With the Overwatch League publishing the contract status of all the players in the League that have left the community in emotional disarray. The Seoul Dynasty have an uncertain future for their roster, though no official news from the team has been released other than the GM being released. Here is a break down of what is known so far.
There is a lot of vocabulary that is thrown around during the offseason. A misunderstanding of a term can throw the whole meaning off when it comes to a player status. Under contract means a player is safe for 2021. A player is also safe if they are ‘2021 option exercised’ which means that the Overwatch League has decided to extend for the next season. Those are the only two labels that fans should feel secure when attached to their favorite players’ names.
A player is a free agent if they have next to their name: team option denied for 2021, existing contract is expiring, or mutually agreed release from existing contract. When it is seen that the team option is denied for 2021 that does not mean that a player will not come back to the team, but that they are able to renegotiate and also look at other teams.
Courtesy of Seoul Dynasty Social Media
The fandom half expected that the roster this offseason would be chaotic. A lot of the talent, that was not picked up this season, was picked up during Season 2. If the Seoul Dynasty did two-year contracts like they did for Season 1 players, then players such as Dongeon ‘FITS’ Kim, Jemin ‘Illicit’ Park, Minseo ‘Marve1’ Hwang, Minhyuk ‘Michelle’ Choi would all be up for renegotiations.
Both HyeonWoo ‘Toyou‘ Lim and SeongJun ‘Slime‘ Kim came in mid-season meaning their contracts could have been just for the remainder of this season. That is six members of the team.
Of the DPS it is only Junyoung ‘Profit’ Park that is secured for next season with the 2021 option exercised. Both Fits and Illicit have to wait to see if the Seoul Dynasty decide to exercise their option by November 13. FITS still has all Seoul Dynasty logos, headers, etc on his social media, but Illicit has taken that all down. Speculation would be that FITS is still in talks or has decided, while Illicit may be leaving.
Jaehui ‘Gesture’ Hong is also secured for Season 4. His 2021 option was exercised to stay on for another season. The Season 2 tank duo of Marve1 and Michelle are both waiting to see if the team will exercise their option to keep them. That deadline is November 13 as well. Just like the DPS, Marve1 still has all of the Seoul Dynasty logos and such on his social media, while Michelle has taken them all down from his. Michelle and Marve1 before joining the Seoul Dynasty were a tank duo from a previous team and came in with a pre-existing synergy. Toyou is a free agent as his 2021 option was declined. The hope is that the reason it was declined is that the Seoul Dynasty saw what a valuable member he is and wants to renegotiate a better contract with him.
The youngest support member of Youngwan ‘Creative’ Kim is still under an existing contract. That means he will be for sure a part of the team in Season 4. Slime has his contract expiring. He has used the past tense in talking about being a part of the Seoul Dynasty, as well as not having anything associated with Seoul on his social media (though there is discussions of whether he ever did, and the author cannot confirm either way).
Seungtae ‘Bdosin’ Choi is the only one of the three ex-London Spitfire that is a free agent as his 2021 option was declined. His social media has been wiped of Seoul Dynasty logos and headers, but he has been featured on the Gen.G social media in terms of merchandise. Jinmo ‘Tobi’ Yang many hoped would have been safe as he resigned last season. Alas, he is a free agent with his 2021 option declined, though many hope like Toyou it is to renegotiate.
The team unfortunately cannot stay the same. It is a business as much as fans like to see them as family. For that team they are family, but the offseason snaps the community back to reality as more and more LFT posts pop up on social media. Tiger Nation adores their players, and wait to see what the team decides to do. This might be the most crucial year when it comes to the team’s identity that will be dictated by their roster in Season 4. For all the Seoul Dynasty roster news stay tuned as articles will come out once news drops.
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