Overwatch League: London Spitfire Reveal Their New Roster

London Spitfire announced its 2020 roster, featuring JMac, Highly, Fuze, Schwi, Bernar, Krillin, Sanguinar and Glister.

London Spitfire Off-Season Trades

The off-season is the theatre of many changes in Overwatch teams. London Spitfire, champions of the Overwatch League Inaugural Season, surprised their fans by releasing their superstar players. From the initial roster, only Yung-hoon “Krillin” Jung, the flex support who joined in 2018, stays for the 2020 Season.

During the off-season, London Spitfire made the following changes:

• Ji-hyeok “birdring” Kim joins Los Angeles Gladiators
• Hee-dong “Guard” Lee released on October 2, 2019
• Jong-seok “NUS” Kim released on October 2, 2019
• Joon-yeong “Profit” Park joins Seoul Dynasty
• Jae-hee “Gesture” Hong joins Seoul Dynasty
• Jun-ho “Fury” Kim joins Philadelphia Fusion
• Seung-tae “Bdosin” Choi released on November 12, 2019
• Ji-hoon “Quatermain” Song released on November 12, 2019

London Spitfire Roster Reveal

For a couple of weeks, London Spitfire teased their fans regarding the new players joining the ranks. This Saturday, the team accidentally tweeted a video of their roster reveal, which they promptly removed.

pic.twitter.com/VceonLxO6J

— London Spitfire (@Spitfire) November 23, 2019

Nine hours later, the team jokingly tweets “Who's ready for something absolutely nobody has ever seen before?” and finally introduces its roster. The initial 8 players for London Spitfire are:

• Tank
  • Se-won “BERNAR” Shin
  • Dae-Han “JMAC” Choi
• Support
  • Yung-hoon “Krillin” Jung
  • Tae-hoon “Fuze” Kim
  • Sung-hyeok “Highly” Lee
  • Kyu-min “SanGuiNar” Lim
• DPS
  • Dong-jae “Schwi” Lee
  • Gil-seong “Glister” Lim

London Spitfire Roster Analysis

This lineup is a bit surprising for an Overwatch League team, moreover for one that won a title in this competition. The team comprises of 4 support players and only 2 tanks and damage dealers, which prevent any form of rotation. If the team doesn’t add any DPS or tank player, London Spitfire will most likely not make it to the final stages, as pressure and fatigue may reduce performances. Moreover, London cannot expect damage dealers to play all characters and be as proficient as more specialized players in other teams.

Last but not least, most of the new players have no experience in the Overwatch League. Except for Sung-hyeok “Highly” Lee from Seoul Dynasty, all new players come from various teams performing in Overwatch Contenders. Dae-Han “JMAC” Choi won the Overwatch Contenders 2019 Season 2: China; Se-won “BERNAR” Shin finished first of Overwatch Contenders 2019 North America with Fusion University and Dong-jae “Schwi” Lee won the Overwatch Contenders 2018 Season 3: Korea with RunAway. The lack of experience on the Overwatch League might be a challenge facing more experienced players. On a bright note, no one is expecting much from this London Spitfire roster, leaving enough place for the team to outperform expectations.