There’s a little bit of hesitance for all three. It's slight, but there.

But the answer is always the same.

Perhaps a strange question for professionals wrapping up just their second season in the Overwatch League. But for three veteran Dallas Fuel players, none of whom appeared on stage before the final match of June, they have a decision to make over the next month.

Will you stick with OWL, or find something else?

More bluntly: Will you retire? It’s a tough -- and unusual -- decision for a 20-something.

“Only during the early season I really thought about retirement,” Timo “Taimou” Kettunen said earlier this week, “but it would be like half retirement because I would still play the game and probably come back at some point. But full retirement?

“No, never. I want to show that older players still have a chance.”

Taimou, who turns 26 on Aug. 30, is one of three original Fuel players still on the roster, along with Jonathan “HarryHook” Tejedor Rua, 28, and Pongphop "Mickie" Rattanasangchod, 25.

The three, along with the rest of their Fuel teammates, wrap up a disappointing 2019 season on Saturday when they face the Atlanta Reign in Los Angeles.

They’re hungry to end the season on a high note. But they know this offseason may be the most important of their career.

The final match of the season will be on one of the biggest stages: The Novo, a music venue-turned-esports arena for the Kit-Kat Rivalry weekend. Dallas, already eliminated from playoff contention, faces Atlanta in the tuneup, opening the weekend at 4 p.m. CDT against the surging Reign (14-12), undefeated this stage.

It’s a grand sendoff for the regular season. And a way for the original EnvyUs players to show a thing or two.

“I’m going to be 26 in a week,” Taimou said,” and I still feel like there’s a stigma on older players and I really want to break it. ... There’s tennis players in their 40s. They’re playing physical sports and they’re still at their best -- why couldn’t esports (players) be good when they’re older?”

Relegated to the bench

HarryHook has been a key Overwatch player for Team Envy for the past three years. (Patrick T. Fallon / Special to The Dallas Morning News)

HarryHook gazes up, trying to find the best way to explain where it all went wrong. It’s three days after he made his 2019 season debut, at the end of Stage 3, and he’s recounting how the Fuel were reverse swept by the New York Excelsior 72 hours earlier.

He’s reflective, as you might expect from a veteran gamer. He’s honest with his comments and supportive of his teammates. He doesn’t speak in cliches.

The match -- it seemed oh-so-winnable -- marked the beginning of the end for the Fuel this season, continuing a Stage 3 tailspin that led to a crash landing toward the bottom of the table.

The June 29 match -- the 21st of the regular season -- marked the season debut for Taimou and HarryHook, four months after the campaign started. Mickie didn’t appear on stage until this past Sunday, where he subbed in on the final map of a 4-0 loss to Guangzhou.

The three most-tenured Overwatch players on Envy's roster were relegated to the bench nearly all season. It's only during this current 11-match losing streak that they started to emerge, and Mickie's cameo was only a few minutes of game action.

Life on the bench isn’t a fun one for any professional.

“You either don’t care if you’re benched or you hate life,” HarryHook said. “For me, I choose to not care because I don’t want to hate life. I don’t want to be unhappy.”

He could choose to be frustrated with his lack of playing time, or adapt to it and step in when called upon. Based on his performances this stage, it’s clear he’s chosen the latter.

Like Taimou, HarryHook is eager to show that older players can still compete on the highest level. He just turned 28 -- he’s almost a decade older than one of his teammates.

There haven’t been definitive studies that show younger players are better than those closer to 30, but reflexes clearly are a big part of an elite gamer’s skillset. But proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle is also key. A 2016 study by German Sports University suggested that, among other things, nutrition and a proper lifestyle can extend a gamer’s career by several years.

“There definitely is a stigma about older players,” Fuel head coach Aaron “Aero” Atkins said. “... There’s a big idea that older players don’t have the reaction time or they’re not able to keep up, which I don’t necessarily agree with.

“I think the biggest thing about esports compared to traditional sports is how much it changes, how much you have to relearn about the game.”

When those changes come to Overwatch, it means players can be moved to the bench.

“I think every player kind of understands that with one patch, with one change, everything can change,” Aero said, “and it will maybe that one of the other players just fits better in that meta.”

For the Fuel this season, much of it was played before a 2-2-2 role lock, it meant Mickie, Taimou and HarryHook rode the virtual pine.

They reacted in different ways. Taimou was hungry to get back to the stage, tweeting out his displeasure earlier this summer. But when he made it back on stage, he made the most of it.

The players aren’t only trying to make the most of playing on stage, though.

More than a smile

Mickie is nearly always sporting a smile between maps -- win or lose. (Patrick T. Fallon / Special to The Dallas Morning News)

Mickie is a positive player. It’s a central theme of any story, broadcast or conversation about the 25-year old.

He won the inaugural Dennis Hawelka Award for bringing the most positive impact to the league community last year.

Just because he can still don a smile when he’s spending hours in the training room without appearing on stage doesn’t mean he wants to stay in the dugout every week.

The changing meta has not been kind to Mickie.

But he knows his role is no longer as a star off-tank, who once help revolutionize D.Va. play, but rather as a mentor. Think about an aging catcher brought in to settle down a fiery crop of young pitchers in the minors.

“It’s the whole team thing,” Mickie said earlier this week. “In the team, you don’t need six young players. In any sport, it’s going to be young and older (players), so basically the younger are usually going to be more skilled, for sure, but their mental are going to be worse.”

Like HarryHook and Taimou, Mickie has thought about his future.

Like his longtime teammates, he isn’t ready to retire. But Mickie knows that at one point, it will happen.

He believes that until he no longer has something to offer the team, then he will continue to play on the Fuel.

He’s seen this team flourish and struggle. It’s success is important to him. He doesn’t want to take up a roster spot if he isn’t helping.

“If one day, there’s someone who deserves my spot, I would give it to him,” Mickie said. “I don’t want to be the bad guy on the team, the lowest skill, the weakness.”

As it stands now, Mickie has played the least among his Fuel teammates. By only looking at minutes played, he could be seen as the least important -- the weak link.

But Aero sees Mickie as more than just a positive force. Mickie is a smart player who likes to take new approaches to things.

As the game has evolved, so has his role.

“Mickie is one of those guys who will have a future in esports for a long time after his time as a player is done,” Aero said. “Honestly whatever field he wanted to go into, he could do it.”

But right now for Mickie -- as well as Taimou and HarryHook -- they still want to play.

On Twitter: @TommyMagelssen

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