Washington Justice sign two players in an effort to save their season

Overwatch 2
April 26, 2019
Esports Staff

The Washington Justice haven’t had the easiest run of form since joining the league in January. In 12 games played so far, Justice have only come away with one win to compliment their efforts so far in the league. After an initial burst into the scene with the signings of their Head Coach Hyeong-seok “WizardHyeong” Kim and Junhwa “Janus” Song, the rest of their roster didn’t follow that high profile pedigree that would’ve put them in winning position. After much deliberation, Washington revamped their Support line by bringing in Nikola “sleepy” Andrews from San Francisco Shock and Yeonjoon “ArK” Hong from NYXL.

Healing up

Although Washington Justice haven’t shown great form often this season, there are a few puzzle pieces on this roster that have been working well even with their disfunction. The Korean contingent on this roster has shown glimpses of cohesion when given even footing against similarly ranked teams. The reuniting of Janus and ArK should also aid massively in the Tank and Support lines finally having some synergy to work with.

As for the rest of their roster, Corey “Corey” Nigra has had a little bit of success when given an opportunity to pop off with certain DPS heroes. As the meta starts to shift, and DPS players get more breathing room to thrive, there is a scenario where Washington Justice can put themselves firmly ahead of teams like Florida Mayhem and Los Angeles Valiant with the right strength of schedule.

ArK was an instrumental figure during NYXL’s 2018 run of dominance. While players like JJoNak, Pine and SBB received a large amount of the praise, ArK’s performances were steady streams of brilliance that regularly went under the radar. On a lesser team like the Washington Justice, his skills as a top-level Support will be much more appreciated by their fanbase, and we may even have another franchise player to boast once their results start to pickup.

washington-justice-at-owl-2019-stage-2

© Overwatch League

Can Washington bring their season back?

While Sleepy was deemed surplus for the San Francisco Shock this season, his impact in Washington will assuredly be greater given the resources he has to work with now. In his appearance for Justice against the LA Valiant, Sleepy managed to carve out nice healing numbers for himself despite his team losing 3-1. With a couple more weeks to build synergy, these roster moves might just be the difference between them placing last place or not.

These roster moves were definitely the right additions to make at this time, and there is almost no doubt that both of these new faces at Support will be upgrades over the rookie players previously on the starting lineup. To really break the mold and make the Washington Justice a team to be reckoned with, they must keep investing into their team and find the right blend of playmakers to put them over the edge. Most teams within the league do not have the scouting department that Boston has in order to find these gems, but Washington Justice have made the necessary changes in coaching infrastructure to build these new prospective players to the powerhouses they need to be.