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Vancouver Titans release majority of roster due to coronavirus issues

The Overwatch League team Vancouver Titans have been forced to release much of the roster due to issues related to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
TJ Denzer
TJ Denzer
2

It’s a rough day in the Overwatch League. The Vancouver Titans have been forced to part ways with much of the active roster due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The team that had dominated the GOATs meta and fell second only to San Francisco Shock in the 2019 OWL competitive year is unfortunately releasing pretty most of its players and coaches for the time being.

The Vancouver Titans announced the release of its active roster and coaches in a letter on the team Twitter and website on May 6, 2020. According to the lengthy letter, while the team aimed to accommodate players past the COVID-19 pandemic and make sure they were comfortable and where they needed to be, the difficulty in travel and connection with the Vancouver Titans community made adaptation nearly impossible.

“Our initial plan was for the team to join the Asian division and continue to play the new schedule from the comfort of players’ homes, but it was quickly apparent that this created a whole new set of challenges. The time difference made it difficult for management and the home fanbase to connect with the team and technical challenges for the players playing from home further exacerbated the situation,” Esports Director Tim Holloway wrote.

As a direct result, most of the players and coach staff on the Vancouver Titans were released, and management will apparently be working to find a new place for the players and staff that will hopefully help them to continue to pursue their goals. The releases are as follows:

  • HyoJong “HakSal” Kim
  • Chan Hyeong "Fissure" Baek
  • Minsoo “Seominsoo” Seo
  • Seongjun “Slime” Kim
  • Chunghee “Stitch” Lee
  • Juseok “Twilight” Lee
  • JeHong “RyuJeHong” Yu
  • Yangwon “Yang1” Kweon (coach)
  • Jae Hong “Andante” Hwang (coach)

It’s a tragedy to say the least. Though solid players like Fissure and RyuJeHong were late (and meaningful) additions to the roster from Seoul Dynasty, much of the Vancouver Titans roster comes from the storied Korean team RunAway where they were one of the most celebrated Overwatch squads in the world. As a part of Vancouver Titans, they took the GOATS comp and made it one of the most feared forces in the League under their control, taking the 2019 Stage 1 Playoffs in dominate fashion. Even when GOATS went out of vogue with forced 2-2-2 comp line-ups, the Titans still played intense down to the very finish, only being knocked out by San Francisco Shock to wrap up the OWL 2019 season as runner-ups to the championship.

With the Vancouver Titans organization working to ensure the former players and coaches find their way to a new home, Shacknews wishes the best to the Vancouver Titans players and coaches. Here’s hoping this isn’t the last time we see the stellar RunAway squad together when everything is said and done.

Senior News Editor
Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.

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