OWL: Jimmy and TAROCOOK1E Relegated to Contenders

TAROCOOK1E and Jimmy moved to Chengdu's Contenders squad.

The Chengdu Hunters have made some intriguing changes to their DPS line up ahead of the 2022 season.

The Relegations

The two DPS on the Chengdu Hunters; who everybody would consider to be the second string, have been relegated to Chengdu’s Contenders team, Team Chaser. Zhong “TAROCOOK1E” Yunlong will be taking a staff role as “Team Leader” according to the Hunters’ staff. Meanwhile, Lei “Jimmy” Yujia will continue playing the DPS role on his new team. Whether Jimmy will continue playing a hard hitscan role or not is still unknown.

His new teammate Li “Apr1ta” Yuanjinghao plays an old fashion hitscan role, playing Tracer, Cassidy, and Reaper. The only role Jimmy is known to play that Apr1ta doesn’t is Widowmaker. Becoming a Widowmaker one trick wouldn’t be a huge difference from Jimmy’s role with the Hunters; but it would be disappointing to see.

Chengdu’s Small but Mighty DPS Line

Jimmy was typically a substitute for the 2021 MVP Xin “Leave” Huang, which is a hard role to fill in itself. Jimmy is very talented on the heroes he plays, and will probably be a star in the next season of Contenders China. That being said, Leave, alongside Hu “JinMu” Yi is an insanely strong DPS duo. Leave, a player who can take a teamfight on his own paired up with Jinmu, the uncontested best Pharah player in the world with plenty of talent with other Projectile DPS heroes.

That is a duo that no DPS line in the league is excited to see face to face, and every support line fears. Without Jimmy and TAROCOOK1E, Chengdu have not lowered the integrity of any position, no less their team. Jimmy had his moments in the league. But this could be a sign that Chengdu are either expanding the role of their two main DPS players, or they're doubling down on their signature hero composition.

Feature Images: Chengdu Hunters