The London Spitfire are on track to finish this season with their worst record in their franchise history. When London´s new rookie roster was announced, many analysts expected a weak performance from them. However, other young squads like the new iteration of the Los Angeles Valiant, who are currently in ninth place, have proven that a lack of experience can be overcome. This article will explore what went wrong with the Spitfire this year and how to address these issues.
Successful teams in Overwatch have their teamplay timed perfectly. The best way to forge this level of coordination is a solid squad of six players and to field them for a majority of games. While even the best teams in the league swap their starters based on meta or because of a specific map pick, London is far above average in their player rotations.
When they started the season with a new roster, it was important for them to rotate these players and find a solid core. Unfortunately for London, they appear to have never found a starting six that they are confident in. The constant rotations play a significant part in their slow playstyle and their many mistakes.
Image provided by: Inven
The invisible hand that guides all Overwatch teams are their coaches. They help them succeed or contribute to their defeats. On first glance, London’s coaches should not be a problem for the team. Head Coach Cheolyong “Agape” Hong was part of London´s Season 1 championship and Hyeon-sang “Pavane” Yu was not just a coach on the NYXL, but also coached the 2018 Korean World Cup team. Both of these coaches have clearly proven their ability to lead a team to success, which makes London’s struggle even more surprising.
Image Source: Pavane´s Twitter
The answer to this riddle can be discovered in the way the London Spitfire play. Rarely do fans see the Spitfire try to break from the perceived meta of the game. London´s coaches are used to superstar rosters that can approach the game by finding the “most optimal” way to play it. Then, the players are expected to perfect that playstyle. However, with a rookie roster, this might not the best strategy to lead them to success. The best example for this was the 2019 Chengdu Hunters. They refused to play the GOATS strategy that was dominant during most of the season. Instead, Chengdu played to the strengths of their players and ended up with a much better record than London is currently on pace for. If London’s Coaches want to work effectively with their team, they need to adapt their mentality.
The London Spitfire have to make significant changes if they want to get better. What exactly these changes are can be difficult to assess from the outside. Their problems are not based on individual players or coaches. However, the current pieces have clearly not come together. The growing process might be painful for a while longer, but if the organization decides to put in the work, they might be able to rise again in 2021.
Featured image provided courtesy of The Australian Times
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