The Overwatch League regular season has ended. Following up on my series of previews of OWL teams from earlier this year, let’s now review every team that didn’t make it into the playoffs. We’re going from the bottom to the top, in order. And for the second season in a row, the Florida Mayhem are in the bottom two. This year, though, they took the Shanghai Dragon’s unfortunate spot.
From one bad season to another
Let’s not sugarcoat this: the Mayhem weren’t expected to be good this season. The sudden additions of Korean players on a former full European squad, the relatively unknown signings, the questionable coaching… Even many fans of this team were expecting the Mayhem to fall near the bottom of the league again. However, there is one positive. As the season went on, they appeared more competitive and even got some great wins. Unfortunately, they did have the least number of wins in the league with 6, and the worst map record with 36-75-5.
While last season was filled with funny walkouts, a poor squad, and questionable coaching, this one was different. No funny walkouts, an okay squad in a meta that didn’t suit them, and… still questionable coaching. Okay, maybe it was a little similar. Even so, most avid viewers can agree that they improved.
Meta Recap
Normally, I would go stage by stage and review how this team did. With how weird this season was, though, it feels more accurate to judge by meta. In this case, the most prevalent three were GOATs in stages one and two, Sombra GOATs in stage three, and most recently the Orisa/Hog meta. So, let’s start with Mayhem’s first two stages.
GOATs
Well, they won one. In the first two stages, they won only one match. And while that is bad, the context behind their win only makes it worse for the Mayhem. Their tank line of Seong-won “Swon” Yoon and Jae-mo “xepheR” Koo was poor, to say the least. This dug a hole so deep that playoffs were already out of the picture, as they’d need to win almost all games in stages three and four to make playoffs. How did that turn out?
Sombra GOATs
They looked better, yet still only managed one win. On the plus side, Sang-bum “BQB” Lee was a great Sombra and Pharah. But on the downside, their only win was against a poor Outlaws team. And there was a good addition to the tank line, with a trade sending Pan-seung“Fate” Koo to the Mayhem. It would take time for him to truly fit in the team, though, and it showed.
Orisa/Hog
This was the meta for the Mayhem this season. With the acquisition of unknown Korean player Beom-jun “Gargoyle” Lee and the reintroduction of DPS players, Florida ended the stage with 4 wins and 3 losses — a positive record. Not only did Gargoyle appear to be the perfect partner to Fate, but the reintroduction of Jung-woo “Sayaplayer” Ha really made the team scary. They beat the Toronto Defiant twice, along with the London Spitfire and Boston Uprising. They ended the season on a high note, but their poor first three stages kept them in last place.
Conclusion
The Mayhem aren’t the worst team in the league right now, but they were the worst team in the league all season. Their record states that, and it’s hard to argue against it. It was almost set in stone that they would be last place when they faced the Washington Justice and lost in the GOATs meta.
But fans of the Mayhem saw a new team in stage four. They found a meta that fit them and managed a good end to a bad season. Like the Dallas Fuel of the inaugural season, they finished well, but the turmoil of the rest of the season put them in a playoff-less position. The big difference is that the Mayhem ended up last, and they can only get better in 2020.
