The 2020 season of the Overwatch League is, understandably, unlike previous seasons in that matches are being conducted online rather than in arenas with live audiences.
As a result of the need for online play, teams are essentially locked into playing against only the other teams located within their general vicinity. This has resulted in a few teams that are considered contenders for best in the league unable to compete against one another until cross-region play returns. Among these is the Shanghai Dragons, whose trajectory has sent them from historically bad, to fluctuating among the top 10, to winning a stage championship, to a near-universal top five pick. Despite their now-proven success, the Dragons are still solidifying their core unit, having just announced the addition of Kong and Quatermain to their coaching staff.
Kong is a Dragons veteran, having coached the team during the Overwatch League’s inaugural season. For the balance of his initial tenure with the team he worked as an assistant coach, but when the team’s original head coach U4 left the organization, Kong took over head coaching duties. He will now work for the team as an assistant coach once again.
By returning to the Dragons, he joins Gladiators player Bischu and fellow Shanghai Dragon Fearless, who also left and then returned to their original teams. Fearless, who alongside Geguri and Ado was intended to help turn around the Dragons’ winless season, has officially entered into the redemption arc phase of his professional Overwatch career, playing the team’s main tank role for the entirety of their 3-0 win against the Chengdu Hunters on April 19th.
Quatermain, meanwhile, is a veteran of professional Overwatch. In 2016 and 2017, he played for a team called Afreeca Freecs Red and competed in two seasons of APEX. Then, after a short hiatus from professional Overwatch, he joined the London Spitfire in 2019, playing the main support role for most of their matches.
The Dragons announcement describes Quatermain as a “playing coach.” This term isn’t strictly defined by the Overwatch League, but implies that, while his role will be on the coaching staff, his experience as a support player will allow the team to conduct 12 player internal scrims outside of official matches. The current full Dragons roster includes 5 DPS players and 3 support players, which meant that previously, balanced team compositions were impossible for internal team matches.
Source: Dot Esports
