The Paris Eternal are not the only team looking for a widespread roster revamp in the latter half of the Overwatch League season.
Amid widespread rumors the Washington Justice would be turning over staff and players, the team has officially dropped assistant coach Jung “Tydolla” Seung-min, who joined the Justice late last year. He previously worked for the Los Angeles Gladiators and Guangzhou Charge.
As Tydolla’s announcement was posted, Washington’s general manager Aaron “PRE” Heckman sent a somber message on his Twitter before deleting his account abruptly.
“Thank you to everyone who understands that the situation we are in is awful and that we’re doing everything we can to give people a shot at success,” PRE wrote. The message was saved and redistributed on Reddit and Twitter.
Eagle-eyed fans noticed on Aug. 15 that PRE had deleted all mentions of the Justice on his account as early as Aug. 14.
With multiple teams in flux, PRE is likely referring to the upcoming Overwatch League trade deadline, which ends on Aug. 18. Players under Overwatch League contracts will not be able to join other teams after that date. If they were dropped before Aug. 18, however, they can still join new teams, according to a league spokesperson.
The process has apparently already begun for Washington, which announced on Aug. 15 that main tank Kim “Mag” Tae-sung had been acquired by the Boston Uprising. If more drops are coming, fans should expect them to be announced before the Aug. 18 cutoff date.
Washington’s next game is against the Florida Mayhem on Aug. 20 at 5pm CT.
Update Aug. 16, 7:40pm CT: Washington Justice’s vice president of esports business, Grant “Keiranthil” Paranjape, posted a comment on Reddit about the situation. “The core focus of Aaron and I is on finding the best outcomes possible for as many of our players and staff as we can,” he said, noting for some players that could be drops or trades. He also suggested blame “doesn’t necessarily fall to one individual” for the drops and asked for fans to “be patient.”
