No one is safe as October 7th marks open season for Overwatch League players. A bevy of Overwatch professionals are being released, declaring themselves free agents and looking for new teams. The first teams to announce they would be releasing players today were the Florida Mayhem, Toronto Defiant, and Washington Justice.
Going Through Changes
Roster changes always happen in the postseason, but so far we have seen more than normal. Every free agent is up for grabs starting today and includes players like Mek0, Ryujehong, and Carpe. There are around 33 free agents in the League right now, and October 7th was the opening day for teams to announced released players. The first to announce changes were the Florida Mayhem, and this was by far the most significant change we’ve seen today.
The Florida Mayhem struggled throughout all of Season 2, and now it seems as though the Mayhem is clearing house. They have released Hyeon-woo “HaGoPeun” Jo, Jae-ho “RaiN” Park, Yong-joon “DPI” Choi, Seong-won “Swon” Yoon, Jae-mo “xepheR” Koo and assistant coach Kim “KH1” Hyung-Il. There has always been criticism at the construction of Florida’s roster and they only saw success after the implementation of 2-2-2 role lock. Therefore Florida Mayhem’s roster is fairly slim at this point barely having enough players to fill a team. Why these players were released is unknown, but with 30 free players in the League, there are plenty of prospects.
The next team to drop players was the Washington Justice and some of the roster changes are for the best. This shift in roster is trimming the fat off of a team that went from zero to hero in Season 2. In this round, Gihyeon “Ado” Chon, Hyeon-woo “Hyeonu” Cho, Jun-hwa “Janus” Song and Hyang-ki “SanSam” Kim are all on the chopping block. Hyeonu in a team with Sleepy, ArK, and Gido wasn’t necessary, and Ado wasn’t getting much playtime with Corey and Stratus stealing the spotlight. The questionable move of removing Janus and SanSam leaves the Washington Justice with only ELLIVOTE and LullSish to fill their tank spots. These two were picked up from Team Envy in July, but haven’t gotten their chance to play on the big stage yet.
The last of the changes on roster day came from the Toronto Defiant and their release of Daniel “GODS” Graeser. Gods has had extensive competitive Overwatch experience and played on Gladiator’s Legion and Montreal Rebellion. Although these players will be missed by teammates, most of them have yet to announce their next move.
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