Dynasty: a series of rulers or leaders who are all from the same family, or a period when a country is ruled by them.

When the Overwatch League was announced, Korea was already at the top of the food chain. The Apex Tournament hosted by OGN was considered the most important title to win and the only time a western team won it was Apex Season 1 with team EnVyUs (the core of the Dallas Fuel) beating Afreeca Freecs Blue 4–0 in the Finals. Three seasons followed and the best a western team could do was a 4th place finish from the EnVyUs squad in Season 3. The tournament lasted for 4 seasons and only one team managed to win it twice: the fan favorites Lunatic-Hai.

A big responsibility

Overwatch League Season 1 kicked off with 12 teams but only one South Korean city spot. The city was Seoul and the team was Seoul Dynasty. Even with the Korean royalty that was the core of Lunatic-Hai being overtaken in Apex Season 4, KSV eSports (now Gen.G eSports) decided to bet on the veterans to represent the most dominant region in Overwatch. The team’s name was a perfect choice. If we look at eSports in general, this isn’t the first game Koreans dominate in. When a competitive game becomes popular in South Korea, it seems that it is just a matter of time until they rise to the top and stay there until the game dies out. It happened in Starcraft, League of Legends and now it is happening in Overwatch. The Seoul team was created to keep the dynasty going and rule the Overwatch competitive scene. Having this in mind, an 8th place finish was nothing short of extremely disappointing.

Off season changes

The Off Season is the start of the road for Seoul Dynasty to earn the respect their name implies. The changes began with the coaching staff which was definitely one of the team’s big problems. Their previous Head Coach, Hochul “Hocury” Lee was moved to the General Manager role and Donggun “KDG” Kim became their new Head Coach, with Assistant Coach Chang Geun “Changgoon” Park by his side. KDG was a former pro Starcraft player and was the coach for teams like Mosaic Esports and 6nakes. Changgoon was a coach for GC Busan during their Apex Season 4 win and for the London Spifire during their OWL S1 win.

The Coaching Staff was not the only problem plaguing the Seoul Dynasty though, so roster changes were in order. Until now, six players left the team and one joined. Gong “Miro” Jin-hyuk and Heo “Gambler” Jin-woo became streamers, Moon “Gido” Gi-do and Choi “Wekeed” Seok-woo were released, Koo “xepheR” Jae-mo was transferred to the Florida Mayhem and Kim “KuKi” Dae-kuk to the LA Valiant. The only player to join was Baek “Fissure” Chan-hyung, a player widely regarded for (his amazing looks) and his role as leader after his stay in the LA Gladiators. If you want to look more into this addition to the roster read this article written by Emily Rand: https://t.co/GqdTqJ2cKe?amp=1

Meta changes

OWL Season 1 didn’t have a lot of meta changes. The pick rates for the heroes played stayed around the same value for most of the season. The top three were D. Va, Zenyatta and Mercy. This kind of meta was also a thorn in Seoul Dynasty’s side. Having a roster that is flexible and does not fall apart due to a meta change is important, but the Dynasty’s players had most of their signature heroes neglected for most of the season. Je-hon “ryujehong” Ryu was considered one of the best players in Overwatch, at times the best. The hero he is know for the most is by far Ana, whose pick rate was under 5% during the entire Season 1 of OWL. Joon-huk “zunba” Kim was seen as the best Zarya player in the world during his Apex days. The hero had under 8% pick rate. Jin-mo “tobi” Yang dominated the opponents on his impressive Lucio. Even though he had a decent 20% pick rate, it came nowhere close to Mercy’s 78%. To make matters worse, ryujehong and tobi were way below their normal level when they were on the Flying Angel.

If we watch the pick rates for the Overwatch World Cup Qualifiers (excluding Paris) we can see how much the meta has changed, and how well it can fit Seoul Dynasty’s roster: