Despite achieving decent results in China’s 2019 Overwatch Contenders Season 1, it looks like Bilibili Gaming is bringing on new talent. It was announced that the Hangzhou Spark is moving two substitute players from the main lineup onto their academy team. Substitute main tank Jeong “NoSmite” Da-Un and DPS Park “Bazzi” Jun-ki have been sent to the Spark’s Overwatch Contenders team. This team is also based in China. They were given two-way contracts so the two players will be able to play for both the Overwatch League and Contenders teams.
NoSmite and Bazzi
Spark at the academy team: @Bazziow & @nosmite1 reinforce BLG.ow as 2-way players! pic.twitter.com/HTuuCUAZGh
— Hangzhou Spark (@Hangzhou_Spark) June 27, 2019
NoSmite and Bazzi joined the China-based esports organization in November of 2018. While the two players both played in the Overwatch League, they did not get as much playtime. With this roster change, NoSmite and Bazzi will play most of their time on the Overwatch Contenders team, but they can still substitute in for the main roster if need be.
The two join Bilibili Gaming, the academy team of the Hangzhou Spark. The team was created in March of 2019 and these two players will be the first Koreans on the roster. In comparison, the Hangzhou Spark is mostly filled with Korean players with only two from China. The Contenders roster placed 3-4 during 2019’s Contenders Season 1 where they lost to LinGan Esports. They most recently placed first place at LanStory’s 2019 Summer Cup, emerging victorious against LGD Gaming.
Bilibili Gaming
This roster change was met with a positive response on the Competitive Overwatch subreddit. Many in the community have said that the two players have not played since Stage 1. It also didn’t look like Spark would have subbed them in anytime soon. Unfortunately, there might be a language barrier with the difference of main languages used between the two rosters since they are made up of completely different nationalities.
What do you think about the roster change to the Hangzhou Spark? Many teams are trying to use their academy team as another set of players to utilize for their main roster. Will this change of players help future communication between Korean and Chinese players? Keep up with all of the latest Overwatch news and content here at Daily Esports.
