There has been a lurking sadness with the recent Overwatch League uncertainty within the APAC region. The Legends Challenge comes at a crucial time to boost the APAC fans and inject a wave of nostalgia into the community. Not only are fan favorites going to be represented, but also some lost organizations are coming back. GCBusan, Kongdoo Panthera, Runaway, and Lunatic-Hai will all four be participating in the Legends Challenges.
The Teams
Each team is represented as its own legacy within the Overwatch Community. These teams have housed many impactful players that have gone on to the Overwatch League. Here is a look at the participating teams.
GCBusan
Though GCBusan is the youngest team of the four being represented it might be the best known to western fans. The GCBusan roster royal roaded the last season of the APEX Season 4. They were not able to continue their APEX legacy but instead went onto the London Spitfire and eventually won the inaugural season. Unlike other teams, they really only have one group of players that are considered GCBusan from the APEX era.
Notable names that come from this roster are Hong ‘Gesture’ Jaehui, Park ‘Profit’ Junyoung, Jung ‘Closer’ Wonsik, Lee ‘Hooreg’ Dongeun, Sung ‘Woohyal’ Seunghyun, and Jo ‘Hagopeun’ Hyeonwoo. Potential players who will be participating in this event is Profit, Gesture, Closer, Hagopeun, and Hooreg.
Kongdoo Panthera
Kongdoo Panthera has a long history with Overwatch. They reached the APEX grand finals many times but never won. When the Overwatch League came around the team was brought to the C9-owned London Spitfire. This roster was combined with the GCBusan roster that would go on to win the inaugural season of the Overwatch League. They became iconic for their uniform choices throughout. the seasons of APEX.
They were beloved with players like Kim ‘Rascal’ Dongjun, Kim ‘Birdring’ Jihyuk, Baek ‘Fissure’ Chanhyung, Kang ‘Void’ Junwoo, Choi ‘Bdosin’ Seungtae, and Ahn ‘WakaWaka’ Jiho as the original. But Choi ‘Mer1t’ Taemin, Jang ‘Decay’ Guiun, Chio ‘Choisehwan’ Sehwan, and Yang ‘Luffy’ Seonghyeon are some of the other well-known names. Currently, the name has come back to life as a Korean contenders team. Fans are excited to finally see Birdsical reunited again. The Kongdoo representation was of the original team, but they could easily mix in different generations of players together.
Runaway
Runaway was created by Yoon ‘Runner’ Daehoon who was a streamer on Twitch. He and his wife Lee ‘Flowervin’ Hyuna was able to produce multiple winning teams from their hard work and effort. The most well-known one would be the team that went to the Vancouver Titans in Season 2. The strength of this team was their synergy with each other as a unit. Though some of the Vancouver Titans stayed in the league after that specific roster broke up, most left the Overwatch League to pursue other endeavors.
For Runaway they had multiple iterations of the team that they were known for. It could be a roster of the originals of Kim ‘Haksal’ Hyojong, Lee ‘Stitch’ Chunghui, Park ‘Bumper’ Sangbeom, and Runner. Then there is the Titans version that adds Seo ‘Seominsoo’ Minsoo, Lee ‘Twilight’ Juseok, and Kim ‘SLIME’ Sungjun, and Choi ‘JJANU’ Hyeonwoo. It could also be the newer boys of Kim ‘Yaki’ Junki, Gang ‘Gangnamjin’ Namjin, Jeong ‘Heesu’ Heesu, Lee ‘Leejaegon’ Jaegon, and Kim ‘MAG’ Taesung.
Lunatic-Hai
Lunatic-Hai during the APEX era was dominant. This was not just in-game but also in the love that they received from fans. Lunatic-Hai won both Seasons 2 and 3 of the APEX tournament. Their back-to-back win cemented them as legends in the Korean Overwatch community. When APEX ended Lunatic-Hai was transformed into the Seoul Dynasty. The strength of this team was making chaos work.
Kim ‘Esca’ Injae was one of the notable players in the preview. In the previous Lunatic-Hai vs Runaway, Esca was still serving in the military and could not participate. He was a huge part of the Lunatic-Hai roster and it is nice to see him a part of this event. Unfortunately, fans will most likely not be seeing Kim ‘Zunba’ Joonhyuk on stage. He is currently serving his mandatory military time. A good guess of who might be participating for Lunatic Hai is Esca, Ryu ‘Ryujehong’ Jehong, Moon ‘Gido’ Gido, Lee ‘Whoru’ Seungjoon, Gong ‘Miro’ Jinhyuk, Lee ‘LeeTaeJun’ Taejun, and Yang ‘Tobi’ Jinmo.
Legends Challenge
The announcement of the Legends Challenge hyped fans up. The faces of old players like Esca, Birdring, Haksal, and Runner brought serotonin back into the community. This event will be streamed both on Youtube and Twitch. There is not yet any information about an English broadcast or co-stream. This is going to take place on Friday, December 9th. This will be taking place at 6 pm KST which is 4 am EST, 3 am CST, and 1 am PST for those in North America.
Stream links:
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@OverwatchKR
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/overwatchkr
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/overwatchleague_kr
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