BlizzardOne of the most important lessons I ever learned from Cartoon Network’s inimitable Adventure Time is that sucking at something is the first step to being kind of good at something. It’s a lesson that one of the worst Overwatch teams of 2018 has clearly taken to heart.
The Shanghai Dragons were formerly the worst team in the Overwatch League, with a Season 1 record of 0-40. Obviously, being the worst players in a professional league still means they’re pretty damn good players, but they had to carry the title of “worst” nonetheless.
BlizzardOn Sunday night, that same team conquered the Stage 3 playoffs, taking out the three best teams in the League; the New York Excelsior, the Vancouver Titans, and the San Francisco Shock. Now that is what you call a comeback.
Kotaku reports that following the difficult first season, Shanghai scrapped most of its roster and recruited a bunch of talented players, most notably several members of the 2018 roster from Korean team Kongdoo Panthera.
Despite this, the new incarnation of the team had a slow start. In stage one they lost more matches than they won, and just barely made it into the finals after a slightly improved stage two. Stage three seems to be where it all clicked for the team, and new strategies began to pay off handsomely.
In a post-match interview, tank player and team leader Young-jin “Gamsu” Noh said:
I’ve been a pro gamer for the past five years, and this is the only time I’ve actually won a big tournament or a big win in my career. It means a lot to me. I want to thank all the fans, all the people supporting Shanghai Dragons, all the coaching staff, and also of course, all the teammates on Shanghai Dragons. Thank you so much.
BlizzardThe moral of the story here is to never give up on your dreams, even if they seem ridiculous. Take, for example, the recent story of a young man who’s been pulled out of school by his father to pursue his goal of becoming an eSports star.
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Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.