Dong-jun “Rascal” Kim is one of the most exciting players in the Overwatch League from Team London Spitfire. For a team which has a problem of ‘too many’ good players, Rascal has been out of action with Birdring and Profit being the starting DPS duo for the team. But the absence of Rascal during Week 1 and the range of DPS heroes he can bring to the table is what makes him one of the most exciting DPS players in the Overwatch League.

Rascal has a huge fan base which is mostly due to his off-meta picks in professional games. The fact that he can play these heroes at the top skill level is what sets him apart from other professionals. His Mei and Sombra are extremely efficient. But the fact that he has a team which practices around his weird picks and masters the strategy is what enables them to be as strong as they are. The more we mention about Rascal’s performance it is incomplete without a proper mention of the team’s synergy and efficiency in playing around the player.

Pre Season

London Spitfire have used Rascal as a 2 CP specialist for much of his time in the Overwatch League. London Spitfire saw two matches one against Los Angeles Gladiators while the other one was against San Francisco Shock. The Gladiators match was the first time we ever Rascal play on London Spitfire roster. His first map was Horizon Lunar Colony and he came in as a specialist pick for that particular map.

He played Mei on defense which looked extremely strong against the Gladiators. From dividing the Gladiators roster into two and getting picks off their tanks or their support lineup London Spitfire was always able to optimize Rascal’s walls to their best. The Gladiators had no practice, almost ever, playing against a Mei and this definitely threw them off their game. The London Spitfire roster looked strong, but it was vastly helped by mistakes on the LA Gladiators part. Rascal was able to back cap two ticks on the first point of Horizon Lunar Colony, something that definitely will tilt the best of teams.

Their match against Dorado saw Rascal playing for London Spitfire for 3 maps. Dorado saw Rascal playing Genji for the most part and his performance was in synergy with the rest of the team. We could see the level of communication and synergy between the two DPS Players Birdring and Rascal on that particular map. His Genji did not have as many flashy plays as Birdring, who often finished off low HP heroes to have his name on the kill feed. But Rascal’s Genji was consistently on a high level which is what made SF Shock target him with increased focus. This created a lot of space for the rest of the team as they were able to roll over SF Shock.

Innovative strategies and the Korean teams are not unfamiliar with each other. London Spitfire were the first team to implement the Orisa + Widowmaker defense on Temple of Anubis. Sitting behind the

Orisa shield, Birdring’s Widowmaker ensured that Babybay was not able kill Birdring even once. Indeed if we were to keep a score, Birdring won that matchup convincingly 4-0. The second point defense saw Rascal Switching to Pharah and ultimately Mccree in their attempt to defend the point. The coordination on the team was evident in the way they saved EMP’s in team fights which they knew they could win easily.

The level of communication on the team is what probably sets this team as close to Seoul Dynasty as possible. Their final offense saw the team adapt to the defensive lineup, they took Rascal on Sombra and set up camp on the high ground Health pack. When SF Shock took the fight to them, it helped them quickly build up the EMP. The very early EMP meant that they were able to quickly clean up the kills and secure the map.

Oasis saw Rascal playing Mccree, despite the fact that his Pharah is very high skilled. His Mccree saw the player do the ‘Highest of Noons’ where he used his ultimate ‘High Noon’ while bouncing up the elevator. Weird strategies are what accurately defines this player. As Monte said, “Your joke is Rascal’s strategy“.

Rascal played Mccree on Eicenwalde to a much lesser impact. The first two-point defenses saw SF Shock roll through with a better composition overall. But going into the third point they were up against Rascal’s Mei. This was yet another team which had no answer to the Mei, a very unusual pick at the top levels of Overwatch. Mei is a special character who not only is unique to the opposition, but also to your own teammates. But the Kongdoo roster showed that they are very well equipped to play in sync with Rascal’s Mei. The offense saw Rascal pull out his Pharah, a hero that he is very well known for.

He again pulled out the Mei on the last point and was really instrumental in dividing the tanks from the supports. There were instances when SF Shock would dive on the backlines of London. But Rascal was able to cut them off from their supports and the London team would then follow it up with aggressive plays on the SF Shock DPS and support lineup. This type of hero dissection is exactly what Rascal’s hero pool allows any team that he plays for.

The Pre Season saw Rascal pull out eight different heroes. His knowledge on how to play the hero on certain points is what allows him to play off-meta picks such as Sombra and Mei with such high efficiency. The Kongdoo roster is well equipped to play with and around him. It requires a high level of synergy and coordination amongst the team, which was displayed by the team during their time in the preseason.

Overwatch League Stage 1, Week 2

⚠️ ROSTER SWAP ⚠️ Cowards no longer! You asked for him and here he is! @Birdring and @Rascal will be our DPS duo on Lunar Horizon Colony! #AcesHigh🛩️ pic.twitter.com/RwHC4hYJp5 — London Spitfire (@Spitfire) January 20, 2018

Rascal did not see any playtime during the first week of the Overwatch League. But Rascal has several fans all over the globe and the demands for Rascal to play started growing louder. With substitutions forming a core of the Overwatch League, the London Spitfire management did not disappoint. They subbed in Rascal in during their two matches in Week 2. He mostly played Mccree with a very aggressive style of gameplay. The Mccree in itself was not successful, but that was less on Rascal as much as it was a collective decision of the team to play an aggressive style on Mccree. We saw Birding step in and try to emulate the same style with almost similarly disappointing results later.

Their defense saw Rascal playing Junkrat and Mei which facilitated by the Bdosin’s regular pickoffs before the fight started enabled the team to always be on the offensive. We saw the team’s synergy when Mei walled LA Valiant in the main pathway and Birdring came in to use his ultimate and kill four people there.

The next map was Oasis which saw Rascal on heroes such as Pharah and Zarya on two points, We can just say that London Spitfire made some questionable decisions on the Oasis points as we saw them continuously fighting on point instead of regrouping and making a play for the next point. The second point saw Rascal on Zarya where he made some excellent plays with his Zarya. But the team was unable to coordinate their performances and they eventually lost the map 0-2.

How does Rascal fit into the team?

Rascal has been one of the star players on the London Spitfire team. However, this has not changed the way the coach plays his team. We have seen Profit and Birdring receive most of the time on the team.

Week 2 of the Overwatch League did see London bring out Rascal on several maps. We saw a lot of the player, especially as he plays many heroes at the highest level. The current meta however heavily favors Tracer, Widowmaker on several maps. With Birdring and Profit the London Spitfire team gets two amazing Tracer players along with the versatility of going on any of the DPS Players they choose.

Will Rascal see more playtime? Week Three is the perfect setting for London Spitfire to provide Rascal with more playtime. The young player has a synergy with Birdring going back to their amateur days before KDP. This is the synergy that propelled them to become a world-renowned roster. We should see the London Coaching staff use this to their advantage. London Spitfire face off against San Francisco Shock and Boston Uprising in Week 3. With two weak opponents in Week 3, these are the perfect opportunities for Rascal to get back in the groove.

We will see Rascal getting more playtime on the London Spitfire roster when the metagame shifts. We still don’t know how the coaches plan to implement the substitution system. Maybe they are figuring it out themselves and we will see Rascal start for London this week.

London will be the first pro team to implement Hero No. 27

We have all heard the rumors about Hero No. 27. We don’t know much about the hero except that he is present in previous Overwatch lore. With Moira being a support character, I expect Hero 27 to be either a tank or offense hero. This would definitely provide a nice balance to the categories. We might also see a defense hero, a very unpopular category at the professional level.

Rascal is one of the first professional players to practice, perfect and play a new hero in professional matches. The early adoption of the new hero gives London a big advantage in the game. With the timeline that heroes are released, we expect some exciting matches during the latter stages of Season 1. How excited are you to watch Rascal play more on London Spitfire during Week 3? Let us know in comments.

This is a new series of articles where in we review certain players, their performances in the league. Do let us know what you feel about this.