It is hard to put into words what getting this far and potentially winning it all in Season 3 means to the Tiger Nation and the Seoul Dynasty. The biggest triumph of this season goes to the main support, Jinmo ‘Tobi’ Yang. Through all the struggles and hurdles it is Tobi that is standing on top and almost able to reach the attainable goal of being the Season 3 grand champion. See how everything previously has helped him get to this point. Though there have not been any big flashy plays, this has been the season for the consistent main support.
The Hurdles
Season 1
Tobi was one of the original Lunatic-Hai members that then transferred to the Seoul Dynasty in Season 1. To have the APEX back to back champions associated with any player is difficult, but when the season doesn’t go as planned it makes it even harder. On top of that, though new fans would never imagine, Mercy was not a comfortable hero for Tobi in Season 1. He has said in the past that it changes his positioning within the team and made it harder to call out. That was when Jinwoo ‘Gambler’ Heo came in as an another main support for the Seoul Dynasty.
Though he was now sharing the responsibility of the main support with another he was able to get play time even on a meta that wasn’t always favored towards him. His synergy with Jehong ‘Ryujehong’ Ryu shone through as an asset that the team wanted to use. Gambler departed at the end of that season from the Seoul Dynasty and became a Gen. G streamer. In the end it was Tobi that remained, though the first part of the Lunatic-Hai original roster fell away in their Winston player Jinhyuk ‘Miro’ Gong.
Season 2
In Season 2 there was an addition of now Houston Outlaw support, Seungsoo ‘Jecse’ Lee, who was also a main support. During this season Tobi’s wrist injury had started acting up again. Tobi said on a Instagram live and on stream that he was going to wait to get it treated in Korea. Though he was injured he was still able to be rotated in and out of the roster.
He showed his prowess on Lucio and continued to help the younger players acclimate to the Overwatch League. He was one of the older brothers that many players looked up to. Though much of the community remembers Ryujehong crying after their defeat in the playoffs, Tobi was there as well. In tears he thanked the fans and promised not to let another opportunity slip by. At the end of this season he was the only original member of both the Season 1 Seoul Dynasty squad as well as Lunatic-Hai member on the roster.
Beginning a New
Season 3
Tobi was the member that had been on Seoul the longest. Jaehui ‘Gesture’ Hong was the one to take up the captain mantle after Ryujehong left. It was Tobi who still had the weight on his shoulders of all the previous seasons and expectations. The addition of Seungtae ‘Bdosin’ Choi and Youngwan ‘Creative’ Kim posed no threat to him as they are more the Ana and Zen players. Though midway through the season it was the addition of Sungjun ‘Slime’ Kim that made some fans think that Tobi was going to the bench. That wasn’t the case. Tobi prevailed in consistently being in the matches if not starting even after the addition of Slime to the team.
Tobi faced another meta that didn’t always allow him to play his comfort hero of Lucio. He was a majority of the time on Brig or Mercy. In Week 21 Tobi was second three times out of six categories on Brig stats. His Mercy play towards the end of the regular season and beginning of playoffs helped the team massively.
The Seoul Dynasty with Tobi was able to get to the finals of the May Melee and 2nd place of the first monthly tournament. Though they were the lowest-ranked team getting through the first matches of the playoffs, the team was able to go a perfect weekend not dropping a map. They fell to the Dragons in a close match but bounced back to defeat the NYXL to make it into the top 4.
In the recent video that the Seoul Dynasty put out, Retaliation, once they had secured their spot in top four the Head coach Changgoon said that the biggest congratulations goes to Tobi. He has stuck with the team. Some may have thought others of the founding members would’ve stayed around to the end, but in reality it is Tobi that has had his heart put into this team and game.
All Stars
On top of making it to the top 4, Tobi was voted into the All-Star match. This is the first time of the three seasons that he had been voted in for this honor. He was the only member of the All-Star team that played in all three matches. Not only did he have fun, but was there when his fellow teammates played the All-Star mini games.
Triumphant Tobi
We had fallen short to @Hangzhou_Spark at important moments throughout the season; however, that all changed tonight. In today's interview, @ow_yangtobi confidently stated that he was the reason for today's victory😉 Check out the video and we'll see you tomorrow!#TigerNation pic.twitter.com/7z2OHnryc0
— Seoul Dynasty 🐯 (@SeoulDynasty) September 5, 2020
It was after all his original members had left him and he was alone as the eldest that Tobi has the chance of winning it all. Tobi is a two time APEX champion and OWWC winner. The only thing left he has to conquer is the Overwatch League Championship. Tobi has found success in the Overwatch League not with the team he is most known for, or the support duo that he had played with for year. But he has outlasted every other main support that has been on the Seoul Dynasty. It is his hard work and strong leadership skills that have made him successful no matter his teammates. The triumph of Tobi is a triumph for all of the Tiger Nation. The community will be waiting with bated breath to hopefully celebrate his next Overwatch title as the Season 3 Champion.
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