Of the two teams in the Overwatch League that represent Canada, the Toronto Defiant are the most volatile. For years, they have been on the brink of success, falling at the wrong time and demanding a reassessment of how to bounce to the top of the OWL.
The organization’s response was to change everything – twice. At the end of the 2020 season, Defiant parted ways with 10 of its players after a weak season affected much of the pandemic.
As in the previous year, the organization sought a massive change in the roster in 2021, dropping eight players in one day and leaving only the main DPS Heesu. While other teams in the OWL opted for slight changes to the list, Defiant’s decision for another complete reorganization showed that it is still not happy with the results.
But compared to last year, this Defiant iteration brings together some of OWL’s most valuable free agents from other teams and contenders. With DPS Heesu, Finale and DESPITE, HOTBA and MuZe tanks and supporting Twilight and CH0RONG, Defiant may have created a list capable of changing the landscape of OWL.
In the 2021 season, Heesu stood out as one of the most consistent figures supporting an unbalanced team on the surface. When faced with teams at the top of the standings, Defiant looked completely overwhelmed, leading to unorganized team battles and players taken out before they could make an impact. While Defiant performed well during the regular season, their tournament performances significantly affected their league points, dropping the team to the bottom of the Western standings.
Still, during the Western Play-Ins, Defiant stepped up, knowing that if there was time to prove to fans and the rest of the league that they could fight for first place, it would be then. After the surprising scale of the Boston Uprising, Defiant continued to face the San Francisco Shock in the semifinals.
With Heesu at the helm, bringing characters like Hanzo and Reaper beyond their borders, it seemed that Defiant could come back from what on paper was a pure swing for Shock. But like their normal performances during the season, when Defiant took on an upward momentum, improper communication on the team led to many players being constantly kicked out and forced to watch their teammates fall one by one. Without a full team at key moments, Defiant’s miracle ended with a 3-0 shock to Shock.
Heesu returns to Defiant, heading for the OWL 2022 season in an attempt to win once again, acting as a center that could lead to a new iteration of the team to great success. This year he is surrounded by many new teammates, many of whom he played during his career. These include the HOTBA tank from Philadelphia Fusion and the MuZe tank from Los Angeles Gladiators, as well as Twilight support from San Francisco Shock, which helped shatter Defiant’s dreams of last season’s playoffs. Each player joins the Defiant with outstanding careers lined with ample victories.
This year comes Finale and CH0R0NG from the Contenders stages in North America and Korea, which debuted in the Defiant colors in their first season of OWL. ALTHOUGH he will also return to the OWL stage after a time of absence. All three players have established themselves as one of the most sought-after free agents of the post-2021 season, becoming a staple for teams like Defiant, which have been trying to restructure from the start.
The Diant lineup of Defiant is joined by the flexible players Finale, from Uprising Academy, and DESPITE, coming from O2 Blast, but before that part of London Spitfire. The final debuted with Defiant after two consecutive second-place finishes in Contenders’ third season, finally reaching the top of the charts in its second year in official competition. He is known for his exceptional Tracer game, taking the hero’s fast nature to another level, becoming an inconvenience that most enemies can’t handle.
The London Spitfire 2020 Overwatch League team consisted of many rookies who hoped to make a name for themselves on the OWL stage, but were rejected due to Spitfire’s struggle to adapt to COVID-19. One of the players on the sidelines was DESPITE, who made his OWL debut with Spitfire this season. Unfortunately for the DPS player, he was forced to re-evaluate his immediate future, returning to the Contenders stage after gaining only a small taste of how the OWL main stage felt.
Since then, this versatile DPS player has taken a step back on the Contenders stage as part of Gen.G, Team BM and more recently O2 Blast. Regardless of the team he was on, CONFLICT has remained at the top of Contenders Korea’s rankings for the past two years. He soon finished first in the tournament with an invitation to NetEase Esports X with his partners in O2 Blast, overcoming the competition – it seems enough to show interest in Defiant.
The team is complemented by the addition of basic CH0R0NG support, finally getting a chance to shine on the OWL stage. CH0R0NG is an active part of the Contenders Korea scene as one of the region’s leading support players for teams such as WGS Armament, GGTC, BATTLICA and Talon Esports.
Although able to change games on Mercy or Lúcio alone, CH0R0NG recently led his teams into battle as Brigitte, without fear of targeting the enemy team directly. His experience at Contenders has allowed him to play against his new debuting teammates many times, although he has never had the opportunity to join them on the same team.
Another overhaul of the entire team marks another chance for Defiant to win any retention that could climb to the top of the OWL ladder. Although the changes seem strange after the promising end of last season, Toronto Defiant seems ready to once again trust a completely new list to move the team to the upcoming season – and in a new game.
What can keep this Defiant iteration afloat is the collective experience these players have. Among the contenders and finals in the OWL rankings, this mix of new and veteran talent may be the first to bring Defiant out of the middle of the pack and into the spotlight.
The Toronto Defiant will begin the Overwatch League 2022 season on May 7 against Washington Justice.
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