San Francisco Shock surprise OWL fans with signing of ANS

“We aren’t trying to be AS GOOD as we were last year, we’re aiming to be even BETTER!” San Francisco Shock proclaimed on their Twitter after its latest roster move.

The Shock had an amazing run in the Overwatch League so far, concluding Season 2 as the grand champions. So how can they possibly improve in 2020? According to the team’s tweet, it’s by signing Lee “ANS” Seon-chang. 

ANS is a sniper specialist that formerly played for BlossoM in Overwatch Contenders Korea. Before announcing his retirement from professional play in January of this year, ANS wowed his followers with his godlike accuracy with Widowmaker and Hanzo. 

“The Shocks have been my most favorite Overwatch team to watch last season, so I’m really excited. My goal for this season is to be the team comedian, so you can expect some more laughs,” ANS said in the video accompanying the Shock’s announcement. 

San Francisco Shock already have an impressive stable of DPS players, including reigning MVP Jay “Sinatraa” Won, Park “Architect” Min-ho, Kim “Rascal” Dong-jun, and Kwon “Striker” Nam-joo. These four players would typically swap in and out depending on the map. I’s possible the team expects a meta change in the future, which may lead to them needing snipers once again. This would make ANS a smart addition to the Shock, who obviously value DPS heavily going into 2020. 

San Francisco Shock prepare for OWL Season 2 with ANS

ANS is the first new player the San Francisco Shock have added to their roster in the offseason. In fact, the champions haven’t made many changes at all. Before ANS, their only update was releasing off-tank Andreas “Nevix” Karlsson. 

For many fans, the addition of ANS comes as a complete surprise. It didn’t seem like the team really needed to make any changes after completely dominating in Season 2. They played in the Stage 1 playoff finals, although they were bested by long-time rivals Vancouver Titans. Then they didn’t drop a single match, or even a map, in Stage 2. This time around they beat the Titans in the playoff finals. 

After a shaky Stage 3, the San Francisco Shock pulled themselves together after the 2-2-2 role lock in Stage 4, competing in the playoff finals once again. This time they faced the Shanghai Dragons and lost. But they had still gained enough momentum to make it to the Season 2 playoffs. They fought their way to the grand finals, where they faced off against the Titans once again. 

It was expected to be one of the most intense finals in Overwatch League history, but the Shock completely destroyed that notion with a swift 4-0 victory.

They were completely unstoppable, so why add another player? Maybe the Shock know something casual players and viewers don’t. Maybe there’s a meta shift in Overwatch’s future.