The OverSeer: San Francisco Shock 2020 Roster Review

This is it, everyone...my final roster review before Season 3 of the Overwatch League begins. It's been a hectic January, what with me having to post 20 reviews within 31 days (I wanted the last week before OWL off to prepare some psuedo-power rankings and just take a breather before my prediction posts begin), but here we are, ready to end on a high, with a review of the San Francisco Shock.

This team, as you would've expected, ranked 1st in my end-of-season power rankings for 2019, and their rivalry with the 2nd-placed Vancouver Titans was one of Season 2's highlights for me. Without further ado, welcome to The OverSeer everyone, and let's take a look at the San Francisco Shock role-by-role.

TANK

The Shock are going to run super and smurf on main tank, and ChoiHyoBin on off-tank this season.

Last year, during the Goats Meta, super proved to be one of the best Reinhardts in the League, being really aggressive in-game but hyper-aware of his enemies' motives at the same time, and landing those fat counter-shatters successfully on a regular basis. In addition to that, he also plays a very good Orisa and an above-average Winston, which means he's fairly adaptable. He's also got a few off-tanks in his hero pool, which he rarely ever pulls out in a League match, but his ability to flex to those can certainly help him and his team when they're in dire straits, or if Choi isn't able to play for some reason. Ever-the-playmaker, super will still be a main tank to watch out for in the 2020 season. Alongside him is smurf, who was fielded to play Orisa in the latter parts of Season 2, and he did a very good job on the role, landing those Halt combos with his teammates on a regular basis. He is also quite good on Winston, based off how I've seen him play on his stream (although I haven't watched much of it), and he's a solid main tank in his own right because of that. Although I don't know about his Reinhardt and Wrecking Ball skills, I'm certain he can make up for them with his skill level on Orisa and Winston, so I'm not worried about him in the least.

After parting ways with Nevix, the Shock are left with ChoiHyoBin as their only off-tank. Now, Choi played one of the most reliable D.Vas I've seen in the Overwatch League last year. He didn't stand out on that hero because he did one thing consistently well every time, but because he did all of them well at different points throughout his run. In Stage 4, and even briefly during the Stage 3 Playoffs, Choi showed us some of the best Roadhog play in the League, having insanely high hook accuracy and eliminations throughout all his matches. During the Postseason Playoffs, he adapted very well to Sigma, and ended up being one of the best Sigmas in the League as well, which is a true testament to his adaptability and mechanical skill. Going into the 2020 Season, ChoiHyoBin will still be a Top 5, or maybe even a Top 3 off-tank, and I'm confident he will keep putting up consistent performances for all of us to praise for the rest of the year.

I believe the Shock have one of the best tank lines in the League; probably even the best, and that's because of their players' versatility and mastery of the heroes they play. With the only unknown variables being their Wrecking Ball player and Choi's ability to play Zarya, there's not much else that can stand in the way of their success.

DPS

The Shock currently have 5 DPS players, namely sinatraa, Architect, Rascal, Striker and ANS.

The OWL Season 2 MVP, sinatraa, is a flanker/hitscan player who proved to be one of the best Zaryas in the League during the Goats Meta last year. His tracking is unreal, which helps him play the likes of Tracer and Sombra to a very high level, but in addition to that, he also plays a very nutty Doomfist, which was instrumental in the Shock's incredible run in the 2019 Season Playoffs. Also, I could see sinatraa being fielded as a tank player if Zarya becomes meta again, and if running any other off-tank isn't viable in the given situation. The second DPS on this team is one of the most versatile damage dealers in the League: Architect. If you need a flanker, a sniper, or even a projectile player, Architect's your guy. When in doubt about which heroes you might need to run, you can easily field him and effectively counter whatever the enemy team is running. During the Season Playoffs in 2019, he even got famous for playing Bastion...famous, for playing Bastion...let that sink in. When it does, you'll realise how much potential this guy has got, and he's certainly going to be very helpful to the Shock in 2020.

When it comes to versatility, there's one more player on this team who reigns supreme, and that is Rascal. After playing Brigitte and Baptiste and excelling at performing on them for 3 stages, Rascal was finally put once again on the DPS role, and he ended up playing the best Mei I have seen in the League. His walls were on point, his right clicks hit heads, his freezes annoyed his foes, and his Blizzards shattered their bones. Of course, Rascal has a hero pool far deeper than just these 3 heroes, and his ability to learn new heroes very quickly is an asset like none other. The fourth damage dealer on this team got famous in the League's first season for his impressive Tracer play, and he was able to translate that into playing a fantastic Reaper for the Shock in their second season with great success. I am, of course, talking about Striker, a hitscan/flanker player who's known for his hard-carrying potential in dire situations. I can't wait to see what he has in store for us in Season 3.

The addition of ANS to this roster is slightly puzzling to me. He has seemingly been signed on as a Widow specialist, and when I consider that Striker and Architect are great Widow players too, I don't think the Shock need ANS to be there. I mean, I've watched his stream highlights, montages and everything, and he does seem impressive, but I don't know if his addition was really worth it. We've had analysts like Wolf come out and say that ANS has a distinctly different playstyle on Widow, which is why he will be useful, so I'm going to assume he'll be an above-average player, but reserve my deeper judgment for later.

I think it suffices to say that the Shock are going in with a solid DPS line once again. By themselves, I think they would've been a mid-table damage line, but the way Crusty strategised in 2019, and used them only for what they did best, they grew to be a really scary quartet of DPS players. If you guys disagree with that, think about this: before Season 2 of OWL, how many of these players would you look at and say "okay that's one of the best DPS players out there"? I think we could've said that for Striker, because he did put up some stellar performances for Boston, but I wouldn't have thought of sinatraa, Architect, and Rascal and been able to confidently say that they were top-tier. It's just the way Crusty melded them and shaped them into specialists that truly brought the X-Factor to them as a unit, and since they're all good at different things, it makes deciding whom to field in what situation a relatively easy task. That's also why I'm partly convinced that ANS is a good signing, and I'm looking forward to watching all 5 of these damage dealers play in the 2020 season.

SUPPORT

San Francisco's backline consists of moth on main support and Viol2t on flex support.

The rock of the San Francisco Shock, and my favourite player in the League, moth is reliable, humble, has a calm demeanour and a very wide hero pool. Last year, he put up some great performances on his comfort pick, Lúcio, but not in the way you think. Most Lúcios get noticed for going on solo missions, getting eliminations, or environmental kills, but moth, although he's done all of those things, was commended for his teamwork. He supported and enabled his team very well, setting up plenty of boop plays along the way. Even though it was his teammates showing up on the killfeed, you could attribute moth's excellent communication and considerate play as the cause of many of these 'pop off' moments. Whether it be on Lúcio, Mercy, Baptiste, or even flex support picks like Ana and Zenyatta, moth puts up consistent performances every time and focuses on giving everything his best shot. The Shock are truly lucky to have him.

His support partner, Viol2t, shaped up to be one of the best flex supports in the League. His Zenyatta was nearly unrivaled, his Ana had insane healing numbers, and his Moira, albeit a little aggressive, helped sustain his team through massive mounds of burst damage. It also helps that Viol2t can clutch out fights and make plays quite regularly, which is not something you can say about every flex support.

I absolutely love this support duo, and think they could once again be one of the best in the League...maybe even the best if the new wave of rookies doesn't do very well.

THE RAW LOOK VS. REALITY

In the Shock's case, their raw look and the reality of their situation are both very similar. Not only do all their players look fantastic and prepared for a wide variety of situations, but they've also won the Overwatch League in 2019 while playing with each other in many different combinations against many different opponents. I don't think this team could be any more prepared to make a run to the Grand Finals a second time, and I see no way for them to be kept away from the Top 6 spots that lead directly to the Playoffs. San Francisco Shock, good luck for Season 3, and even though I don't think you need it, know that I'm rooting for you, and I hope you're able to repeat your successful run at least to some extent this year.

So that's about it guys. 31 days, 20 rosters reviewed. I had a ton of fun writing these reviews, and I'm incredibly grateful to those of you who bothered reading these deep dives wholeheartedly, gave me productive feedback, and really enriched the roster review conversation in its entirety. This isn't the end of the The OverSeer though. Uh-huh. This is only the beginning of the content I've got planned for this season, and we'll be kicking things off with a pseudo-power rankings post right before the season begins, after which you'll be seeing me trying to predict the outcomes of the League's matches, and trust me, whether I'm right and especially if I'm wrong, it's a lot of fun for readers of all kinds. Whether you're a die-hard fan or a casual, you can partake in my predictions posts with no holds barred, and see how accurately I'm able to determine match winners and scores. Anyway, that's it from me for now. In a couple of days, I will start working on the final pseudo-rankings post, in which I will consider all the latest-updated rosters, ponder over their situations once again, and briefly describe each team's best and worst-case scenarios, after which we'll try and see what the rankings shape up to be. If you guys want to join in on the ride, please do subscribe to my blog; I write more about Overwatch than just League-based content! Also, if you liked this post, please share it around with other Overwatch League fans and spread the word. Thanks a lot for reading, and this is Proilios, signing out.