After the Stage 3 playoffs, Overwatch League was set for a slow news week. Monday seemed to be the day to reflect on Shanghai’s unexpected upset of San Francisco to win the Stage 3 title. Instead, Boston takes the headlines away from the Dragons to announce the signing of DPS player Stellar. That name sound familiar? Yes, that’s the same Stellar who played for the Toronto Defiant. Same player who as recently as April retired from professional Overwatch. Wait, what?
Let’s try to break this down. Stellar, a Tracer specialist in Korean Contenders for O2 Blast, started the season for Toronto. He was there back on March 3rd when the Defiant trumped the Uprising 3-1. In the GOATs meta, much like Blase, the DPS specialist has been stuck in the Brig. Stellar played a bit of Sombra, he never stuck around long enough this season to see the DPS resurgence that has been prominent this past stage. That, along with unspecified personal reasons, was enough to make him to decide to step away from the game.
Staring at a wall
Now he’s back and we’re left wondering what Huk’s long game is here. A few hot takes for you:
- First, with 2-2-2 lock coming down the pike, Boston strikes first in signing DPS talent. Makes alot of sense and glad Huk is out in front of everyone.
- Second, If you’re Blase or Colourhex and you wake up to this news, what’re you thinking? These two DPS stars have had too few moments to shine and show what they can do. Now there’s another DPS player to soak up playing time? They can’t be happy.
- Next, it’s strange that just two weeks after former Boston DPS player Mistakes unretires to join the Montreal Rebellion (Toronto’s Academy Team) Stellar unretires too. Conspiracy theorists will have a field day connecting the hidden dots between these players/organizations.
- Boston is now up to four Korean players on the roster. That ties the most they’ve ever had with last year’s squad. After seeing Shanghai dump their original roster for an all Korean players to transform from an 0-40 team to Stage 3 champions, teams have to be tempted with this approach. Florida has done the same. Hopefully Boston will stay steadfast in their approach.
- If you’re going to sign a DPS, what better can you do than another team’s former starter? That’s the definition of buying low and moneyballing the hell out of the competition. This has Huk’s hands all over it and I love it.
- Lastly, anyone thinking this roster will be the same a few months from now is nuts. Huk may already be hawking some of the shiny looking toys in the box he’s shown off to the rest of the league. Maybe Colourhex’s Widow skills have earned him a spot on the trading block. Perhaps Aimgod is next out the door. Former obscure players like Striker and Neko found themselves in similar positions last year, after coming from obscurity to strutting themselves on the OWL stage. Either way, Boston wins and the machine keeps rolling.
- Worse case – we never see Stellar on stage. Like Persia and Axxiom, he may be another Korean stuck riding the pine until Huk finds trading partners for everyone else. Hard to say what type of long game the President of Gaming has in mind.
Final Thought
Well, all these takes aside, what’s a Boston fan to think? For me, I think we have to trust the process. This is the same management team that plucked players like Gamsu and Note out of obscurity. We’ve seen this team go undefeated one stage and miss stage playoffs another. Boston dished out reverse sweeps four times this season, but also were reverse swept by the Washington Justice. It’s part of the fun of being an Uprising fan. Strap in. Drink the Kool-Aid. Enjoy the ride. Let’s go.
