Hello and welcome back to The OverSeer everyone! This is Proilios, and I'm back, more enthusiastic, more in-focus, and more informed. I learnt a ton of new stuff from everyone's feedback on my LA Valiant roster review, like how Shax was actually new to Sombra play when he entered OWL last season, and how Lastro is actually a really good flex support, so thanks again to all those who contributed to the conversation and enlightened the rest of us!
Today, we will be taking a look at the Shanghai Dragons, who placed 9th in my end-of-season power rankings for 2019. The Dragons have made some interesting moves in the off-season thus far, and I'm really looking forward to seeing if their efforts pay off, but before we get to that, let's go over their players role-by-role and figure out where they stand.
Today, we will be taking a look at the Shanghai Dragons, who placed 9th in my end-of-season power rankings for 2019. The Dragons have made some interesting moves in the off-season thus far, and I'm really looking forward to seeing if their efforts pay off, but before we get to that, let's go over their players role-by-role and figure out where they stand.
TANK
Shanghai's frontline will be made up of Stand1 and Fearless on main tank, and Geguri and Void on off-tank.
Picked up from Gladiators Legion, Stand1 is an above-average main tank at the Contenders level, and has done well in the late Goats era. His Reinhardt and Winston are pretty good, and his Orisa is workable, so I think his pickup is a very safe move by the Dragons, and it doesn't hurt to have him on the team. Along with Stand1 on main tank is Fearless, who actually played for the Dragons during their 0-40 run in Season 1 of the Overwatch League, and I think his return to the team is getting undermined quite a lot. If you simply ignore Fearless' League run, he's got a pretty amazing track record, dating back to his early days with Element Mystic. He's also done well on Team CC in the past few months, and I think he'll be a dark horse in the main tank standings for Season 3 of OWL. Fearless has something a lot of players aren't lucky enough to have: a shot at pure, unadulterated redemption. He had joined the League back in 2018 with a fantastic track record in Korea, hoping to gain success in the biggest competition Overwatch had to offer, but then his team went winless for 40 games straight, and naturally, he felt disappointed, so, he took a short break from competing, got onto Team CC, and started playing to the best of his ability once again. Now, with his recent Contenders China experience behind him as well, Fearless is returning to the League with the goal of redeeming himself, and proving to everyone that he deserves to be there. I don't see a more poetic arc before me right now, and I don't know why, but I'm very confident that he is going to be one of the better main tanks in OWL 2020.
Geguri has been with the Shanghai Dragons since Season 1, and I'm sure Fearless' return is a great reminder to her of her struggles back in 2018. From my experience watching Geguri play, she is a fairly good D.Va, and a great Zarya; she's got amazing tracking skills, the right idea of what she's supposed to do, and experience working with the Dragons for two years straight. I think at this point, all she needs is an opportunity. She rode the bench for most of Season 2 (who knows why), and wasn't fielded during the most ideal situation every time. If she becomes a mainstay starter for Shanghai in 2020, I genuinely think she has a shot at performing better than everyone expects her to, and since she's played alongside Fearless before (though not in the best of circumstances), I think they can work things out and be a strong frontline for this team. Void has also been added by the Dragons on the off-tank role, and surprisingly, he's known for his D.Va and Zarya play as well, although I'd say his playstyle on D.Va differs from Geguri's. While on our Korean mech pilot hero, Void is more aggressive and plays angles as long as his team doesn't need peeling. If his backline is being attacked, he seamlessly switches to a defensive playstyle and focuses on ridding his teammates of pesky divers and flankers. Geguri, on the other hand, has an innately defensive playstyle, and switches to offence simply to finish off kills. I think this bifurcation is pretty clear, but we're just talking about D.Va here. I can't compare their levels of play on the other off-tanks, since we haven't seen them play those lately, so we've got to wonder what role Void is going to play on this team. That said, his signing is not a bad decision, but I'm thinking more along the lines of who's going to play the remaining two off-tanks, since we haven't seen noteworthy Sigma and Hog play from either of these players.
To round off the tank discussion, I think a lot of this quartet's success will depend on the meta. I'm not sure they can do very well if we continue seeing Double Barrier all the time, but if forthcoming patches allow for Rein-Zarya or Winston-D.Va to come back, I'd say these players could be Top 5 on their roles if they play their best and persevere, and that's a pretty big if just based on Orisa's persistence in the top levels of the game.
DPS
The Dragons' DPS line consists of Diya, diem, DDing, Fleta and LIP.
Out of these players, everyone except Diya is going to be with this team full-time, since Diya is on a two-way contract between the Dragons and their Contenders counterpart, Team CC. Yet though, I want to mention how good of a hitscan player Diya is, and although we haven't seen him play much in the past year, I think he's a great asset for Shanghai to have. His Ashe play was pretty good based on what I saw in 2019, so I have to assume he's still got the skills to aim well and get those picks for his team. Even in his absence, the Dragons have diem, who is also a very good hitscan player. He became quite popular last year because of his performance on Widowmaker, which is his comfort pick, and I have no reason to think he's going to do badly in 2020 either. The only problem with diem is that he's not good at playing the high-sustain damage heroes which are popular in this meta, so he'll probably ride the bench until Double Barrier goes away. Also, since we're talking about diem, I'd like to mention that he's currently unwell and in recovery from some lung issues, so I hope he feels better soon and remains in good health. Moving on to flex DPS player DDing, who wowed us all with his Pharah play last year, I have to say that he's exceptional on his 2 or 3 comfort picks, but quite terrible at others. For instance, he played an incredible Pharah in 2019 and became the face of Sombra Goats for a while because of his proficiency on those heroes, but he also spent a ton of time doing basically nothing on Mei when 2-2-2 was implemented. If the game enters a Sombra/Pharah Meta, I can see DDing absolutely dominate, but until then, he's not going to be very helpful to his team.
If you asked me to name one Pharah player that's better than DDing, I'd say Fleta for sure. An incredibly versatile player who plays many subroles like projectile, hitscan, and sniper (yes there are some overlaps), Fleta is the carry DPS on this team, and I think he's going to be a very common starter for them throughout 2020. In 2019, we saw him play an incredible Pharah, even though it wasn't for long, but he felt a little less impactful on his hitscan picks compared to a handful of other players out there, which leads me to question how he'll match up to some of the new hitscan players stepping into the League. I'm not worried about his execution on projectile heroes, but there are some big names on the hitscan role this season, which could drown Fleta's rep on that subrole at least temporarily. If you need a Pharah or a Genji, Fleta's your guy, but I'd still pick diem over him if we needed something like a Widow or a McCree. Headed into the Dragons' lineup from a Contenders team called 'BlossoM' is LIP, who is a slightly different breed of the Fleta species. By that I mean he's a versatile player, but instead of being able to play hitscan and projectile heroes like Fleta, he plays hitscan and flanker heroes. I hadn't seen LIP play before I watched bits and pieces of the Shanghai Masters Tournament, which the Dragons actually won, but I was super-impressed by his Reaper play throughout my time spectating. His hero pool isn't limited to that one hero though, as he plays Sombra, Tracer, Widow and even Doomfist quite well. He's very competent, and I'm looking forward to seeing if he's able to make a name for himself in OWL this year. He was certainly impressive during Shanghai Masters, but can he repeat that level of play when actual stakes are involved? We'll have to wait and watch.
All-in-all, the Dragons look quite good on the DPS front. I think I can call them mid-table just by default after knowing what damage dealers the other teams are running, but there's no doubt their skill ceiling can take them higher. I'm not straight up calling them top-tier because of a few small reasons. DDing has a very limited hero pool, diem's not very good at high-sustain heroes, Fleta will probably get outmatched on hitscan, and LIP still has to have his limits tested. I have an open mind, and I can't wait to see all these players pop off, but as a safe bet, I'm gonna call these players a middle-of-the-pack damage line.
SUPPORT
The Dragons currently have LeeJaeGon on main support, and Luffy and IZaYaKI on flex support.
Coming hot into the League and being touted as one of the best main support pickups of the season, LeeJaeGon has made his way into the League from RunAway, and has had a good amount of success in Contenders over multiple metas. His Lúcio and Mercy are both seemingly great, so let's see how well he does in his first ever Tier-1 tournament. I'm not going to lie, but I've watched LeeJaeGon play, and even though he's a solid main support, I can think of a handful of other names that have proven themselves to be better at the OWL level. That's not to say he's a bad player, but he's not one of the best in my books, that's all.
Luffy spent the entirety of Season 2 with the Dragons, and he was part of their amazing Stage 3 victory, but I genuinely think he isn't one of the better flex supports in the League. I believe his teammates made him look good most of the time, which I realise I may get a lot of flack for saying, but it's an opinion I'm willing to stand by without regret. IZaYaKI, on the other hand, is someone I'm always impressed by. I think he's mechanically gifted, and that his Zenyatta is one of the most underrated in the League. He played brilliantly when he was with the Valiant at the beginning of Stage 1 last year, since he was getting ultimates way quicker than you'd expect a Zen to, and I feel bad that he didn't get to see much more playtime than that, even after he joined the Dragons. As good as his Zen is though, I don't think he's nearly as good on Ana and Moira, which is a major cause for concern considering that Luffy, on the other hand, is probably just good enough on Ana.
To sum things up for Shanghai's backline, I believe the main support slot is in good hands, at least until we can see how well LeeJaeGon compares to his competitors. The flex support slot is quite concerning to me, since Luffy's comfort pick is Ana, and IZaYaKI is brilliant only on Zenyatta, so in metas where you'd need your flex support to swap between the two, the Dragons may look underwhelming or inconsistent in parts. I don't know, I'm really not sold on this support line despite there being some bright spots for each player, but if the meta demands just one flex support pick per map or something like that, this backline has the potential to shine.
THE RAW LOOK VS. REALITY
On paper, the Dragons look like a competent team filled with a diverse cast of players. They should be able to adapt to most metas with relative ease, and are certainly on the path to success in 2020. If they can bolster their flex supports a little and help them get comfortable on their non-signature picks, they can truly look solid and push for a Top 5 position as a team. However, with their current situation, they just look like they can enter the Play-Ins.
Even if we forget Shanghai's raw look (i.e. stop focusing on just who the players are) and focus on additional variables like communication and synergy, and factor in the other teams in the League, this squad still looks solid, and I don't think there's any way they'll miss the Play-Ins at the very least. I genuinely believe their tank line has immense potential, that their DPS can hold their own and make plays in most scenarios, and that their supports can shine more in highly-restricted metas, which does seem to be the trend nowadays.
To round off my thoughts on the Dragons' chances in 2020, I think they'll make the Play-Ins for sure. I don't think they can waltz easily into Top 6, and I'm darn sure they won't drop below Top 10, so this seems like an appropriate conclusion for this review.
If you liked what I had to say, do share this post with other Overwatch League fans to spread the word. If you disagree with some of my points, which you probably do because there are some hot takes in there, please share your thoughts in the comments section, but remember to be respectful to keep the conversation healthy. That's all I had to say about the Shanghai Dragons, so let me move on to writing about the Atlanta Reign. If you guys don't want to miss that post, please hit the Subscribe button on the top right part of the page, so you ensure that you're alerted when it goes live. That's it from me for now, so thanks a lot for reading, and I hope you have a nice day.
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