Overwatch League: Pelican Traded To The Houston Outlaws
| Tags: Overwatch
| Author Joseph Shay
The Rookie of the Year leaves Atlanta for Houston.
Se-hyun “Pelican” Oh has taken flight inland. He is no longer on the coast with the Atlanta Reign, and will now reside in Houston with the Outlaws. He will have his former teammate Seung-hyun “Ir1s” Kim making the move with him as well, which will likely get the ball rolling for both players much easier.
Pelican was considered Rookie of the Year by most before Stage 4 of the 2021 season even started. After missing most of Stage 4 due to needing surgery, many thought another rookie may replace him in the spotlight. Still, nobody was able to step up and fill the hole he left in the league for the weeks he missed. When he returned for the season playoffs, he showed us all, while playing on high ping, why he was the best Rookie we had.
Atlanta’s new direction
Pelican was an instrumental part in the Atlanta Reign’s runner-up season, so the question stands, why would they trade him? As of now, it looks as if former Guangzhou Charge and San Francisco Shock player Charlie “nero” Zwarg will be replacing Pelican in Atlanta. But why? Is it to switch over to an all English-speaking roster?
Possibly, but then why did the Reign pick up formerly retired Korean DPS Dong-keun “Venom” Lee? Pelican and nero have similar hero pools, so it is a clear replacement on the roster, but there is no obvious reason why this move was made. It could be as simple as Atlanta seeing something in nero that the evenly talented Pelican just wasn’t fulfilling for the team.
Keeping the culture in Houston
The Houston Outlaws will once again be running a season with a mixed roster between Korean and English-speaking players. They plan to prove once again that the best players in the world aren’t found in just one region. This roster lineup is the best we’ve seen yet, with the best in game leader Jake “JAKE” Lyon, the Atlanta duo of Ir1s and Pelican and their 2021 staple players Dante “DANTEH” Cruz and Min-jun “PIGGY” Shin making it up so far. It’s not hard to see that Houston will be a huge competitor in the 2022 season with a lineup like that.