Munchkin leaves Seoul Dynasty ahead of OWL Stage 4

According to a tweet from Sang-beom “Munchkin” Byeon’s personal Twitter account, he and Overwatch League team Seoul Dynasty have mutually agreed to part ways. 

Munchkin claims the departure from the team is due to “personal reasons” and not due to his ongoing wrist injury troubles. Munchkin also stated that he is not retiring, and will be angling to join another Overwatch League team in the future.

Munchkin has played in 17 of the Dynasty’s 21 matches during the current season, so this will be a significant adjustment for the Korean squad.

Munchkin slowed by injuries

Munchkin has been diagnosed with tenosynovitis, an inflammation of the tendon where muscle connects to bone. He was already set to not play in Stage 4 of the second season of the Overwatch League. His services will likely be highly sought after for Season 3, as many teams’ DPS lineups aren’t completely solidified yet and DPS players should again be in high demand with the upcoming 2-2-2 role lock.

Munchkin has been a premiere player throughout the length of competitive Overwatch’s history, most notably winning the Seoul Cup with Lunatic Hai and finishing eighth with the Seoul Dynasty in the inaugural season of the Overwatch League.

Other notable departures from the Seoul Dynasty include bombastic main tank Baek “Fissure” Chan-hyung, who retired in June. 

After falling short of lofty expectations during the first season of the Overwatch League, the Seoul Dynasty have better solidified themselves in the second season. They made it as far as the semifinals of Stage 1 and the quarterfinals of Stage 3. 

The future for the Dynasty should still be bright even without the services of Munchkin. The Overwatch League is more competitive than ever with the new teams of Season 2, and the Dynasty have placed themselves in the upper echelon of those teams. They aren’t competing for titles like many expected, but if the meta shifts in their favor they could be a team to be reckoned with in the future.