As after seeing the end of the Overwatch League’s 2019 Season, it’s time to reflect on the year. In this series, I will tell the story of each of the 20 OWL teams, then go over what to change for next year.

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Hello everyone, and welcome back to Season 2 Stories! My name is Ellis Jeong, and, as I said before, this series will discuss the stories of each and every one of the 2019 Overwatch League teams. Today is Episode 4, where we will go into the story of the Washington Justice.

Bottom Tier

Image from Washington Justice website

That’s what people thought when the Washington Justice revealed their 2019 roster.

The Justice started out looking pretty good, signing main tank Junhwa “Janus” Song and head coach Hyeongseok “WizardHyeong” Kim, the self-proclaimed “typical genius” from the New York Excelsior. Kate Mitchell, a former manager for Last Night’s Leftovers, joined as a general manager, and the Justice rounded out their coaching staff with ex-LNL analyst Mikael “mkL” Skjonhaug, ex-Gale Force Esports DPS Canaan “Shrugger” Carman, ex-Skyfoxes coach Mark “Obasill” Regush, and ex-Meta Bellum coach Molly “AVALLA” Kim, the first female coach in the league.

In addition to Janus, the Justice signed two other OWL veterans as well: DPS Gihyeon “Ado” Chon, formerly of the Shanghai Dragons, and flex support/DPS Gido “Gido” Moon, formerly of the Seoul Dynasty. Both of these seemed like promising pickups, as Ado was by far the strongest player from the Dragons’ disastrous 2018 roster, and Gido was a solid flex support who could also bring out a standout Tracer. Most speculated that Ado, Gido, and Janus, who was projected to be a top tier main tank, would form the core of this team.

However, things soon took a turn for the worse. The rest of the Justice’s lineup seemed rather average. People saw some potential of DPS duo of Corey “Corey” Nigra and Ethan “Stratus” Yankel, but not enough compared to the incredible DPS firepower of the other expansion teams. Riley “Fahzix” Taylor was previously known as a good, smart flex support, but it was unknown whether he would play flex or main support in the Overwatch League, or if he could start over Gido. Then there was off tank Hyangki “Sansam” Kim from Meta Athena and main support Hyeonwoo “Hyeonu” Cho from WGS, both of which who were practically nobodies. Despite a relatively strong core, there were some serious worries about this team.

Yet things got even worse when some drama got added into the mix. According to one of the most mature and reliable content creators in the Overwatch community, Michael “TheFortniteGuy” Padilla, the Justice had to resort to picking up budget players after spending almost their entire budget on Janus and WizardHyeong. In addition, TheFortniteGuy reported that the Justice had done ex-San Francisco coach Harsha “Harsha” Bandi dirty, offering him a deal but backing out due to their budget issues later, making it much harder for him to sign with a team. As the general manager of the team, Kate took most of the heat, but it became seemed more and more likely that the Justice’s new pickups were not diamonds in the rough, but rather budget options. Because of this, the Justice were pegged as low tier entering the 2019 season.

Just As Expected

Image from Washington City Paper

The Justice kicked things off in the 2019 season by losing 1–3 to the New York Excelsior. This was a decent result, as the NYXL were expected to be one of the top dogs this year. However, the Justice then lost games to the Philadelphia Fusion, San Francisco Shock, Seoul Dynasty, and Paris Eternal, as well as getting reverse-swept by the London Spitfire in what is widely agreed on as the worst-played match of professional Overwatch ever played. Although they eventually won against the equally-pathetic Florida Mayhem, the Justice ended Stage 1 in 18th place, at 1–6 -11. And although it was nice to see Ado’s tears of joy after getting his first win, it was clear that the Justice had some major changes to do.

The Justice looked horrendous playing the 3–3 GOATS comp that dominated Stage 1. Corey was perhaps the worst Zarya in the league, known for his almost laughably bad usage of his Particle Barriers and Graviton Surges, and infamous for repeatedly failing to rocket jump on Anubis while his team fell apart around him. Ado had some nice plays here and there, but he often died way too early. Sansam occasionally got flashing bombs, but his positioning was atrocious. Gido had good mechanics but his Transcendence usage was notoriously bad. Neither Fahzix nor Hyeonu seemed to have any impact on Lucio. And Janus, projected to be the standout of the team, looked like one of the worst Reinhardts in the league, although that could have been attributed to his complete lack of support from his team.

The Justice attempted to salvage themselves for Stage 2 by making two big pickups: Mercy specialist Yeonjun “ArK” Hong from the NYXL and flex support Nikola “Sleepy” Andrews from the San Francisco Shock. Although both ArK and Sleepy had spent most of Stage 1 on the bench, they both had previously looked very strong in 2018, ArK being considered as the best Mercy in the League.

However, even that wasn’t enough, as the Justice had just as much success in Stage 2 as they did in Stage 1. ArK’s Lucio wasn’t half as good as his Mercy, and Sleepy looked rather mediocre compared to his form in 2018. Stratus also became eligible to play, but he looked no better than Ado. After facing extreme backlash and taking the majority of the blame for the team, Kate stepped down as general manager, replaced by Aaron “PRE” Heckman from the NYXL. Now benched by both ArK and Hyeonu, Fahzix also stepped down, becoming inactive. Obasill was also released from the team.

Although the Justice saved themselves from going 0–7 by reverse-sweeping the Boston Uprising in the famous Ice Cream Cup, they once again found themselves in 18th place, at 1–6 -13.

In Need Of A Change

Image from Dot Esports

At this point, the Justice’s reputation had plummeted. WizardHyeong became known as a laughing stock, “typical genius” becoming a common meme. Similarly, Janus, Ado, and Gido went from solid pickups to bottom-tier feeders. Corey and Sansam were hailed as no more than budget pickups, grossly unqualified for the league. Even ArK and Sleepy found their value going down. But the Justice made no changes for Stage 3. ArK was the only representative at All-Stars, although this was most likely due to his popularity over anything else.

Stage 3 looked even worse for the Justice than Stages 1 and 2, as the Justice were unable to adapt to the new hybrid Sombra-heavy meta. Stratus saw some playtime, and Gido and Hyeonu made brief stunts, but the Justice were unable to win a single game, going 0–7 for the first time. Ending the stage tied for last place with the Toronto Defiant at 0–7 -20, the Justice were officially eliminated from playoff contention after Stage 3.

Although nobody expected the Justice to be top tier, their play went from poor to downright depressing. Their dreams had been extinguished and fallen into failure.

Nothing To Lose

Image from The Overwatch League

The only positive about being eliminated was that the Justice now had nothing to lose. Although we would see a completely different meta in Stage 4 with the implementation of the 2–2–2 role lock, everyone expected the same old Justice. Even though the Justice signed the promising Swedish tank duo of Lukas “LullSiSH” Wiklund and Elliot “ELLIVOTE” Vaneryd, neither could get their visas in time for Stage 4.

However, something changed. The Stage 4 Justice saw Stratus subbing in for Ado, and Gido for Sleepy. And to everyone’s surprise, the Justice started winning. Corey, now off Zarya and on his signature Widowmaker, grew into one of the top snipers in the league. Stratus brought in a marketable personality as well as strong Pharah play. Janus looked much more comfortable on Orisa. ArK looked miles better now on his comfort pick, Mercy. Gido’s Ana looked exceptional, sometimes single-handedly winning fights with massive Biotic Grenades. And Sansam rose to one of the team’s strongest players, hitting unbelievable hook accuracies on Roadhog and consistently landing massive Self-Destructs on D.Va.

The Justice looked pretty good to start out with, beating the Defiant and reverse-sweeping the Mayhem, but neither of those teams were real challenges. No, to determine where the Justice truly stood, it came down to their next game versus the #1 ranked team, the Vancouver Titans.

Redemption

Image from Washington Justice on Twitter

Although the Titans were upset in the Stage 3 playoffs by the eventual champions, the Shanghai Dragons, they were still a force to be reckoned with. In Stage 4, after taking their revenge against the Dragons, they also destroyed the Mayhem, who the Justice barely slipped by. With Hyojong “Haksal” Kim’s signature Genji, as well as new faces in Baptiste player Junggeun “Rapel” Kim and the Widowmaker “benchgod,” Dongeun “Hooreg” Lee, the Titans were looking to re-establish their dominance. The Justice looked better than before, but could they stop the Titans?

As it turned out, they could, and it wasn’t even close. In addition to his carry-level Widowmaker, Corey revealed his incredible Hanzo, and Sansam outplayed MVP Candidate Hyunwoo “JJANU” Choi on both Hog and D.Va. Janus was strong and consistent, and Stratus, Gido, and ArK all performed exceptionally well. From there, the Justice went on to beat the Boston Uprising, Houston Outlaws, and Paris Eternal, losing to the Atlanta Reign, who end up going 7–0. The Justice would finish Stage 4 in 4th place, at 6–1 +11.

In addition to being good, the Justice became known as the “fun team,” perhaps entirely due to Stratus. With his big personality, iconic memes, and ever-present sunglasses, Stratus brought marketability to the team, with Corey and ArK also being popular players. When the Justice walked into the arena for their last game of the season, all wearing Stratus’ sunglasses, you could tell that they were there to have fun.

Looking Forward

Image from PC World

Just like last time with the Defiant, the Justice seem to have made most of their moves already. Therefore, I’ll spend most of this section reviewing their roster changes.

First, the Justice released all of their coaches: WizardHyeong, AVALLA, mkL, and Shrugger. This is fair, as, although they stated that they built the team for 2–2–2, the coaches deserve a lot of blame for the Justice’s terrible GOATS play. Of the released coaches, WizardHyeong found a new home as an assistant coach for the Seoul Dynasty, while AVALLA, after reportedly being turned down by several teams due to her being a woman, is speculated to have joined the Paris Eternal.

To replace the coaches, the Justice signed social media director Analynn Dang from the LA Gladiators as their new general manager. Analynn, who was the general manager for Team USA in the 2019 World Cup, seems to have solid experience and a great reputation, and I think it’s a very good pickup. Also from the Gladiators came Seetoh “JohnGalt” Jian Qing as the Justice’s new head coach. I learned a lot from JohnGalt’s analysis videos, and I also really like this pickup. As assistant coaches, the Justice picked up Seungjun “Sup7eme” Han from the Hangzhou Spark, Haejun “Wiz” Lee from XL2 Academy, and former Houston Outlaws main support Chris “Bani” Benell. I think these are all solid pickups.

The Justice also let go of most of their players: Janus, Sansam, Ado, Hyeonu, Fahzix, Sleepy, and Gido. Although I think that letting go of Hyeonu, Fahzix, Sleepy, and maybe Ado makes sense, I disagree with the other drops. Janus, despite his flaws on Reinhardt, was a solid Orisa and Winston player. Gido’s Ana was very good and most of his issues on Zen were coachable. And Sansam was perhaps the second best player on the team in Stage 4, with an insane Roadhog and a very good D.Va. Unless LullSiSH and ELLIVOTE are really worth it, I think the Justice should have kept hold of Janus and definitely Sansam. None of the released players have found new homes as of yet, although both Fahzix and reportedly Janus have retired.

The Justice picked up former Gladiators main tank Changhoon “rOar” Gye. I am not 100% for this pickup, as rOar has never impressed me during his time on the Gladiators. The Justice also signed Hosung “TTuba” Lee, a relatively unknown projectile DPS recently playing for Bubble Burster Gaming in China. I could definitely see TTuba becoming a sleeper pick, with his Pharah being especially good. Their final pick was Minseok “AimGod” Kwon from the Uprising, an incredibly good flex support. I think AimGod could definitely be a key player for the Justice, provided that he doesn’t cause any internal issues like he reportedly did on the Uprising.

As of now, the Justice currently have 3 DPS, 3 Tanks, and 2 Supports. I wouldn’t be surprised if the Justice stuck with this roster, but I’ll recommend some more picks anyways.

For the final DPS slot, I think the Justice lack a good flex DPS, someone like the Dynasty’s Junyoung “Profit” Park or the Dragons’ Byungsun “Fleta” Kim who can play a multitude of heroes to a very high level. I think that for the Justice, the best option available would be Yeonoh “Fl0w3R” Hwang, formerly of the New York Excelsior. Although Fl0w3R still hasn’t been able to return to his 2017 form, he provides a variety of heroes, both hitscan and projectile.

Let’s say that we want another off tank, specifically to pair with rOar. With most good options gone, my two top choices would be either Donghyun “DACO” Seo from the Atlanta Reign or Seunghyun “WooHyaL” Seong from Gen.G. Both are incredible players, but DACO provides more star power while WooHyaL gives more consistency and flexibility. Keep in mind that there have been reports of DACO being toxic before, so WooHyaL is definitely the safer option.

Finally, AimGod and ArK will most likely be the starting support line. For backups, however, I think that the best options would be flex support Victor “Scaler” Godsk from Uprising Academy and main support Ludvig “Luddee” Hakansson from Gladiators Legion. Both are great players who will most likely not be too expensive, making them perfect backups.

With that, let’s look at our 2020 Washington Justice roster (my suggestions are marked in italics)

DPS: Corey, Stratus, TTuba, Fl0w3r

Tank: LullSiSH, ELLIVOTE, rOar, WooHyaL

Support: AimGod, ArK, Scaler, Luddee

That wraps up this edition of Season2 Stories! Let me know what you think of my writing, I would love some constructive criticism so I can improve. Thanks for reading!