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We’ve seen recent changes to a lot of teams in the Overwatch League, and they still continue now. Even though stage three has already started, it seems two teams have agreed on an interesting deal. The Toronto Defiant have made the bold decision to integrate two English speaking players into a Korean roster. Meanwhile, the Shanghai Dragons are still striving to get better. This trade continues both of these teams’ paths, but only one team will gain a player from it.

Kang-jae “envy” Lee has been traded from the Toronto Defiant to the Shanghai Dragons.

Who is Envy?

Envy is a veteran of the league, playing much of the inaugural season as well as the first two stages of this season. Coming from the Los Angeles Valiant, Toronto announced Envy as one of their first signings, along with star player Se-hyeon “Neko” Park. Mainly a D.Va player, he was needed for every game of this season up until the mixed roster idea was implemented. He also played Sombra when needed. That helped the team reach a great first stage record of 5 wins and 2 losses.

Toronto Defiant - Envy
2019-02-15 / Photo: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment

Unfortunately, that turned out to be the peak of their season so far. Their second stage ended as an exact opposite of stage one, with 2 wins and 5 losses. Even worse, their stage three schedule was predicted to be one of the hardest in the league. Facing teams such as the New York Excelsior and Los Angeles Gladiators, getting wins would only become harder.

While their stage four was much easier, Toronto needed to improve from stage two, even if it meant a tough stage three. And so the coaching staff agreed to go mixed roster, adding flex player Daniel “Gods” Graeser and main tank Normunds “sharyk” Faterins. So far, Envy hasn’t seen a game since last stage, and it seems like he wouldn’t have had much stage time there had he stayed.

How will it affect both teams?

I don’t think it will affect Toronto that much now, especially because of their new decision to go mixed. But with the departure of Joon-hwan “GuardiaN” Cho from the Dragons’ roster, this fills their role of a backup off tank well. Envy is known to be great when needed, and he’s arguably stage-starting quality, as shown on the Defiant. But he also showed flaws in his game on the Defiant, so we’ll have to see how he works with his new team to overcome them.

The Dragons are getting a great player that should fit in their team well. The Defiant, meanwhile, are risking it all to win big in the end.