Meet the lineup: Atlanta OWL sources confirm SIX players for Season Two

Overwatch 2

October 3, 2018

Nicolas Vera

With a whirlwind of news coming out of the Atlanta Overwatch League organization these past few weeks, sources on Twitter have confirmed the first six players on this new lineup as Atlanta take the international approach with these players. The appeal for this roster centers around their gem of a carry in Dafran, but the pieces put around him are just as crucial.

With these roster confirmations, it seems like Atlanta will be off to a productive start as they’ve taken key players from Korea, Germany and beyond.

Picking up the pieces

As the roster begins to take shape for Atlanta, it’s important to identify just who are the players behind the scenes as the talent starts to be scouted for the expansion team. Taking the reins at Head Coach for this roster is none other than former Selfless Gaming Owner Brad ‘Sephy’ Rajani, who was also the Head Coach of Last Night’s Leftovers as they made their miracle qualification through trials for Overwatch Contenders: North America.

©Blizzard Entertainment

With Sephy at the helm, he also brings a wealth of experience and personnel under his wing as it was rumoured the Atlanta OWL staff will consist of five coaches during Season Two. From analysts to Performance Coaches, Sephy and the Atlanta organization are pulling out all the stops for this team and the more hands on deck from a staff perspective will be crucial to survival given the reputation of some players on this team.

Shaping an identity

As we’ve previously reported over the last few weeks, the rumblings of an on again, off again competitive play return for Daniel ‘Dafran’ Francesca have been gaining traction since rumors surfaced on his stream.

The infamous former pro player turned streamer has gained a massive fanbase that has stuck by his side through his lowest points as an ousted professional player in the scene. It seems like the time for redemption is finally among us as Dafran leads the charge for a team built entirely from scratch.

Joining Dafran on DPS is former Last Night’s Leftover carry Ilya ‘NLaaeR’ Koppalov as the Russian brings a solid Widowmaker threat with his inclusion to the roster. After several weeks of Dafran hilariously failing to make it work with a few carries in his role, NLaaeR looks to take off some stress from his counterpart and provide a layered threat as he works off Dafran’s playmaking.

Adding to the arsenal in DPS is another Korean playmaker in Joon ‘Erster’ Jeong. The damage dealing ace has had a peculiar winning streak across all major regions he’s played in, placing first in China and Southeast Asia since his departure from the South Korean scene last year. Erster’s work ethic and sheer ability to take his teams higher due to his presence will be imperative to Atlanta’s success as an OWL team heading forward.

©Blizzard Entertainment / Overwatch League

Counteracting the DPS offensive on Atlanta, the organization have also picked up two Element Mystic players from Korea in Dong-hyeong ‘DACO’ Seo and Hyun-jun ‘Pokpo’ Park on Main Tank. Last season, Element Mystic came in 3rd place in their region as they lost a decisive 3-1 series to eventual winner RunAway.

DACO has steadily been regarded as one of the more polished players to emerge from this Element Mystic lineup. On an international roster, he may have some trouble getting into his absolute best form, but sharing the tank role with a familiar Main Tank partner in Pokpo will ensure at least some synergy early on, which can only bode well for this roster.

Rounding out the roster leak at Flex Support is Steven ‘Kodak’ Rosenberger, the German Zenyatta main has made a name for himself this year as one of the more fearsome EU supports to come out of the region. His Qualifiers run had a lot of positive impact as he went toe-to-toe with France’s UNKOE and looked very impressive doing so.

As he faces a serious step up in competition, Kodak will be looking to make the grade and keep this impressive run of results going with such a solid supporting cast around him. With six potential players already in the crosshairs, there’s a high chance that Head Coach Sephy will continue to build around this core bunch the same way he did with San Francisco Shock last year.

A successful Overwatch League team is built on depth, and Sephy has already found a consistent group of players to build with as the competition for signatures heats up in the following month. In just a few short weeks, Atlanta OWL has developed a scary reputation for players that have looked deceptively good on separate teams. Going forward, if Dafran and his teammates gel with each other they could very well be the best expansion team by a very large margin.