“Fissure the most handsome, best main tank, greatest in the world. who is better than Fissure? Nobody.” – Chan-hyung “Fissure” Baek

That one statement says it all about Fissure and his place in the Overwatch League. Among all of the players that have joined the League, none have the bravado, the pride, and the skill of Fissure. It takes a special temperament to go out of your way to talk yourself up that way. It’s incredible if you can back it up, but it can’t be used to mock you for the rest of your career. One Chris “HuK” Loranger had the meme of ‘top 3 control’ followed him for his entire Starcraft 2 career. So when Fissure initially said that, it was both a boast and a promise. A belief in himself that he was the best and a promise to himself that he’d live up to those words. Should he fail, then infinite ridicule would follow. But should he succeed, he’d be the star of the entire show. That was the pressure he put himself under and he has passed with flying stars as his own front man, player, and leader all rolled into one.

He was already amongst the best players in the world before Overwatch began. In the finals of Apex Season 3, his team, KongDoo Panthera, played against Lunatic-Hai. Forget what you know about the deprecit Seoul Dynasty of the Overwatch League, back then Lunatic-Hai were rightly crowned as the best team in the world. In that finals they were pushed to their limit by KongDoo Panthera and in the post-game interview, the player that Lunatic-Hai acknowledged the most was Fissure.

He was an outstanding main tank, arguably the best in the world at that point. So when the London Spitfire hired KongDoo Panthera, I thought for certain we were going to see Fissure play on the starting lineup of the roster. London Spitfire had other ideas. GC Busan shocked the world with their royal road victory in Apex Season 4 and that team was bought out as well. In the end the London Spitfire decided to go with Hong “Gesture” Jae-hee as their starter because of his better synergy with Park “Profit” Joon-yeong. The move made sense, but the fans were robbed of an incredible player in Fissure and he barely saw any play time in Stage 1 of Overwatch League.

Going into Stage 2, the London decided to sell him to the L.A. Gladiators. It was one of the best choices possible as the Gladiators were close to dropping towards the bottom of the pack. As Fissure put it in his Players Lobby article,

“I don’t really know the details, but I think the London Spitfire chose to sell me to the Gladiators because they thought the Gladiators were a weak team.”

It was a frank dismissal, Fissure recalled the moment on his stream, “When I was having a meal I was told to leave London Spitfire and move to LAG in 3 hours, without prior notice.”

From the viewpoint of the London Spitfire, they were unlikely to meet Fissure in a meaningful competitive again. At that moment they were the Kings of the Overwatch League. They had gotten top 3 in the regular stage and had defeated the New York Excelsior in the title matches. Fissure was an incredible player, but surely even he couldn’t pull Gladiators out of the rut they were stuck in.

It was analogous to the book Count of Monte Cristo, when Edmond Dantes was sent to the Château d’If or like the movie Gladiator when Maximus Decimus Meridius was sold a slave. Like the two aforementioned heroes, Fissure was left to exile and his enemies did not expect him to come back. However like both of them, he found his salvation in his exile, he became a leader of men, and put himself on the path of revenge. As he put it in his Player’s Lobby article,

“They[Gladiators] were beautiful marble that simply hadn’t been cut yet, and once we carved out our synergy, they shined.”

The path was not easy. When he first joined the team, he realized that he needed to fix the mentality of the team. As he describes it,

“I personally talked with the GM of LAG. I told him ‘I really want to improve this team and get us higher in the rankings, but they don’t seem to have the mentality to try harder. If this goes on, I don’t think I can keep up.’ …He gathered all the LAG players in one spot had a discussion, and told the players that they needed to make the proper atmosphere for Fissure.”

Fissure was a demanding leader and player. Even though he was the newest addition to the team, he forcefully took the team by the reigns and became it’s captain. He led by example through his own hard work and tried to communicate as best as he could with his new teammates. Luckily Hyung-seok “Bischu” Kim was able to act as a translator and the team quickly gelled. They followed his lead and learned how to play as a team. All the while, Fissure led from the front as a superstar player.

Revenge came quickly for Fissure as the Gladiators met the London Spitfire in Stage 2. London Spitfire didn’t take them seriously as they fielded their B-roster against their team. By the time they realized what was going on, it was too late as the Gladiators were able to get a quick lead in the series and take out the main roster on the final map letting them win the series 3-1. It was an incredible moment for Fissure as he had proved in the game that he was the best player and he got his revenge on his former employers.

Even then though, it was only a small consolation prize. In the grand scheme of things, the London Spitfire were the second best team in Stage 2 and still one of the best teams in the overall league. From that moment onward, the fates of Gladiators, Fissure, and London Spitfires were inextricably linked. The Gladiators had built around Fissure as their franchise player, leader, and superstar. For Fissure, his fate was linked in turn to London Spitfire as the community would always evaluate his progress with the Gladiators compared to London Spitfire.

The next two times they’d meet, the sparks would fly. In Stage 3, Gladiators went up 2-0 only for the London Spitfire to even out the series 2-2 with Gladiators taking the 5th map. By the fourth stage, their positions had been flipped. London Spitfire had slowly declined as they made strange roster changes and never got the right coach or leadership into the team. Meanwhile the Gladiators continued to grow and build trust in Fissure. One of the moments that best describes him is his post on inven after the Gladiators victory against the Houston Outlaws,

“I was the one who ordered the switch to Reinhardt at the last part of Dorado. Surefour hugged me afterwards because my order was insane (he actually literally said ‘your order is insane’)

Fourth, I wrote this so I would be praised :D”

Fissure was now clearly enjoying his time being a Gladiators player and the entire team had complete trust and faith in his calls. This became a critical factor when they played against the London Spitfire in the fourth stage. In that match the London Spitfire went up 2-0. During the halftime the coaches told Fissure that he needed to be more vocal because he was the voice of the team. He did what they said and the Gladiators were able to reverse-sweep and take the series again 3-2. In the post-game interview, he was asked if this particular matchup had any special meaning to him and he answered with his famous line,

“London, are you guys regretting it?”

By the time Stage 4 had ended, the Gladiators and London Spitfire had reversed positions from the first stage. Gladiators were now one of the best teams in the league and ended first in the regular standings, though they lost to Valiant in the title match. London Spitfire were now stuck near the bottom of the middle pack of teams, despite the wealth of incredibly talented player still on the roster.

Now the two teams will once again face off in the playoffs of the season. It is a fitting matchup as it has shown the progress that both teams have made to get this far. On one hand the London Spitfires have slowly declined over the season, whereas the Gladiators led by Fissure has become one of the top teams in the league. Now it is no longer a story about Fissure’s revenge as he has helped his team become even better than the London Spitfires.

When all of this started, he was benched for Gesture, then sold to a team that was on a downward trajectory. He could have given up at that moment. We’ve seen other players crumble under the pressure of a failing team, but Fissure fought back with a pride, strength, and flamboyance we’ve all come to expect from him.

He has turned himself into a front man, superstar, and leader of his team. Someone who attracts attention whether inside or outside the game. One moment he is diving off the map with his Winston ult taking out and taking out Valiant’s Pharah/Mercy duo in one of the best plays of the season and in the next moment he is on stage stealing the mic to drop some of the most memorable quotes of the league.

That is the aggression and confidence we have come to expect from Fissure. He has been the best tank in the league, he has carved Gladiators out of marble, and now the Gladiators stand as one of the best teams in the league, above Fissure’ old team. After four stages, six months, and forty games, Fissure has been as good as his word.

After all, who is the most handsome, the best main tank, greatest in the world. Who is better than Fissure?

Nobody.