Winning far into the future: Dallas Fuel prepare to step back up to the top in the 2022 Overwatch League season

The Fuel is not only looking to run it back, but prepare for a victory-filled future.
Photo via Blizzard Entertainment

The Dallas Fuel’s 2021 Overwatch League season ended with success the team had not experienced since the league’s inaugural season. After bringing together talent from around the OWL, the Fuel successfully pieced together a roster that started the year in first and maintained a strong hold on the top of the ladder.

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As one of the league’s original 12 teams, the Dallas Fuel enter their fifth season competing in the OWL. What started as a subpar journey through the earlier years of the OWL eventually led the Fuel to create a roster that instantly clicked, becoming one of the most dominant teams throughout the entire league. The team spent the entirety of last year taking over the entire OWL playing field, finishing first in the May Melee, second in the June Joust, third in the Summer Showdown, and overall third in the playoffs.

Looking to maintain this success into the coming season—where they’ll be thrown headfirst into a new game with new strategies—the Fuel is opting to field a similar roster to 2021 with fresh faces thrown into the mix. Taking the stage this year are DPS players Doha, SP9RK1E, Edison, and guriyo; tanks Hanbin and Fearless; and supports Fielder and ChiYo. With this mixture of veteran and new talent, the Fuel is not only looking to keep a hold on the top of the OWL standings, but show the rest of the league it’s set on building rosters that will provide them further stability far into the future.

Doha returns to yet another year with the Fuel, this time motivated by the greatest year the team has achieved. In his first tournament as part of the OWL, Doha quickly became a major part in securing that victory in the May Melee, cementing himself as a staple part of what would be continued success for the team throughout 2021. 

Returning alongside him are DPS SP9RK1E, support Fielder, and tanks Hanbin and Fearless, each steadfast on maintaining the Fuel’s upward momentum. These players spent the entirety of last year proving to the rest of the field that they were set on redefining the legacy of the Fuel and are now coming together once more to write more chapters in this evolving story.

Outside of the returning cast, the Fuel is welcoming a few new players to the team for this season of the OWL. Though they’ll have hefty expectations to live up to, each joins the team with years of experience across other teams in the league, as well as extensive Contenders backgrounds. While the team said goodbye to Rapel, Pine, Jecse, and Xzi, those entering in their place are joining a well-rounded group of teammates that have the tools to bring them up to speed.

Edison joins the Fuel after two years as the Atlanta Reign’s main hitscan DPS. Since joining the Reign from the Contenders scene, the South Korean player enjoyed multiple top-10 finishes, stepping up massively last year to bring the team to top-four finishes across all of the season’s competitions. Notably, the Fuel always remained just one step ahead of them, even knocking the Reign out of the Summer Showdown. Fans will now have to get used to Edison’s trademark hitscan heroes in blue, rather than the red he donned for so long.

The Fuel also welcomed DPS guriyo and support ChiYo to its 2022 roster, two players that fought valiantly in Korea’s Contenders and amateur scenes. Like Edison, guriyo favors Overwatch’s many hitscan DPS heroes, so it’s likely the Fuel will look to see which player synergizes more efficiently with the remainder of the team.

ChiYo brings with him multiple notable Contenders performances, including a win alongside O2 Blast in the most recent Korean season. Though he favors main supports, ChiYo consistently showcased prowess on flex supports as well during his time on O2 Blast, likely to pair very well with the game sense of his veteran support teammate, Fielder. ChiYo will be joining guriyo in debuting in the OWL as part of the Fuel, who appear to have great faith in these players’ abilities to synergize with the veteran members of the team.

Though there may be a few new faces on this iteration of the Dallas Fuel, much of what put the team at the top of all conversations last year remains the same. As some of the key components of last year’s fueled-up squad, Doha, SP9RK1E, and Fielder bring a sense of stability back to this iteration of the Fuel roster. With Edison bringing more veteran experience to the lineup, the Fuel may be able to progress past their multiple-time third/fourth-place finishes and grab another hold on first.

Much of the focus on the Fuel this season will be on guriyo and ChiYo, who appear to have a lot of trust in their talent as individuals. While this move cements the Fuel’s push to future-proof their roster, the lack of experience these players have on the main OWL stage may impact how the Fuel start out this season. Luckily for them, they are surrounded by talent that helped take multiple teams across the OWL to new heights.

The Fuel look to be ready once more to take over the entirety of the OWL, this time in a new game complete with a new style of play. Their first game of the season will take place on May 6 against their fellow Texas-based team, the Houston Outlaws.


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Author
Ethan Garcia
Ethan Garcia is a freelance writer for Dot Esports, having been part of the company for three years. He has a Bachelor of Arts in Magazine Journalism from Syracuse University and specializes particularly in coverage of League of Legends, various Nintendo IPs, and beyond.