NYXL...you guys have some true fans out there. When I shared my New York Excelsior roster review, there were so many fans of the team who emerged and laughed at how I was underestimating their players. I absolutely love the enthusiasm and the energy; it's amazing when esports franchises develop such loyal fanbases, so yeah, just a huge shoutout to all fans of the NYXL. Before we begin, I also want to add some clarification about my ratings here, because there seem to be a few people who are misunderstanding how I decide how good a set of players on a particular role is. When I take a look at a particular role set for a team, let's say the Excelsior's tank line, I consider how talented and versatile each of their players is, and sort of average all those factors out to summarise what I feel about the tank line as a whole. When I say that I feel like a tank line is Top 5, I may not mean that I think all the players comprising that tank line are Top 5. I also don't mean that their two best fieldable tank players are Top 5. I just mean that the average skill level of all the tank players on that team is Top 5. I hope that clarifies my approach.
Anyway, let's move on to the team for today, the Hangzhou Spark, which placed 3rd in my end-of-season power rankings for 2019. The Spark have kept their core intact this off-season, but have also made some additions to strengthen it further. Let's take a look at the players present on each role and examine how capable they look going into Season 3.
Anyway, let's move on to the team for today, the Hangzhou Spark, which placed 3rd in my end-of-season power rankings for 2019. The Spark have kept their core intact this off-season, but have also made some additions to strengthen it further. Let's take a look at the players present on each role and examine how capable they look going into Season 3.
TANK
The Spark have currently got guxue on main tank, and Ria and (flex player) SASIN on off-tank. Now, even though SASIN is a flex player, I've observed that flex players don't generally get to play damage in the League, so I've noted him down as a tank player, which is his other sub-role.
One of last year's MVP candidates, guxue had a pretty great showing on Hangzhou's team in 2019. Despite being famous just for his Winston play before the season began, he also proved to be a highly-disciplined Reinhardt and a solid Orisa. We didn't get to see much Wrecking Ball from him, but one has to believe he can learn and play that hero at least at an average level too, and that would still suffice, since guxue's versatility is not something you find in other main tank players, who usually specialise in just one or two main tank picks.
The recurring starting off-tank from last year, Ria, is still on this team. While showing a great defensive D.Va during the Goats Meta, Ria proved to be a solid player, being alert about his backline's safety and providing some pretty quick peel whenever they were attacked. During Stage 4, he got quite comfortable on Roadhog, and played a deadly Sigma during the Playoffs, shutting down Doomfists with his Accretion left, right and centre. With my only question mark being about his level of Zarya play, I believe Ria is a top-notch and pretty versatile off-tank player, whose skills will continue to benefit the Spark in the 2020 season. SASIN has also been with the Spark since the beginning of the 2019 season, but he has barely seen any playtime on stage. He was part of the Korean Contenders team, Foxes, which didn't have many successful runs back then, and his flexibility meant that he could play both off-tank and flex DPS for them. I won't lie to you, I haven't watched SASIN play a lot, but from what I've heard, he's a pretty good player on both, the tank and DPS roles, so I'm going to assume him to be above-average at the League level.
It's difficult to rate this tank line because of my relatively-low experience watching SASIN's gameplay, but I have the utmost trust in guxue and Ria, which is why I'm inclined to say they could be a Top 5, or cautiously, even a Top 3 tank line if they play up to their potentials. I think their synergy from last year will be a major driving force behind them and will likely help them outplay tank duos who haven't been playing together for as long, at least in the early stages of the 2020 season. This may seem like a ludicrous take, and I know how it sounds, but I do believe that pre-made synergy is going to be very important this year, what with the reduced practice sessions every team has because of travel.
DPS
Hangzhou's damage line consists of Adora, Bazzi (two-way) and GodsB for the beginning of Season 3 of the Overwatch League.
2019 just wasn't Adora's year. Very few of his signature projectile heroes were part of the meta, which is why he would stand out very rarely to us. He was also criticised a little for his Mei play in Stage 4, which I think is odd, because he improved on her quite a bit as the stage progressed. That said, Adora was seldom able to pull out heroes like Genji, Junkrat and Hanzo, which is why everyone ended up undermining him quite a bit. I feel like 2020 will go better for this guy, since we're seeing more aggressive patches come into play, and with the meta being in flux for extended periods of time, I can only imagine how many of his signature heroes Adora can pull out this year. Moving on, still on a two-way contract with the Spark and their Contenders team, Bilibili Gaming, Bazzi is a talented hitscan/flanker player, who was fielded for his Doomfist play during the 2019 Postseason games. He did a bang-on job in that meta, and I'm certain he will be useful if Doomfist ever becomes meta once again. Yes, he can play hitscan heroes quite well too, but Hangzhou's got someone else for that.
GodsB is the Spark's staple hitscan player, and he's pretty good. I wouldn't say he's one of the top DPS players in the League, but he did have a few pop off moments last year. GodsB also plays a couple of flankers like Tracer and Sombra, but his true strength lies in his raw aim, which I'm sure is relatively better than most other hitscan players' in the League.
All-in-all, the Spark have some pretty good damage dealers. I don't think they're some of the best we've seen, but they're not some of the worst either. A fair conclusion would be to call them middle-of-the-pack, so let's say that's the case and move on to the supports.
SUPPORT
The Spark currently have iDK and M1ka on main support, and BeBe and Coldest on flex support.
IDK has been the staple main support on this team since Season 2 began, and he's a pretty good player. He's a very aggressive Lúcio, a good pocket Mercy, and a reliable Baptiste. I think he will be just fine in 2020, but might need to make more of an effort to stand out among the other main supports in the League. Partnering with him last year was BeBe, a flex support who was quite comfortable on Zenyatta, but struggled a little on Moira, and played a lukewarm Ana. I don't think he's going to be a very good flex support in the 2020 season because of his lack of versatility and playmaking potential, but I guess Hangzhou's fans can take solace in the next couple of players we'll be talking about.
M1ka was on Bilibili Gaming until very recently, and he was a pretty successful main support player in the Contenders China scene. I haven't really watched him play, and haven't heard much about him even from the community, so I'm going to assume he's going to be an average main support in the Overwatch League. Now Coldest, I have heard about, and after watching online forums hype up this Chinese flex support, who's also from Hangzhou's very own Bilibili Gaming, I am certain he will be an above-average flex support in the League at the very least. I'm really excited to watch him play, and I hope he does well in his endeavours in the Tier-1 scene.
To round off the Spark's support line, I think they're good, but could be better. Coldest is probably the one player in this backline whom I have faith in, and I haven't even watched the guy play. BeBe can certainly be competitive if he's made to play Zenyatta, but I can't say the same for his Ana and Moira play. IDK is certainly a good player, but there are some pretty solid main support additions to the League this year, so I feel like he'll struggle to stand out, and it's a similar case with M1ka, who isn't nearly as well-praised or spoken about as Coldest. I don't think these 4 players will be bottom-5 or anything, but they need some more oomph to bolster their prowess as a support line.
THE RAW LOOK VS. REALITY
On paper, the Hangzhou Spark look like a solid team that can advance quite far into the season and probably get into Top 6. They've got an excellent tank line, along with fairly good DPS and support lines, and even though they don't have many star players, I think their synergy from last year will play an important role in their success in 2020. Regardless of how unnoticed some of these players may go, they know more or less what to expect from their teammates, and how to react to it, which makes them seem like different parts of a single machine. Hangzhou's main 6 from 2019 are all still present on this roster, along with a flex player in SASIN, an amazing Doomfist in Bazzi, and two successful support players from Chinese Contenders. I think even as a whole, if you ignore their raw look, the Spark look like a Top 6 team anyway. I know for sure that this is a hot take, because I've seen dozens of power rankings posts on Reddit and other online platforms, but things can certainly change with more roster changes still likely to be announced, and me re-thinking everything once again before the season begins; so hold on to your hats.
That rounds up my thoughts on the Hangzhou Spark. If you liked what I had to say, please share this post around with other OWL fans and spread the word. If you found my takes too hot to handle, feel free to, as usual, share your thoughts politely and respectfully in the comments section, and if you wish to read the two remaining roster reviews, do subscribe to my blog for quick notifications when I post! My next post will be about the Vancouver Titans, so stay tuned for that, and I'll see you soon. Ciao!
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