Dallas Fuel find their Closer, Boston Uprising pen two new signings
Dallas Fuel have made major additions to their team this week as they have picked up former World Champion Won-sik “Closer” Jung via the London Spitfire. In addition to Closer, sources near Dallas have confirmed he will be joined by Richard “rCk” Kanerva, formerly of Team Gigantti. These additions at Support and Off Tank respectively now put the Dallas Fuel at eight confirmed players for their 2019 lineup.
In the Atlantic Division, Boston Uprising have made their first pickups of the offseason as Kelsey “Colourhex” Birse and Jeffrey “blasé” Tsang have also been confirmed by OWL sources. The two young Overwatch Contenders prospects will have a lot to learn this upcoming season, and Boston Uprising are poised to use each and every talent in a productive manner now that their roster has undergone a much needed makeover.
Closing up shop
Dallas Fuel have begun to pick up the pieces after the departure of Seagull and a few other memorable faces in the team also parted ways early in the offseason. At just six players, Dallas Fuel were in need of a few new playstyles at virtually every role and they have found their Support Talisman with Closer.
© London Spitfire
Closer has enjoyed a rich pro career thus far, enduring spells on talent stacked rosters such as MVP Space and GC Busan before making his way to the Overwatch League. Even though he wasn’t an integral part of the Championship winning roster, he played a part during a rather impactful spell of London Spitfire dominance in Stage One. At the very least, Closer was good enough to keep his position on the team after London Spitfire made roster cuts midway through the season.
His pedigree as an Overwatch professional gamer is unparalleled to the Contenders talent that’s currently being added to the league via other teams. For Dallas, this move was all about stability and culture building within the team as Closer can attribute first hand what it takes to be a thriving and confident group within the Overwatch League. As a backseat member to London Spitfire, he can add a new layer of knowledge to the already impressive Korean pros on Dallas Fuel in EFFECT and OGE.
As Closer seems to be a more immediate first team inclusion on the roster, Dallas’ second signing is definitely a work in progress as rCk looks to quickly build himself up to Overwatch League caliber. The Finnish support has seen his fair share of moments as a prominent member of Team Gigantti, but the step up in competition will be a significant hurdle to get over in the beginning weeks.
© Overwatch League
Irregardless of placement in the team, his hero pool is a nice addition to the sort of stifled pools some of the tanks at Dallas Fuel already had. As triple healer and triple tank compositions become more popular with the changing of the meta there’s a good chance rCk will see more minutes come his way due to the versatility he brings to the table.
More hidden gems?
Boston Uprising have leapt out of the shadows this offseason to make some minor, yet interesting additions to their roster with two new DPS mains entering the fold. While blasé and Colourhex don’t have the biggest international profiles, both players have been relatively impressive in the Overwatch Contenders: North America league this past season.
©Overwatch League
If there’s one thing Boston Uprising management did well last season heading into the Overwatch League, it was their uncanny acquisition of talent that came seemingly out of nowhere. Boston took a seemingly rag tag group of individuals earlier in the year and made several of them household names by the time their playoff run was over.
Uprising became the first team to go for a perfect 10-0 stage run without one of their biggest DPS players in the lineup, and the scouting of these two new additions to the team have a lot of positive ramifications as they jostle for a starting position. Given that both players are DPS players, their ability to work off each other’s momentum will be huge for establishing confidence within the lineup.
© LorangerChris
With the right framework ahead of them, which they will most likely have under the tutelage of their President of Gaming Chris ‘HuK’ Loranger, both Colourhex and blasé have serious room for growth as Boston Uprising continue to develop as a cohesive team once more.
