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 | |
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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 |
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Roster changes
Position | Handle | Name | 2021 team | Date signed | Notes |
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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.
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]
2021 Toronto Defiant roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Legend:
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Latest roster transaction: June 21, 2021. |
Transactions
Transactions of/for players on the roster during the 2020 regular season:
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
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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- 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 10, 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.