Shanghai Dragons turn to South Korean talent for a fresh start

After their historic losing streak in Overwatch League's inaugural season, the Chinese team is looking for help

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Shanghai Dragons turn to South Korean talent for a fresh start

Esther Pang

Published: 6:15pm, 24 Oct 2018Updated: 8:43am, 20 Sep 2019

This article originally appeared on ABACUS

There were high hopes for Shanghai Dragons. They were the first Chinese franchise team in Overwatch League and seemed to have a strong roster, with talented players, backed by gaming giant NetEase.

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And then they set a new record by losing… and losing… and losing. Shanghai Dragons lost every game they played, for an overall record of 0-40.

But they’re determined to change their fortunes in season two by signing on an all new roster -- of South Korean players.

Only three players remain from season one: Diya, Fearless, and Geguri. Joining them now are:

DDing (DPS)
Diem (DPS)
Youngjin (DPS)
CoMa (Support)
Luffy (Support)
GuardiaN (Flex)

Shanghai Dragons also signed South Korean coach BlueHaS on as the new Head Coach.

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This leaves Diya as the only Chinese player on the team -- in sharp contrast to the original Shanghai Dragons roster, which only had Chinese players.

New player Diem is already a well-known face in the Chinese competitive Overwatch scene, having played for Lucky Future Zenith, which won Contenders China two seasons running.

Meanwhile DDing, Youngjin, CoMa, Luffy and BlueHaS all hail from Kongdoo Panthera. The team did well in the last season in Contenders Korea, coming in second place to team RunAway.

Many of the new recruits hail from Kongdoo Panthera. (Picture: Blizzard Entertainment)

The thing is, they weren’t that bad. Communication seemed to be a lot of the problem, with players struggling to close out games as a team -- despite being individually skilled.