After a long 2020 year, it is now everyone’s favorite day for shopping – Amazon Prime Day. While the fans are looking for small things for the new home office or grabbing very early holiday gifts, Overwatch League teams are out shopping as well. Some teams have longer shopping lists than others, but each team needs something this offseason to make 2021 a better year.
Missed part 1? Check out what the other half of the league is grabbing!
Los Angeles Valiant
What They Need: A Bigger Wallet
The Los Angeles Valiant were the best, money-ball team in blue and yellow this season. They found a way to win with an allegedly weak roster, and dismantled every pre-season power ranking. Now for 2021, the Valiant have a unique opportunity to improve on their roster while keeping their core players on the same contract. It’s at this point, they need to grab their wallets and open it all the way up to grab those impactful free agents.
New York Excelsior
What They Need: An Extra Large Ice-Cube Tray
Who knows what really caused the Excelsior to fumble their season, but from a spectator view, it just seemed like they couldn’t stand the heat. The combination of high expectations, stiff competition, and mixed results put plenty of pressure on the Excelsior to succeed and they just couldn’t produce. New York needs to just chill, and play their game. They attempted something different this year, but couldn’t get it done. Maybe it was the introduction of too many new pieces, but the roster as a whole needs to play with some ice in the veins in order to beat the top teams.
Paris Eternal
What They Need: A Blu-Ray Copy of “Donnie Darko”Â
The Paris Eternal were slated to be a team that needed to wait for star-rookie Yeong-han “SP9RK1E” Kim to net positive results. They defied those expectations thanks to fellow rookies Ki-hyo “XZI”Jung and Han-been “Hanbin” Choi, and shocked plenty of opponents. Once SP9RK1E did arrive, he immediately made an impact and showcased why he was so highly regarded coming out of contenders. For 2021, the Paris Eternal need to continue their commitment to the “SP9RK1E Motion” in order to find that elusive championship.
Philadelphia Fusion
What They Need: Whatever Carpe Wants
It’s what the Fusion have done the past two off-seasons, why stop now? Give Jae-hyeok “Carpe” Lee the credit card and let him get to work. The Fusion are getting almost too comfortable becoming the bridesmaid instead of the bride, and maybe Carpe can find that one thing on sale that can turn the team around. While it may not be a new main tank, it could just be buying more playtime in critical situations. His absence from the pivotal moments in the Grand Finals was something truly baffling. In 2021, the Fusion need to let their star player determine the resources around him to make that championship run.
San Francisco Shock
What They Need: A Bigger Trophy Case
It can be tough to be the champ. The Overwatch League Championship trophy isn’t small, and having two of them could clutter an office. Not to mention the team will want to showcase the various accolades from each of the players, from Role Stars to Finals MVPs. The San Francisco Shock can’t spend too much on a new case, as they need to save their cash to sign back their valuable free agents. Realistically the Shock don’t need much, but it never hurts to get a good deal on a gift for themselves.
Seoul Dynasty
What They Need: Matching Friendship Bracelets
If there is anything audiences learned from the Grand Finals, it’s that Jae-hee “Gesture” Hong and Joon-yeong “Profit” Park still have that magic. After an early exit from last year’s tournament, the pair made an incredible run with an unlikely Seoul Dynasty squad. With these two together, anything is truly possible. Seoul should make sure these two stick together, because they can make any match winnable if they are on stage together. Also they have such a strong bond out of the game, that they just lift each other up at any moment.
Shanghai Dragons
What They Need: A Grabber Reacher Tool
The Shanghai Dragons aren’t old, and they don’t struggle with grabbing things far away, they just need something to help them reach their prize. In 2018 they failed to win a single match. Surprisingly, in 2019 they bounced back hard to even win the Stage 3 finals. In 2020, they were the most dominant team in the league right until they weren’t. They are missing just something, and because of this a championship is just out of their reach.
Toronto Defiant
What They Need: A Thank You Card
A card is always good to receive, and people should be giving out more cards to show their appreciation. Everyone on the Defiant roster should be using today’s deals to grab the funniest thank-you cards for Andreas “Logix”‘ Berghmans. The amount of times Logix kept the Defiant in close matches is insane. He is their bright spot on an otherwise lacking team aside from Young-seo “Kariv” Park. Despite the meta, Logix remained the DPS Toronto leaned on. Though Lane “Surefour” Roberts hog the majority of the hit-scan role at the start of the season, Logix eventually cemented his spot in the starting lineup.
Vancouver Titans
What They Need: A Travel Neck Pillow
The young Vancouver Titans came half-way through the season, and had the unfortunate pleasure have seeing multiple players battle on high ping. If things shape up before 2021, Vancouver will definitely hope to see their abroad players come and practice at the now-infamous Adamas Esports Facility. If the organization doesn’t sign back every player, they will certainly be scouring the Contenders regions for their next rookie prospects. Teams may not need to travel through the season, but the Titans certainly want their players to at least make the trip to Canada to play on reasonable latency.
Washington Justice
What They Need: A Longer Bench
When the Justice revamped their roster mid-season, they were left with just six players on the roster. Though having a consistent core roster is strong, having access to bench players is also extremely important. Unlike the Fuel, the Justice need to add more players to the roster to help bring more flexibility to the small roster. Washington should sign a few more key members to the team this off-season. With a deeper bench, the Justice can be a meta-proof monster.
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Featured image courtesy of Ben Pursell and the Overwatch League
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