The Overwatch League is heading into the latter part of the 2020 season, but team rosters continue to shuffle amid a line of retirements, trades, and additions. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic impacting games and player availability, the trade window was recently extended to July 31. Overwatch League teams now have an entire extra month to add free agents or trade players before heading into the postseason.
The beginning of the 2020 season was relatively quiet with teams adapting to canceled homestands, displaced players, and online tournament play. As the reality of a fully-online season began to develop, many players bowed out of the competitive Overwatch scene to pursue other opportunities or, simply, get some rest.
Our midseason roster tracker begins at the end of April when 2019 Overwatch League MVP Sinatraa retired to pursue a career in VALORANT. After his high-profile departure, teams and players appeared to be more confident in their decisions to step back or step up to new opportunities.
April
- April 28: San Francisco Shock DPS Jay “Sinatraa” Won retires from professional Overwatch.
- Apr. 30: Off-tank Choi “JJANU” Hyeon-woo and coach Hwang “PaJion” Ji-Sub part ways with the Vancouver Titans.
May
- May 1: Toronto Defiant main support Kristian “Kellex” Keller retires from professional Overwatch.
- May 2: Toronto Defiant acquires main support Harrison “Kruise” Pond from the Paris Eternal.
- Paris Eternal adds flex support Kwon “Fielder” Joon.
- May 6: Vancouver Titans management release the team’s entire roster amid player dissatisfaction.
- May 7: Paris Eternal flex support Luis “Greyy” Perestrelo retires from professional Overwatch.
- May 8: Vancouver Titans rebuild organization with a brand new roster, which includes Randal “Roolf” Stark, main support Carson “CarCar” First, main tank Abtin “ShRedLock” Shirvani, off-tank Alhumaidi “KSAA” Alruwaili, DPS Dalton “Dalton” Bennyhoff, and DPS Samir “Tsuna” Ikram.
- Washington Justice DPS Corey “Corey” Nigra retires from professional Overwatch.
- Washington Justice DPS Ethan “Stratus” Yankel transitions to a content creation role within the team.
- May 11: Boston Uprising adds off-tank Leyton “Punk” Gilchrist.
- May 12: Boston Uprising off-tank Thomas “brussen” Brussen retires from professional Overwatch.
- May 13: Toronto Defiant DPS Liam “Mangachu” Campbell transitions to a coaching role within the team.
- May 14: The Overwatch League updates contract rules to allow for short-term, two-week contracts.
- Seoul Dynasty signs former Vancouver Titans main support Kim “Slime” Sung-jun.
- May 16: Washington Justice acquires former Vancouver Titans off-tank JJANU and DPS Lee “Stitch” Chung-hee on two-week contracts.
- May 17: San Francisco Shock acquires former Vancouver Titans flex support Lee “Twilight” Joo-seok.
- Hangzhou Spark DPS Park “Bazzi” Jun-ki retires from professional Overwatch.
- May 18: DPS Park “Architect” Min-ho transfers from the San Francisco Shock to the Hangzhou Spark.
- May 20: Washington Justice parts ways with general manager Analynn “Bawlynn” Dang and coach Chris “Bani” Banell.
- May 21: Boston Uprising signs main tank Michael “mikeyy” Konicki.
- May 22: Washington Justice promotes former coach Aaron “PRE” Heckman to general manager and promotes JJANU to a long-term contract.
- Vancouver Titans sign DPS Niclas “sHockWave” Jensen to the roster.
- Toronto Defiant signs DPS Thomas “zYKK” Hosono on a two-week contract.
- May 28: Los Angeles Valiant adds Max “Unter” Unterwurzacher as assistant coach. The team’s former assistant coach, Jordan “Gunba” Graham, leaves to coach VALORANT.
June
- June 1: Washington Justice promotes Stitch to a long-term contract.
- June 3: Toronto Defiant signs main tank Seb “Numlocked” Barton.
- Dallas Fuel DPS Zachary “ZachaREEE” Lombardo retires from Overwatch.
- Hangzhou Spark adds former Vancouver Titans coach PaJion as an assistant coach.
- June 4: Washington Justice parts ways with off-tank Elliot “Ellivote” Vaneryd.
- June 5: New York Excelsior adds DPS Kim “Haksal” Hyo-jong to the roster
- Washington Justice head coach Seetoh “JohnGalt” Jian Qing retires to continue his education.
- June 7: Dallas Fuel acquires support Nolan “Paintbrush” Edwards from the Los Angeles Gladiators.
- Toronto Defiant general manager JaeSun Won retires from esports.
- June 16: Los Angeles Gladiators acquire flex DPS Kevin “Kevster” Persson.
- June 17: Washington Justice promotes Han “Sup7eme” Seung-jun to head coach.
- June 19: Hangzhou Spark removes Cai “Krystal” Shilong from the roster and adds off-tank Yu “QOQ” Sung-jun.
- Dallas Fuel adds DPS Stefan “Onigod” Fiskerstrand to the team.
- June 20: Toronto Defiant makes zYKK a permanent player.
- June 24: Los Angeles Valiant promotes Michael “Packing10” Szklanny to act as both head coach and general manager for the team.
July
- July 12: Guangzhou Charge moves support Qi “wya” Haomiao to a two-way contract with Ignite One, the Charge’s academy team.
- July 15: Guangzhou Charge adds former Hangzhou Spark player Cai “Krystal” Shilong to the roster on a two-way contract.
- Houston Outlaws off-tank Alexandre “Spree” Vanhomwegen parts ways with the team.
- July 17: Atlanta Reign DPS Andrej “Babybay” Francisty retires.
- July 18: Atlanta Reign flex support Steven “Kodak” Rosenberger transitions to a coaching role within the team.
- July 21: San Francisco Shock signs DPS Sean “Ta1yo” Henderson to the team.
- London Spitfire parts ways with assistant coach Kim “SNT” Sung-hoon.
- July 24: Atlanta Reign signs flex DPS Garret “Saucy” Roland.
- July 27: Chengdu Hunters head coach Wu “Dokkaebi” Xiuqing departs the organization and is replaced by Murong Chen.
- July 31: Atlanta Reign signs flex support Kim “Lr1s” Seung-Hyun.
August
- Aug. 1: Houston Outlaws flex support Shane “Rawkus” Flaherty retires from professional Overwatch.
This tracker will follow trades and acquisitions until the league signing deadline of July 31 and any retirements after that point.
Published: Jun 11, 2020 03:05 pm