Transfer confirmed: Nevix signs with Toronto Defiant, Fissure joins Vancouver

In one of the bigger free agent moves this offseason, Toronto Defiant pulled off a major signing with the addition of Andreas “Nevix” Karlsson at Flex tank. After a promising run as one of the more polished players on the championship winning San Francisco Shock roster, Nevix’s stock was undoubtedly at an all-time high. Heading into this move in free agency, Nevix took his time assessing his prospects while deciding his next move and surprisingly, Toronto Defiant has become the ideal destination. Toronto Defiant has made a slew of moves this offseason as they picked up Surefour and Kellex early in November. The new look Western roster has a lot of promise on the Overwatch League stage come next season.

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If Chan-hyung “Fissure” Baek was supposed to make a comeback to competitive Overwatch in 2020, few would have guessed that Vancouver Titans would be his destination. In an effort to consolidate their team and bring about a new veteran dynamic, Vancouver have gone for a tried and true talent within the league, albeit controversial, in hopes they can achieve the heights they seemed poised to reach during the first few months of the season.

Rising in Rank

The Toronto Defiant organization has been steadily at work since entering free agency earlier this month, and their latest signing is indicative of their ambitions for success this year. Nevix’s prowess on the flex tank role has been an instant selling point for his skills, and Toronto Defiant desperately needed someone of his caliber on that role last season.

After a promising run in the first two stages of Season Two, it seemed like Toronto Defiant had a winning formula with their half Korean, half Western lineup. However, as other teams started to develop real synergy in the latter half of the year, Toronto Defiant simply could not keep up and their roster issues started to compile with their lackluster results.

We're super excited to announce that @Nevix_OW will be joining the Defiant for the 2020 Season! Our team and staff are incredibly excited to have him complete our tank line. #RiseTogether pic.twitter.com/qW89XT3sKi — Toronto Defiant (@TorontoDefiant) November 7, 2019

Since then, Toronto Defiant have started to reshape their roster and the moves have been in favor of more Western talent with players that can exceed their colleagues in the Overwatch League with the right work environment. With the addition of Agilities, Surefour and now Nevix on their roster, Toronto Defiant are legitimate contenders in their division and with the right amount of teamwork, could become championship hopefuls if one or two more pieces join the fold.

Toronto have also signed Young-seo “KariV” Park last month at the Support position. KariV spent the last two years as a constant in an ever-evolving LA Valiant lineup with little to no consistency. On this new look Toronto Defiant, the players have a clear identity, the playstyles fit into each other’s game with the high technical ability and veteran level understanding of the game at an OWL level. With the right infrastructure for coaching and developing talent, Toronto Defiant could very well rival the likes of Vancouver Titans for most interesting Canadian roster next year.

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Vancouver Titans sign Fissure

The Vancouver Titans made waves this week after reportedly signing Fissure to a deal, taking him out of retirement. The information was reported by Aaron ‘Halo’ Brown as sources confirmed Fissure would be able to join the team as a Free Agent because he was released from Seoul Dynasty previously.

This move spells another bout of bad business for Seoul Dynasty as they have proven their incompetence with high level talent in multiple seasons now. Last year, Ryujehong, Fissure and Munchkin were all seriously misused as talent during the year. Now that Seoul Dynasty have Gesture and Profit at their disposal, there is no guarantee they will be able to avoid repeating the same mistakes that have plagued their performances in high-level situations time and time again.

Vancouver Titans, on the other hand, know a thing or two about running a clean system. Their team synergy was off the charts last year, and oftentimes that was enough to secure the victory, but team talent across the board was lacking and their ability to perform against the highest level Main Tanks in the league always left something wanting for a team so highly regarded everywhere else on the map.

Having Fissure enter the fold does patch up their problems, but Fissure is and always will be his rambunctious, controversial self. Fissure has proven his worth as one of the most talented Main Tanks to play the game, but there is no denying he is rough around the edges and he does not slot in perfectly to every team dynamic easily.

Vancouver Titans seem like the kind of fraternity that is tight-knit and their performances rely on that bond. Bringing in Fissure without the right frame of mind to properly integrate him in the roster could prove to be a bad calculation if performances start to dip next season.

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