Washington Justice: Overwatch League season 2 team review

The regular season of Overwatch League is over. Following up on the series of previews of the OWL teams this year, we are now to the team in the patriotic red, white, and blue. The Washington Justice went from an almost winless season and some big roster changes to becoming one of the most promising and improved teams going into the 2020 season.

From underdog to (almost) top dog

When Stage 1 began, the Justice were underwhelming. As an expansion team, it was unclear how well the roster would fare. After the end of the first stage, the team was left with a questionable record of 1-6. However, on March 18, former New York Excelsior support player Yeonjoon “ArK” Hong joined their roster. Later on, they also signed former San Fransisco Shock flex support player Nikola “Sleepy” Andrews. With the acquisition of these well-known and talented players, the Justice had a good chance of turning things around.

In addition to gaining a skilled support player, in Stage 4 another player for the Justice began to shine. Corey “Corey” Nigra who plays DPS for Washington showed off his impressive Hanzo. While the season as a whole may have not been ideal, if the ending of it is any indication of how 2020 will go, fans should be excited for the future of their team.

Meta recap

There were quite a few meta shifts this season that heavily affected some teams in the Overwatch League. GOATS was certainly not the Justice’s play style, and if any team benefited from the role lock coming into play, it was them.

GOATS

During the initial GOATS meta, Washington Justice looked lost and confused as to what they should do to counter the teams who were able to learn this composition quickly. With the three tanks and three supports being part of every comp, it was difficult for their DPS to find their footing and effectively help their team win. In addition to their poor GOATS performance, Justice also lacked an effective Sombra player for her GOATS variation when it came into play in the middle of the season.

Orisa/Hog

Compared to their poor performance at the beginning of the season, the Orisa/Hog was Washington’s best meta by far. Hyang-ki “SanSam” Kim was a great Roadhog player, and Orisa as a hero prevented Jun-hwa “Janus” Song from playing aggressive and made his tendencies of feeding into the enemy team disappear.

Conclusion

Above all, the future of Washington Justice looks bright with DPS reentering the meta. While their inaugural season as a team and organization was rocky, there is a ton of talent and further potential on this roster. It’s just a matter of having the right meta for their star players to shine. If they can maintain pace in that regard, next year Washington may just serve up that justice that they promised.