2020 Toronto Defiant season

The 2020 Toronto Defiant season was the second season of Toronto Defiant's existence in the Overwatch League. The Defiant were scheduled to host two homestand weekends in the 2020 season at Roy Thomson Hall in the Toronto Entertainment District,[1] but both were cancelled in light of the COVID-19 pandemic as the league transitioned to online play.[2] The team ended the season with a 7 wins, 1 bonus win, and 14 losses. The Defiant and were knocked out of postseason contention by the Los Angeles Gladiators in the North American Play-ins bracket.

2020 Toronto Defiant season
Head coachFélix Münch (rel. Apr 14)
David Moschetto (Interim)
General managerWon Jae-sun
OwnerChris Overholt
ConferenceAtlantic
DivisionNorth
RegionNorth America
Results
Record7–14 (.333)
Place
May MeleeKnockouts
Summer ShowdownSemifinals
Countdown CupKnockouts
Season PlayoffsDid not qualify
Total Earnings$20,000

Preceding offseason

Organizational changes

In early September 2019, assistant coach Matthew "Optidox" Sims, who assisted the team with head coaching duties in 2019 after head coach Lee "Bishop" Beoum-jun was released, left the team.[3] The following month, the team announced that former Paris Eternal head coach Félix "Féfé" Münch would be Toronto's new head coach.[4] In late October, the team parted ways with assistant coach Sim "Mobydik" Seung-Bo and, one day later, hired David "Lilbow" Moschetto as a coach.[5]

Roster changes

The Defiant enter the new season with no free agents, ten players which they have the option to retain for another year, and no players under contract.[6] The OWL's deadline to exercise a team option is November 11, after which any players not retained will become a free agent. Free agency officially began on October 7.[7]

Acquisitions

The Defiant's first offseason pick-up was on October 23, when the team acquired Young-seo "KariV" Park from the Los Angeles Valiant.[8] A week later, KariV was joined by his former teammate, as DPS Brady "Agilities" Girardi signed with Toronto.[9] The team signed tank Adam "Beast" Denton from Philadelphia Fusion's academy team Fusion University on October 30.[10]

On November 4, the Defiant announced the signing of former Los Angeles Gladiators DPS player Lane "Surefour" Roberts.[11] The following day, they signed former Boston Uprising support Kristian "Kellex" Keller.[12] The team then picked up former San Francisco Shock flex-tank Andreas "Nevix" Karlsson on November 7.[13]

Departures

On October 7, the Defiant announced that they would not exercise their option to retain flex tank Daniel "Gods" Graeser.[14] The following day, they announced that the would elect to not retain DPS Hong "im37" Jin-ui, support Go "Aid" Jae-yoon, and tank Normunds "sharyk" Faterins.[14] Their roster overhaul continued, as Toronto announced they would not pick up main tank Jo "Yakpung" Gyeong-mu's option the following week.[15] In late October, the Defiant announced that they would also not retain Lee "Ivy" Seung-hyun,[16] and they would not retain support Park "Neko" Se-hyeon.[17]

Regular season

Season start

The Defiant opened the season with a 3–1 win over the Paris Eternal. A subsequent close 3–2 loss to the Philadelphia Fusion marked the first loss of the season, followed by consecutive losses to the Atlanta Reign, Florida Mayhem, and Houston Outlaws. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic forced all OWL matches into online play, and led the league to introduce a new format involving multiple midseason tournaments: the May Melee, Summer Showdown, and Countdown Cup.

Head coach Féfé announced his retirement from professional Overwatch for personal reasons on April 14, 2020.[18] Assistant coach David "Lilbow" Moschetto was promoted to interim head coach in his place.

May Melee

May was marked with several roster changes for the Defiant. On May 1, 2020, support player Kellex announced his retirement from professional Overwatch.[19] The team signed Harrison "Kruise" Pond from the Paris Eternal to fill his role;[20] due to the constraints of the ongoing pandemic, Kruise competed for the Defiant from the Paris Eternal team house. Damage player Mangachu transitioned to a full-time coaching role on May 13, 2020.[21] Toronto also signed damage player Thomas "zYKK" Hosono to a 14-day contract on May 22, 2020.[22]

Toronto entered the May Melee as the 12th seed, facing off with the retooled Vancouver Titans in a qualification match they won 3–2. However, the Defiant were promptly swept by the Atlanta Reign 3–0 and eliminated from the tournament.

Summer Showdown

On June 2, 2020, the Defiant announced the signing of tank player Seb "numlocked" Barton, initially as an assistant coach but then as a player.[23] Barton had formerly been signed to the Los Angeles Valiant, but had been released by the Valiant at the end of the 2017-2018 season.[24] The team primarily fielded numlocked as the starting main tank for the remainder of the season over Beast.

General Manager Jae-sun Won announced his departure from the Defiant and retirement from professional Overwatch on June 7, 2020.[25]

The Defiant entered the Summer Showdown as the 11th seed, and were selected by the fifth-seeded Los Angeles Valiant for their knockout stage matchup. However, with the prevailing Genji-focused metagame at the time, ushered in by buffs to the hero's abilities prior to the tournament, the Defiant were able to best the Valiant 3–1 with former Valiant player Agilities' Genji as the centrepiece.[26] The Defiant narrowly defeated the Atlanta Reign 3–2 in the subsequent quarterfinal, before falling 3–0 at the hands of the Philadelphia Fusion in the tournament semifinals.

On June 21, 2020, the team announced that zYKK had been upgraded to a long-term contract.[27]

Countdown Cup

Toronto entered the Countdown Cup as the eighth seed following victories over the Washington Justice and Vancouver Titans, 3–0 and 3–2, respectively, but were knocked out in the first round by the Los Angeles Gladiators, 3–2.[28]

Postseason

Leading up to the playoffs, Toronto lost back-to-back games to the San Francisco Shock and Dallas Fuel, entering the playoffs as the ninth seed. The team went up against the sixth-seeded Los Angeles Gladiators once more in their first match-up and lost 3–2 to end their season.[29]

Roster
2020 Toronto Defiant roster
PlayersCoaches
RoleNo.HandleNameNationality
Damage 22 Logix  Berghmans, Andreas   Belgium 
Damage 51 Mangachu  Campbell, Liam   Canada 
Damage 9 Agilities  Girardi, Brady   Canada 
Damage 10 zYKK  Hosono, Thomas   France 
Damage 4 Surefour  Roberts, Lane   Canada 
Tank 3 Beast  Denton, Adam   United States 
Tank 28 numlocked  Barton, Seb   United Kingdom 
Tank 6 Nevix  Karlsson, Andreas   Sweden 
Support 7 RoKy  Park Joo-seong  South Korea 
Support 18 Kruise  Pond, Harrison   United Kingdom 
Support 8 KariV  Park Young-seo  South Korea 
Head coach
  • David "Lilbow" Moschetto
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (2W) Two-way player
  • (I) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injury/Illness

Latest roster transaction: June 3, 2020.

Transactions

Transactions of/for players on the roster during the 2020 regular season:

  • On May 1, support Kristian "Kellex" Keller retired.[19]
  • On May 2, the Defiant acquired support Harrison "Kruise" Pond from the Paris Eternal.[20]
  • On May 22, the Defiant signed DPS Thomas "zYKK" Hosono to a 14-day contract.[22]
  • On June 2, the Defiant signed tank Seb "numlocked" Barton.[23]
  • On June 21, the Defiant extended Thomas "zYKK" Hosono to a long-term contract.[27]

Standings
2020 Overwatch League North America standings
# Team Conference W BW L PCT P MR MD STK
Playoffs
1 Philadelphia Fusion ATL 19 5 2 .905 21 59–19–0 +40
2 San Francisco Shock PAC 18 7 3 .857 21 56–17–2 +39
3 Paris Eternal ATL 15 4 6 .714 21 50–31–0 +19
4 Florida Mayhem ATL 14 3 7 .667 21 48–30–0 +18
5 Los Angeles Valiant PAC 11 1 10 .524 21 41–41–0 ±0
Play-ins
6 Los Angeles Gladiators PAC 11 0 10 .524 21 43–39–5 +4
7 Atlanta Reign ATL 10 0 11 .476 21 43–35–0 +8
8 Dallas Fuel PAC 9 0 12 .429 21 35–44–0 -9
9 Toronto Defiant ATL 7 1 14 .333 21 32–48–0 -16
10[lower-alpha 1] Houston Outlaws ATL 6 0 15 .286 21 32–50–3 -18
11[lower-alpha 1] Vancouver Titans PAC 6 0 15 .286 21 23–48–0 -25
12 Washington Justice ATL 4 0 17 .190 21 21–54–1 -33
13 Boston Uprising ATL 2 0 19 .095 21 14–61–4 -47
Tiebreakers

  1. Houston placed ahead of Vancouver based on map differential.

Game log

Regular season
2020 game log (Regular season record: 7–14)
February–April: 4–5
May Melee qualifiers: 0–3
Summer Showdown qualifiers: 1–2
Countdown Cup qualifiers: 2–2
August: 0–2

Midseason tournaments
2020 midseason tournaments game log
May Melee: 1–1
Summer Showdown: 2–1
Countdown Cup: 0–1
Bonus wins awarded: 1

Postseason
2020 playoff game log
North America Play-ins: 0–1
Round 1   First-round bye  
Round 2 September 04 Toronto Defiant 2 – 3 Los Angeles Gladiators Online
7:00 pm UTC    

Awards

Agilities, Kariv, and Nevix were selected to play in the 2020 All-Star Game. Logix, while not selected as an all-star, was invited to the Widowmaker 1v1 tournament during All-Star weekend.[30]

References
  1. Loung, Steven (August 20, 2019). "Roy Thomson Hall to host Toronto Defiant homestand weekends in 2020". Sportsnet. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  2. "Toronto Defiant August Homestand". Roy Thomson Hall. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  3. Killion, Brad (September 12, 2019). "Toronto Defiant Coach Optidox Steps Down". The Game Haus. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  4. Richardson, Liz (October 16, 2019). "Paris Eternal head coach goes to Toronto Defiant". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 16, 2019.
  5. Scrubasaurus (October 29, 2019). "Lilbow joins Defiant coaching staff". Over.gg. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  6. Morello, Matt (July 30, 2019). "2020 Team Needs and Player Contract Status". Overwatch League. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  7. Richardson, Liz (October 4, 2019). "Overwatch League reveals player contract status for entire league". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
  8. Killion, Brad (October 23, 2019). "Toronto Defiant Sign KariV". The Game Haus. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  9. Killion, Brad (October 30, 2019). "Toronto Defiant Sign Agilities". The Game Haus. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  10. Field Level Media (October 30, 2019). "It's official: Defiant acquire Beasthalo". Gwinnett Prep Sports. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  11. Samples, Rachel (November 4, 2019). "Toronto Defiant sign Surefour". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
  12. "Overwatch League moves: Defiant add Kellex". ESPN. Reuters. November 5, 2019. Retrieved November 5, 2019.
  13. Samples, Rachel (November 7, 2019). "Toronto Defiant sign Nevix ahead of 2020 Overwatch League season". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
  14. "Toronto Defiant continue overhaul, release three". ESPN. Reuters. October 9, 2019. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  15. Samples, Rachel (October 16, 2019). "Toronto Defiant part ways with Yakpung". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  16. Samples, Rachel (October 30, 2019). "Toronto Defiant part ways with Ivy". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
  17. Field Level Media (October 31, 2019). "Toronto Defiant part ways with Neko". Field Level Media. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
  18. "Toronto Defiant coach 'Fefe' retires". Reuters. 2020-04-14. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  19. McMahon, Mallory (2020-05-01). "Kellex Retires from Professional Overwatch". The Game Haus. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  20. "Toronto Defiant acquire support 'Kruise'". Reuters. 2020-05-02. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  21. Duwe, Scott (2020-05-13). "Mangachu transitions to coaching role for Toronto Defiant". Dot Esports. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  22. "Toronto Defiant sign zYKK to 14-day contract". Reuters. 2020-05-22. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  23. "Toronto Defiant sign Numlocked as player". Reuters. 2020-06-03. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  24. Binkowski, Justin (2018-09-08). "Overwatch League's Los Angeles Valiant release 3 players and an assistant coach". Dot Esports. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  25. "Defiant GM Jae leaves team, retires". Reuters. 2020-06-07. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  26. Butler, Ethan (2020-07-08). "Underdogs come alive in the Overwatch League Summer Showdown". The Game Haus. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  27. "Overwatch League: Toronto Defiant Signs zYKK To Long Term Contract". Esports News Network | ESTNN. 2020-06-21. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  28. Gvora, Joe (2020-08-10). "Los Angeles Gladiators Countdown Cup Recap". The Game Haus. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  29. McMahon, Mallory (2020-09-14). "The Good, The Bad and The Impossible: Reviewing The Toronto Defiant's 2020 Season". The Game Haus. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
  30. Richardson, Liz (2020-10-02). "Everything you need to know about the 2020 Overwatch League North America All-Stars event". Dot Esports. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.