Overwatch League – Is Seoul Dynasty Too Good?

Many football fans groaned when the New England Patriots pulled off another come-from-behind victory on Sunday night. The Patriots always seem to be a game or two away from a Super Bowl win, and their miraculous win once again came within minutes of what looked like a loss. If your closet isn't filled with Tom Brady jerseys, the Patriots' continued success is a long-running nightmare, and the NFL is playing out like Bill Murray's Groundhog Day.

Overwatch League is two weeks young, yet fans are already bemoaning a team in the same way NFL fans talk about the Patriots. Seoul Dynasty is undefeated this year, winning all four of its matches convincingly. Two other teams, New York Excelsior and London Spitfire, are also undefeated with four wins each, but their successes have been overshadowed by Seoul's dominance.

Seoul is performing at a high level on both offense and defense, leaving little room for any kind of mistakes or pauses in strategy by rival teams. Seoul is backed by the ridiculous skill of Byung-Sun Kim, who goes by FLETA in the game. Kim has pinpoint accuracy with almost every character he suits up as, whether it's Widowmaker on the perimeter, Genji up close, or Pharah from the skies. Kim is just one of many stars on Seoul. The spotlight also shines brightly on Je-Hong Ryu (ryujehong), Sang-Beom Byun (Munchkin), and, well, everyone on the team. These players have shown the flexibility to adapt to opponent strategies, whether it's swapping in a different player from the bench, or switching heroes mid-match. We haven't seen a strategy that has slowed Seoul for long.

Seoul is the early frontrunner to win the championship, and may even march through all 20 weeks without a loss. That's how good they look right now. For fans of other teams, this is certainly a disheartening thing to hear, but it should make you want to watch the games more. What if your team ends up being the one that pulls off the upset victory against Seoul? For that chance alone, the matches against Seoul should hold excitement. Sure, Seoul may end up crushing your hopes in a matter of minutes, but we always love the David vs. Goliath story in sports. So far, all teams going against Seoul look like David without his sling.

Should Blizzard be concerned with Seoul at this point? This Friday's match between Seoul and New York will be telling. Both teams are undefeated, and if Seoul demolishes them as it has every other team, alarm bells may ring through Overwatch League's headquarters. Seoul is making it look easy at this point, and that's the last thing you want to see in a debut league, especially one that is trying to establish itself as the next big esport. Team balance and draft strategies will definitely be looked at if Seoul continues marching.

In the long run, though, the New York Yankees have been great to baseball, and the New England Patriots great to football. As much as you may hate them, they have brought people into the stands to marvel at their talents, or cheer when they finally fall. Seoul, even after just four weeks of play, appears to be that team for Overwatch League. It'll be fun to see how long their winning streak lasts, and who may end up breaking it. They're a good problem for the sport to have at this point.