2021 Toronto Defiant season
The 2021 Toronto Defiant season will be the third season of Toronto Defiant's existence in the Overwatch League and the team's first under head coach Kim "KDG" Dong-gun.
| 2021 Toronto Defiant season | |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Kim "KDG" Dong-gun |
| Owner | Chris Overholt |
| Region | West |
| Results | |
| Record | 9–7 (.563) |
| Place | |
| May Melee | Regional semifinals |
| June Joust | Did not qualify |
| Summer Showdown | Did not qualify |
| Countdown Cup | Regional finals |
| Season Playoffs | Did not qualify |
| Total Earnings | $0 |
Preceding offseason
Roster changes
| Position | Handle | Name | 2021 team | Date signed | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Damage | Agilities | Brady Girardi | Los Angeles Valiant | December 9[1] | Option declined |
| Tank | Beast | Adam Denton | Toronto Defiant | November 6[2] | Option declined |
| Support | Kariv | Bak Young-seo | Guangzhou Charge | November 10[3] | Option declined |
| Support | Kruise | Harrison Pond | Young and Beautiful (OWC) | March 10[4] | – |
| Damage | Logix | Andreas Berghmans | Toronto Defiant | October 23[5] | – |
| Damage | Mangachu | Liam Campbell | – | – | – |
| Tank | Nevix | Andreas Karlsson | – | – | Option declined |
| Tank | Numlocked | Sebastian Barton | – | – | Option declined |
| Support | Roky | Park Joo-sung | – | – | – |
| Damage | Surefour | Lane Roberts | – | – | Option declined |
| Damage | Zykk | Thomas Hosono | – | – | Option declined |
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The Defiant entered free agency with eleven free agents, seven of which became free agents due to the Defiant not exercising the option to retain the player for another year.[6]
Acquisitions
The Defiant's first offseason acquisition was Park "Aztac" Jeong-su, a rookie support player coming off of an Overwatch Contenders Korea championship on team WSG Phoenix while on a loan from Uprising Academy, who was signed on November 17, 2020.[7] Two days later, they signed An "Ansoonjae" Soon-jae, another rookie support player previously playing for Contenders team Element Mystic.[8] On November 21, Toronto signed Kim "Sado" Su-min, a veteran tank player coming off of a season with the Philadelphia Fusion in which he was a top-five main tank player in the league.[9] Two days later, the Defiant acquired damage player Jeong "Heesu" Hee-su from the Philadelphia Fusion.[10] The following day, they signed Choi "Michelle" Min-hyuk, a "consistently impressive" veteran tank player coming off a 2020 Grand Finals season with the Seoul Dynasty.[11] The Defiant made one acquisition in December; on December 11, they signed "Na1st" Lee Ho-sung, a rookie damage player specializing in projectile heroes coming from Contenders team T1.[12] The team's final acquisition was Mun "Lastro" Jung-won, a support player who had recently been released from the Los Angeles Valiant, signing on February 10, 2021.[13]
Departures
Nine of the Defiant's eleven free agents did not return, three of which signed with other teams, beginning with support player Bak "Kariv" Young-seo signing with the Guangzhou Charge on November 10, 2020.[3] On December 9, damage player Brady "Agilities" Girardi signed with the Los Angeles Valiant.[1] The team's final free agent to sign to another team was support player Harrison "Kruise" Pond, who signed with Overwatch Contenders team Young and Beautiful on March 10, 2021.[4] Four of the Defiant's free agents announced their retirements in the offseason: damage player Lane "Surefour" Roberts,[14] damage player Thomas "Zykk" Hosono,[15] tank player Sebastian "Numlocked" Barton,[16] and support player Park "Roky" Joo-sung.[17] Damage player Liam "Mangachu" Campbell and tank player Andreas "Nevix" Karlsson did not sign with a team in the 2020 offseason.
Regular season
The Defiant began their 2021 season on April 17, playing against Canadian rivals Vancouver Titans in the May Melee qualifiers. They won their opener 3–1.[18] Despite starting their following match against the Atlanta Reign with a 0–2 deficit, Toronto defeated the Reign 3–2 to close the week undefeated.[19]
On May 25, the Defiant announced that it had three positive COVID-19 cases within the organization, including damage player Andreas "Logix" Berghmans. Two days later, they signed Luka "Aspire" Rolovic, a damage player from Overwatch Contenders team American Tornado, on a 30-day contract.[20]
Final roster
| 2021 Toronto Defiant roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Legend:
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Latest roster transaction: June 21, 2021. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Standings
| Pos | Team | Pld | W | L | Pts | PCT | MW | ML | MT | MD | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Dallas Fuel | 16 | 11 | 5 | 17 | 0.688 | 40 | 26 | 3 | +14 | Advance to season playoffs |
| 2 | Los Angeles Gladiators | 16 | 11 | 5 | 14 | 0.688 | 41 | 21 | 0 | +20 | |
| 3 | Atlanta Reign | 16 | 11 | 5 | 13 | 0.688 | 41 | 21 | 0 | +20 | |
| 4 | San Francisco Shock | 16 | 12 | 4 | 12 | 0.750 | 43 | 24 | 2 | +19 | Advance to play-ins |
| 5 | Houston Outlaws | 16 | 11 | 5 | 11 | 0.688 | 34 | 24 | 3 | +10 | |
| 6 | Washington Justice | 16 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 0.563 | 29 | 26 | 2 | +3 | |
| 7 | Toronto Defiant | 16 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 0.563 | 31 | 31 | 0 | 0 | |
| 8 | Paris Eternal | 16 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 0.500 | 32 | 32 | 2 | 0 | |
| 9 | Boston Uprising | 16 | 7 | 9 | 7 | 0.438 | 27 | 31 | 1 | −4 | |
| 10 | Florida Mayhem | 16 | 5 | 11 | 6 | 0.313 | 26 | 38 | 2 | −12 | |
| 11 | London Spitfire | 16 | 1 | 15 | 1 | 0.063 | 12 | 47 | 1 | −35 | |
| 12 | Vancouver Titans | 16 | 1 | 15 | 1 | 0.063 | 10 | 45 | 0 | −35 |
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) winning percentage (including tournaments); 3) regular season wins; 4) regular season map differential
Game log
Regular season
| 2021 game log | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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May Melee
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June Joust
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Summer Showdown
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Countdown Cup
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| 2021 season schedule | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Postseason
| 2021 playoff game log | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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West Play-ins
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References
- Czar, Michael (December 10, 2020). "Agilities returns to the Los Angeles Valiant". Daily Esports. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
- Richardson, Liz (November 6, 2020). "Toronto Defiant re-signs main tank Beast". Dot Esports. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
- Howard, Brandon (November 12, 2020). "Guangzhou Charge Add KariV, Mandu". TheGamer. Retrieved January 17, 2021.
- Young and Beautiful [@YaB_OW] (March 10, 2021). "Here are the players that will be representing Young and Beautiful in EU Contenders this 2021 season" (Tweet). Retrieved March 10, 2021 – via Twitter.
- McMahon, Mallory (October 23, 2020). "Toronto Defiant Sign Logix for 2021 Season". The Game Haus. Retrieved January 19, 2021.
- "2021 Player Contract Status". Overwatch League. October 21, 2020. Retrieved April 21, 2021.
- Richardson, Liz (November 17, 2020). "Toronto Defiant signs flex support Aztac". Dot Esports. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
- Michael, Cale (November 19, 2020). "Toronto Defiant signs ANSOONJAE". Dot Esports. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
- Johnson, Xavier (November 21, 2020). "Toronto Defiant signs former Fusion tank SADO". Dot Esports. Retrieved April 22, 2021.
- Richardson, Liz (November 23, 2020). "Toronto Defiant acquires former Fusion DPS Heesu". Dot Esports. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
- Richardson, Cale (November 24, 2020). "Toronto Defiant signs off-tank Michelle". Dot Esports. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
- Czar, Michael (December 12, 2020). "Flex DPS Na1st signs to the Toronto Defiant". Daily Esports. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
- Field Level Media (February 10, 2020). "Defiant sign former Valiant support Lastro". Reuters. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
- Michael, Cale (February 3, 2021). "Sentinels signs former Overwatch League pro Surefour as a content creator". Dot Esports. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
- Michael, Cale (January 17, 2021). "ZYKK retires from Overwatch to pursue VALORANT". Dot Esports. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
- Field Level Media (January 21, 2021). "Numlocked announces retirement from OWL". Reuters. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
- Joo-sung Park [@OW_RoKY] (November 9, 2020). "Player retirement and new challenge" (Tweet). Retrieved January 29, 2021 – via Twitter.
- Field Level Media (April 17, 2021). "SP9RK1E leads Fuel past Gladiators in Overwatch Week 1". Reuters. Retrieved April 19, 2021.
- Waltzer, Noah; Field Level Media (April 18, 2021). "Houston upsets San Francisco, improves to 2-0 in wild Sunday". Gwinnet Prep Sports. Retrieved April 19, 2021.
- Richardson, Liz (May 27, 2021). "Toronto Defiant adds DPS Aspire on 30-day contract". Dot Esports. Retrieved May 27, 2021.
- Toronto Defiant [@TorontoDefiant] (June 21, 2021). "We are saying goodbye to Adam as he retires from professional Overwatch" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
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