Toronto Defiant finalize roster with the addition of an Overwatch League veteran
R: Robert Paul for Blizzard EntertainmentToronto Defiant have completed their roster for the start of Overwatch League Season Two.
The Defiant are one of eight new expansion franchises joining the league following the success of the inaugural season.
The team recently announced that their final two players would be DPS Choi ‘Asher’ Joon-seong and Support Park ‘RoKy’ Joo-seong.
Asher is an Overwatch League veteran, having played in Season One with the Los Angeles Gladiators, who reached the quarter-finals of the playoffs but were eliminated by eventual champions London Spitfire. RoKy is a former Contenders Korea champion, having won Season One with X6-Gaming.
Asher isn’t the only Overwatch League veteran on the roster. He joins former Boston Uprising support Park ‘Neko’ Se-hyeon and former LA Valiant flex tank Lee ‘Envy’ Kang-jae as the experienced counterparts to a squad otherwise consisting of OWL rookies.
Asher’s LA Gladiators were one of the top-performing teams in the second half of OWL Season One.The new additions complete the team’s all-South Korean squad, imitating the strategy of the likes of London Spitfire and New York Excelsior, whose decisions to build Korean rosters for Season One saw them become the two most successful teams in the league.
Toronto aren’t the only expansion team to have looked to South Korea for talent. Both Guangzhou Charge and Hangzhou Spark both feature majority-Korean line-ups, and Vancouver are also expected to reveal the signing of Contenders Korea Season Two champions RunAway.
Meanwhile, both Shanghai Dragons and Florida Mayhem, the bottom two teams in Season One of the Overwatch League, have overhauled their rosters for Season Two to also now feature a majority of South Korean players.
Season Two of the Overwatch League is scheduled to kick off on February 14.
Toronto Defiant’s full roster:
| Player | Role | Previous/S1 Team |
|---|---|---|
| Lee ‘Envy‘ Kang-jae | Flex Tank | Meta Bellum/LA Valiant |
| Park ‘Neko‘ Se-hyeon | Support | Boston Uprising |
| Jo ‘Lycan‘ Gyeong-mu | Main Tank | O2 Ardeont |
| Go ‘Aid‘ Jae-yoon | Support | GG Esports Academy |
| Lee ‘Stellar‘ Do-hyung | DPS | O2 Ardeont |
| Lee ‘Ivy‘ Seung-hyun | DPS | O2 Ardeont |
| Choi ‘Asher‘ Jun-sung | DPS | LA Gladiators |
| Park ‘RoKy‘ Joo-seong | Support | O2 Team |