League channels, while the Korean broadcast will be on the Korean Overwatch and Overwatch League channels. Will you be cheering for Lunatic-Hai in the Legends Battle?
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