The Over Blog: The Shanghai Fire Sale
With the Overwatch League All Star weekend coming to a close, it’s time for the real off-season to start. What a way to start it then… by going on a fire sale. That is exactly what the Shanghai Dragons did.
First, let’s start off with the players that were not let go. The Overwatch League’s only female player, Geguri maintains a spot on the roster. Her first game on the Overwatch League stage was her April 4th loss against the Dallas Fuel. She chose D.Va 86.6% of the season followed by Zarya who she was known for playing at a mere 5.8%. Toxic and I were very excited to see the gender barrier broken so quickly in this sport and will continue to support her moving forward. I still need to get my hands on a Geguri jersey!
Diya is another player that lives another day on the Dragons roster and was the biggest name on the team before Geguri arrived. Known for his Tracer and Widow play, Diya posted a 6.76 final blows and 12.85 eliminations per 10 minutes. Those numbers aren’t so good when you compare them across the league. Rank 44 and 85 respectfully. Don’t let those numbers hurt your outlook on Diya. He will be an asset to this now rebuilding team.
The last player to keep their job is Fearless. He came on board with the signing of Geguri and Ado. Mainly playing Winston throughout the season (75.3% pick rate), Fearless was one of the few flashes in the pan for Shanghai. I am excited to see how he will perform with the new team!
Now onto the players/coaches Shanghai dropped. At the time of this article, Shanghai dropped ten personnel on 9/2/18. Altering,Freefeel,Fiveking,Roshan,Xushu,Ado,Sky,Daemin along with Kong and Nai8 on their coaching staff. When I seen this news I had mixed emotions. For one, the Shanghai Dragons season was dreadful. They needed a change and I am sure people were expecting it. What I wasn’t expecting was the Dragons to cut Ado.
The Shanghai Dragons has released Altering，Freefeel，Fiveking，Roshan，Xushu，Ado，Sky and Daemin from their contracts with the team.
The entire SHD crew thank you for your dedications and contributions throughout the first season of the Overwatch League.— Shanghai Dragons (@ShanghaiDragons) September 2, 2018
The Shanghai Dragons has released coach Kong and Nai8 from their contracts with the team.
The entire SHD crew thank you for your dedications and contributions throughout the first season of the Overwatch League. We wish both of you best of luck in your next adventure!❤️— Shanghai Dragons (@ShanghaiDragons) September 2, 2018
Let’s start with Ado. He played mainly Tracer and Genji (39.2% & 37.9% pick rate). I understand that the meta has shifted away from dive slightly but Ado showed a lot of promise. He posted 6.92 final blows and 13.25 eliminations per 10 minutes. That is statistically better than where Diya was at. I am thinking the shifting meta is the reason the Dragons cut him. I would be surprised if one of the new teams passes him up.
Altering was Shanghai’s main healer. He predominantly played Mercy in season one picking her 74.5% of the time. Of all healers in the Overwatch League, he was number one in healing with 11,574.02 healing per 10 minutes.
Freefeel was Altering and Fiveking’s counter part playing off-heals. Mainly choosing Zenyatta (88.3% pick rate), he had 7141.17 healing per 10 minutes, ranking in at 30. Freefeel saw the most playing time of the support players on the Dragons.
Fiveking was a back-up main healer that was subbed in for Altering from time to time maining Mercy and Lucio (55.9% and 41.9% pick rate).
Sky was a Zenyatta player that never really seen much playing time for the Dragons. He is the only player on the Shanghai roster that will be competing in the World Cup. He will be representing China. Good luck Sky!
Roshan mainly played Winston for the Dragons this season (77.2% pick rate). Roshan was seeing the spotlight every game until Fearless and Geguri showed up. This release does not surprise me.
Roshan’s wingman, Xushu who was a D.Va main (76.7% pick rate) also got the cut. Xushu’s playing time was cut with the the entrance of Geguri.
The last of the players that were cut is Daemin. Daemin was brought in to fill Diya’s roster mid-season when Diya had to tend to “Family Issues” back home in China. He mainly played Tracer and Junkrat (29% and 26.7% pick rate) during his short stint with the team putting up some pretty lackluster numbers. Final blows 5.69 and eliminations 11.66 per 10 minutes.
This firesale that the Dragons hosted was something well needed. They retained the talent that produced. Shanghai has a lot of work ahead of them and the good news for them is that they aren’t the only team making cuts. As of 9/2/18, 5 other teams made roster cuts including Janus of NYXL and Mistakes of the Boston Uprising. There is talent out there in free agency and Shanghai has the space to make some good moves!
More talk about these roster moves will be coming to you in this week’s edition of The Over League Podcast!
