The offseason is nearly over and Overwatch League fans are ready to watch their teams get back into the fight. The 2019 offseason has been the wildest one yet, and many teams have seen big transformations. There will be a lot of fresh faces walking on stage this year. For fans who haven’t been keeping up with Contenders, a lot of these names might seem unfamiliar. One might be wondering, will this addition help or harm the team? What do they bring to the table? Is this player even good?

This series aims to answer those questions for fans who might not be in the know. Talent is abundant within Contenders, and a lot of these signings are ones that fans have been waiting for for years. Here is a look at some potential standout DPS rookies going into the 2020 season.

Edison – Atlanta Reign

Kim “Edison” Tae-Hoon has been making waves in Contenders Korea for years. Playing competitively since 2017, Edison gained popularity while playing for GC Busan Wave. An incredible Widowmaker, Edison has been popping off for years and all that hard work finally paid off. This year, he is joining the Atlanta Reign as the team’s third hitscan specialist.

Fans are extremely excited to watch Edison play alongside Jeong “ErsTer” Joon. Many expect them to become one of the deadliest DPS duos in the League this season. Edison shares overlapping hero pools with Andrej “babybay” Francisty and fellow newcomer Hugo “SharP” Sahlberg. While the abundance of hitscan players seems excessive to some, this move might work out in the Reign’s favor.

Recently, the Overwatch development team announced that they plan on adding a new system called “hero pools” into the game. Hero pools will ban one tank, one support, and two DPS characters every week in Competitive Mode. This change will be implemented into the Overwatch League in March. This move will force teams to become more adaptable with team compositions on the fly. While there are many concerns about hero pools adding more stress to teams’ already crazy practice schedules, many believe that the Reign will be one of the teams to thrive under this new structure because of their large roster.

Glister – London Spitfire

Another exciting addition to the League is Lim “Glister” Gil-seong. Glister will join several other Contenders graduates on the revamped London Spitfire roster. The Spitfire did a complete overhaul of their 2018 Championship roster. This move angered fans, especially when considering how expensive tickets to the London Homestand are. Why would people pay that much to go see an unrecognizable team?

While it is an understandable initial reaction, London fans should be excited about the Spitfire’s additions, especially Glister. Glister is an exceptional projectile DPS player. He is a talented Doomfist and Hanzo player and he has a lot of experience from his time playing for Gen.G. Although Gen.G finished fourth at The Gauntlet, they are considered by many to be one of the top teams in Contenders Korea. There are a lot of unknown factors about this roster, but if fans can expect great things from anyone, it’s Glister.

WhoRU – New York Excelsior

Long have fans waited, Lee “WhoRU” Seung-jun is finally activated. The young DPS prodigy has been on everyone’s radar after joining Lunatic-Hai in 2017. An exceptional Genji player, WhoRU’s aggressive playstyle would see the young player winning fights against some of the greatest names in the Overwatch League.

In 2018, WhoRU moved on to join Fusion University where he gained an even larger fan following. WhoRU popped off during the early days of FUNI’s success. However, things changed when Simon “snillo” Ekström joined the team as a two-way player. GOATS being the dominant meta, WhoRU’s DPS talent was wasted on characters like Brigitte or Zarya. Snillo took his place and became their main Brigitte player while Lee “Na1st” Ho-sung took on the role of Zarya. Both Snillo and Na1st excelled in these roles, and WhoRU became a permanent fixture on the bench. To see more playtime, FUNI loaned WhoRU out to the Skyfoxes.

Although there was some speculation that WhoRu would be joining the Dallas Fuel (mostly due to his friendship with Zachary “ZachaREEE” Lombardo), WhoRU ultimately got signed to the New York Excelsior. Many consider the NYXL to be a Top 3 team going into the 2020 season. Although he shares an overlapping hero pool with Kim “Libero” Hae-seong, WhoRU will see playtime as a substitute because of the new travel schedule that teams will be on. He is an excellent addition to the team, and fans are excited to finally watch him walk on stage in the near future.

Doha – Dallas Fuel

Most Element Mystic fans are excited about Kim “Sp9rk1e” Yeong-han joining the Paris Eternal, but he won’t be eligible to play until his 18th birthday at the end of May. While he is an exceptional pickup, and certainly one to discuss, one would be remiss to ignore the signing of former teammate Kim “Doha” Dong-ha to the Dallas Fuel.

Doha is a top tier DPS player. At The Gauntlet, his Doomfist turned out to be deadlier than Sp9rk1e’s. With Sp9rk1e on Pharah and Doha swapping between Sombra and Doomfist, the pair took down Runaway and ATL Academy with relative ease. The talk of the tournament, it makes sense that the Fuel set their eyes on the promising DPS star.

The Dallas Fuel have an abundance of problems, but their main issue has always been with their DPS line. Despite the promise that their overall roster has, the Fuel have always fallen short. ZachaREEE and Dylan “aKm” Bignet became the Fuel’s starting DPS duo last season, but both failed to deliver, especially during GOATS meta. With the signing of Doha, and former Los Angeles Gladiator Jang “Decay” Gui-un, the Fuel’s DPS lineup, once again, looks promising. Only time will tell how the Dallas Fuel will do this season, but Doha is a great pickup for them overall.

KSP – Los Angeles Valiant

Not one, but two of XL2 Academy’s players have made it into the Overwatch League. Kai “KSP” Collins will be joining the Los Angeles Valiant alongside former teammate Rick “GiG” Salazar. The British DPS player is best known for his Widowmaker and his time playing for Team UK and XL2 Academy. His Reaper stole the show for Team UK before they were defeated by Team Norway in the preliminaries. KSP’s Widowmaker has also impressed during his time playing for XL2 Academy. He played a big part in the team’s success, especially during The Gauntlet tournament. XL2 Academy went on hiatus earlier this winter, much to the surprise of everyone within the Contenders community.

KSP is the Valiant’s fourth DPS player alongside Damon “Apply” Conti, Kyle “KSF” Frandanisa, and Johannes “Shax” Nielsen. While KSF and Shax impressed last year, Apply seldom had the opportunity to show off his skills. Despite the strength of their DPS core, very few people have faith in the new Valiant. By dismissing most of their roster in favor of fresh Contenders talent, on top of an entire organization rebrand, the team looks unrecognizable going into 2020. However, if Valient fans can have faith in anyone, it would be in the former XL2 pickups.

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