Though the offseason has been extended until April, many teams are already getting into the swing of exhibition matches and tournaments. The Shanghai Dragons hosted a tournament for the Chinese Overwatch League teams where they came out on top. The LA Valiant recently hosted the Frontier Ball where the LA Gladiators took home the win. Both of these tournaments have showcased the Season 4 rosters of the teams that participated. The Seoul Dynasty were not in either of these two tournaments as they are neither a Chinese Overwatch League team or based in NA.
Exhibition Matches
In previous seasons the Seoul Dynasty have done show matches to hype up their fans. In the pre-season of Season 2, they had a match against the Guangzhou Charge alongside a meet and greet. Then before Season 3, there was the show match with the NYXL at Gen.G con. Though the Seoul Dynasty technically have all the pieces of a team, it is expected for more signings to be announced, potentially after the Gauntlet is done. Once Tiger Nation knows the full roster of players for Season 4 they will be wondering, who are top contenders for opponents for an exhibition match?
Philadelphia Fusion
As the Philadelphia Fusion recently announced that they would be joining the APAC region for Season 4, it would be interesting for the Dynasty to have a show match against the newest APAC team. This could also be seen as a rematch, as the Seoul Dynasty rolled through the Fusion during playoffs. It would be a fun way to welcome the NA team to the APAC region.
This is also a reoccurring theme of the T1 and Gen.G brands going head to head for bragging rights. The two organizations do this in many different games such as Valorant and League of Legends. It is starting to become a fun rivalry. The Fusion and Dynasty never fell into a rivalry with it more being the Fusion against the Shock and the Dynasty vs the Spitfire/NYXL/Dragons. This show match could start that T1 vs Gen.G competitive spirit within the Overwatch League.
Shanghai Dragons
The Champions of the the China Tournament facing off against the Dynasty who were in the highest final position of the APAC teams by making it to the Grand Finals. These two teams have always had a friendly but competitive past. It would make for the best Overwatch seeing the teams face off as it has always been close between these two. Though this might not be ideal for the Dragons having to play more matches and potentially leaking strengths and weaknesses of their team before the season starts. But with the dominant performance that the Dragons put up in their own tournament, it has made the fans want to see more.
Past vs Present
Of all three options, this seems the least likely. There is always an inherent danger to playing against non- Overwatch League teams, as if the Dynasty was to lose it would cause chaos with the netizens. The fact that the majority of the Season 1 players (Jehong ‘Ryujehong’ Ryu, Jinmo ‘Tobi’ Yang, Joonhyuk ‘Zunba’ Kim, Gido ‘Gido’ Moon, Jinhyuk ‘Miro’ Gong, add in Sangbeom ‘Munchkin’ Byeon, Seungjun ‘Whoru’ Lee, or Byungsun ‘Fleta’ Kim) are free it could be an amusing show match of the past to the present. Currently, Zunba and Munchkin are in Valorant, but with Munchkin LFT and Zunba streaming Overwatch it could be a possibility. This would be the option that would get the most notice from fans.
If the Dynasty wanted to go more the Gen.G con show match route this would be the best as there are many different iterations that could be done for entertainment. It also wouldn’t be as serious as going up against the Fusion or the Dragons. All the players are still close and could be a nice opportunity to do the symbolic passing of the torch to the new generation of Tigers.
Exhibition Match?
The Seoul Dynasty is in an odd spot, not being a part of the Chinese region or the North American region. As they are the only team in the Overwatch League in Korea that leaves them out of the two major region off-season tournaments. Once the roster is confirmed for the Seoul Dynasty, maybe they will release more information about any potential show matches before April.
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