The last weekend of the regular season of the Overwatch League showed multiple sides of the Seoul Dynasty. It was the story of two matches with a loss to the Hangzhou Spark and a close win against the London Spitfire. These two matches highlighted how the Dynasty can overwhelm less experienced or coordinated teams. But when it comes to teams with the same experience or better synergy their small mistakes are magnified and punished. What started to become apparent though was the hero flexibility is good for each player, but the synergy between the heroes they can play might be lacking.
The Problem
The issue arises in small situational moments. This is most apparent when it comes to the DPS. Dongeon ‘FITS’ Kim and Junyoung ‘Profit’ Park have been the starting DPS for the team. These two are rarely subbed out, and on paper make a good pairing. FITS is an all a-rounder, but has become known for his hit scan roles. Profit and FITS have largely overlapping hero pools. Though mechanically they are close to each other the game sense that goes along with some heroes seems to be not as fresh.
It was on Eichenwalde against the Hangzhou Spark when Jaehwan ‘Adora’ Kang jumped on the Reaper for the defense. Profit knew he should switch to McCree to counter the Reaper. He also had the mechanical prowess to get headshots. How he played McCree, not hanging back to outrange the Reaper, getting picked early, positioning, alongside the composition and play style speed was mismatched.
What is the issue? FITS is an amazing McCree. FITS is the Sombra player for the Dynasty. There isn’t a time in which Profit has played Sombra, which means he is forced to go on the Ashe. This normally works, until niche situations like Adora Reaper pop out. Is this as big of an issue as the community is making it out to be? Is this a chip in the armor that will inevitably be their downfall when teams exploit this in the future?
Current Seoul Dynasty DPS
Substitutions are before each map, so mid map the team couldn’t change out players after they saw what the opposing team was running. There would be no way that the Seoul Dynasty would know that the Hangzhou Spark was going to run an off-meta composition like Reaper. If they did have this knowledge through scrims, would it be worth to put FITS on McCree and bring one of the other DPS in to play. Again this is the last week of hero pools and the rest of the playoff time will be free rein hero wise.
Jemin ‘Illicit’ Park
What options do the Dynasty have if they do not want to have to rework all the synergy or any more additions? There is one more clear DPS player on the team. Illicit is the third DPS, currently sitting on the bench. He has been in for a couple matches such as the Week 26 match against the Charge. His hero pools are overlapping with FITS and Profit. Illicit can be seen on Genji, Pharah and Echo so more of a projectile specialist. But both FITS and Profit play those heroes at such a high level it seems silly to sub in a player with less flexibility and arguably minuscule amount better on projectiles. This also doesn’t fit the Sombra issue that was brought up in the Hangzhou Match.
Minhyuk ‘Michelle’ Choi
Michelle. Of course, the community isn’t in the scrim room or are in the minds of the coaches. In Season 2 Michelle played a game winning Sombra. His Sombra lead to the Dynasty’s first victory over the NYXL. Michelle is not as flexible in one category as FITS, Profit, or even Illicit. He is as flexible as Profit, and more than FITS and Illicit when it comes to over all heroes. The 2/2/2 lock though punishes that flexibility. Though he isn’t as proficient in multiple DPS which gives issues he is an amazing Sombra. That could be pair next to FITS on hit scan. Would it be worth the risk as the Dynasty would be then stuck on that composition?
Dynasty DPS Issues?
Should the Dynasty pick up another DPS? Would that ruin the flow that the team has built up? Is it needed? There is a lot of T2 talent that the Dynasty could pull from, and as they are based in Korea there would be no issues with visas. Is there a DPS issues on the Seoul Dynasty? Hindsight will be the only thing that will be able to answer this question. Whether or not the Seoul Dynasty thrive or not during the playoffs seemingly will be put on the backs of the DPS. With no hero pools Dive might come back into fashion and this whole issue will be forgotten.
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