2020 Shanghai Dragons season

2020   Shanghai Dragons season
Asia Region champions
Head coach	Moon Byung-chul
General manager	Yang Van
Owner	NetEase
Conference	Pacific
Division	West
Region	Asia
Results
Record	19–2 (.905)
Place	Asia: 1st League: 1st
May Melee	Champions
Summer Showdown	Finals
Countdown Cup	Champions
Season Playoffs	GF Lower Finals
Total Earnings	$595,000
← 2019 Shanghai Dragons (esports) 2021 →

The 2020 Shanghai Dragons season was the third season of the Shanghai Dragons's existence in the Overwatch League and their first under head coach Moon Byung-chul. The Dragons planned to host two homestand weekends in the 2020 season at XinYeFang Studio in Shanghai's Jing'an District. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the all homestand events were cancelled by the league.

Preceding offseason

Organizational changes

In September 2019, the Dragons parted ways with head coach We "BlueHaS" Seong-hwan and assistant coach Jeong "Levi" Chung-Hyeok. The team promoted Moon Byung-chul, who was the head coach of the Dragons' academy team Team CC, to the head coach of the Dragons. ^[1] In November, it was announced that the Dragons signed Dong-soo "Dongsu" Shin and former London Spitfire coach former Los Angeles Valiant coach Jeong-min "Jfeel" Kim as assistant coaches. ^[2]

Roster changes

The Dragons enter the new season with one free agent, seven players which they have the option to retain for another year, and two players under contract. ^[3] The OWL's deadline to exercise a team option is November 11, after which any players not retained will become a free agent. Free agency officially began on October 7. ^[4]

Acquisitions

The Dragon's first pick up of the offseason was announced on November 12 with the acquisition of DPS Kim "Fleta" Byung-sun from the Seoul Dynasty. ^[5] The team announced their full roster on November 26, which included the additions of main tank Seo "Stand1" Ji-won from Gladiators Legion, former Los Angeles Gladiators off-tank Kang "Void" Jun-woo, support Lee "LeeJaeGon" Jae-gon from RunAway, and DPS Lee "LIP" Jae-won from Blossom. ^[6] The team promoted tank player Lee "Fearless" Eui-seok from their academy team Team CC on January 19. ^[7]

Departures

The Dragon's first departure was on October 23, when they chose not to exercise their option to retain DPS Jin "YOUNGJIN" Young-jin. ^[8] Shanghai announced that they would not re-sign their only free agent, Noh "Gamsu" Young-jin, on November 4. ^[9] Four days later, support Son "CoMa" Kyung-woo was released from the team. ^[10] The Dragons announced on January 19 that off-tank player Lee "Envy" Kang-jae was released from the team. ^[7]

Homestand events

In August 2019, the Dragons announced that they would hold two homestand events; both were to be held at XinYeFang Studio in Shanghai's Jing'an District. ^[11] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Dragons decided to relocate their team to South Korea with no specific return time. Additionally, the league cancelled all February and March matches planned in China, which cancelled the Dragons's first homestand on February 15 to 16. The cancelled matches will be rescheduled for later in the season. ^[12] The Overwatch League announced that the cancelled homestand events in China would be rescheduled for Weeks 5 through 7 in a studio in Seoul, South Korea; however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in South Korea, these matches were cancelled as well. ^[13]

Roster

2020 Shanghai Dragons roster
Players	Coaches
Role No. Handle Name Nationality Damage 21 diem  Bae Min-seong South Korea Damage 31 DDing Yang Jin-hyeok South Korea Damage 1 Fleta Kim Byung-sun South Korea Damage 87 Diya (2W) Lu Weida China Damage 70 LIP Lee Jae-won South Korea Tank 17 Stand1 Seo Ji-won South Korea Tank 8 Fearless Lee Eui-seok South Korea Tank 57 Void Kang Jun-woo South Korea Tank 96 Geguri Kim Se-yeon South Korea Support 2 LeeJaeGon Lee Jae-gon South Korea Support 66 Luffy Yang Sung-hyeon South Korea Support 22 Izayaki Kim Min-chul South Korea	Head coach Moon Byung-chul
Legend: (I) Inactive (S) Suspended (2W) Two-way player Substitute Injury / Illness	Latest roster transaction: January 19, 2020.

Standings

Pos	Con	Team v t e	Pld	W	BW	L	PCT	MW	ML	MT	MD	Qualification
1	PAC	Shanghai Dragons	21	19	8	2	0.905	59	15	1	+44	Advance to playoffs
2	PAC	Guangzhou Charge	21	14	4	7	0.667	44	39	1	+5
3	ATL	New York Excelsior	21	13	3	8	0.619	50	30	2	+20	Advance to play-ins
4	PAC	Hangzhou Spark	21	10	2	11	0.476	36	40	2	−4
5	PAC	Seoul Dynasty	21	9	3	12	0.429	33	40	2	−7
6	PAC	Chengdu Hunters	21	7	1	14	0.333	33	47	1	−14
7	ATL	London Spitfire	21	6	0	15	0.286	27	51	0	−24

Source: The Overwatch League
Rules for classification: 1) Wins plus bonus wins 2) winning percentage (excluding bonus wins); 3) map differential; 4) head-to-head record; 5) head-to-head map differential

Game log

Regular season

2020 game log (Regular season record: 19–2)
February–April: 8–1 1 March 28 Shanghai Dragons 3 – 0 Guangzhou Charge Online   8:00 am UTC     2 March 29 Shanghai Dragons 0 – 3 Chengdu Hunters Online   8:00 am UTC     3 April 05 Shanghai Dragons 3 – 0 Hangzhou Spark Online   8:00 am UTC     4 April 06 Shanghai Dragons 3 – 1 Chengdu Hunters Online   8:00 am UTC     5 April 12 Shanghai Dragons 3 – 0 Guangzhou Charge Online   10:00 am UTC     6 April 18 Shanghai Dragons 3 – 0 Hangzhou Spark Online   10:00 am UTC     7 April 19 Shanghai Dragons 3 – 0 Chengdu Hunters Online   10:00 am UTC     8 April 25 Shanghai Dragons 3 – 0 Guangzhou Charge Online   9:00 am UTC     9 April 26 Shanghai Dragons 3 – 0 Seoul Dynasty Online   9:30 am UTC
May Melee qualifiers: 3–1 10 May 02 Shanghai Dragons 3 – 2 New York Excelsior Online   9:15 am UTC     11 May 09 Shanghai Dragons 2 – 3 Seoul Dynasty Online   8:00 am UTC     12 May 10 Shanghai Dragons 3 – 0 Hangzhou Spark Online   8:00 am UTC     13 May 16 Shanghai Dragons 3 – 0 London Spitfire Online   10:00 am UTC
Summer Showdown qualifiers: 4–0 14 June 13 Shanghai Dragons 3 – 0 London Spitfire Online   8:00 am UTC     15 June 21 Shanghai Dragons 3 – 2 Chengdu Hunters Online   10:00 am UTC     16 June 27 Shanghai Dragons 3 – 1 Seoul Dynasty Online   10:00 am UTC     17 June 28 Shanghai Dragons 3 – 0 Hangzhou Spark Online   8:00 am UTC
Countdown Cup qualifiers: 3–0 18 July 25 Shanghai Dragons 3 – 2 London Spitfire Online   10:00 am UTC     19 July 26 Shanghai Dragons 3 – 0 Seoul Dynasty Online   10:00 am UTC     20 August 01 Shanghai Dragons 3 – 1 New York Excelsior Online   12:00 noon UTC
August: 1–0 21 August 15 Shanghai Dragons 3 – 0 London Spitfire Online   10:00 am UTC

Midseason tournaments

2020 midseason tournaments game log
May Melee: 3–0 Quarterfinals May 23 Shanghai Dragons 3 – 2 London Spitfire Online   11:30 am UTC     Semifinals May 24 Shanghai Dragons 3 – 0 New York Excelsior Online   10:00 am UTC     Finals May 24 Shanghai Dragons 4 – 3 Seoul Dynasty Online   11:30 am UTC
Summer Showdown: 1–1 Quarterfinals   First-round bye   Semifinals July 05 Shanghai Dragons 3 – 0 Seoul Dynasty Online   8:00 am UTC     Finals July 05 Shanghai Dragons 2 – 4 Guangzhou Charge Online   12:00 noon UTC
Countdown Cup: 2–0 Quarterfinals   First-round bye   Semifinals August 09 Shanghai Dragons 3 – 0 New York Excelsior Online   8:00 am UTC     Finals August 09 Shanghai Dragons 4 – 0 Hangzhou Spark Online   12:00 noon UTC
Bonus wins awarded: 8

Postseason

2020 playoff game log
Asia Bracket: 2–0 Upper Round 1 September 06 Shanghai Dragons 3 – 1 New York Excelsior Online   9:00 am UTC     Upper Finals September 12 Shanghai Dragons 3 – 2 Seoul Dynasty Online   11:00 am UTC
Grand Finals Bracket: 1–2 Upper Round 1 October 8 Shanghai Dragons 3 – 0 Philadelphia Fusion Online   1:00 pm UTC     Upper Finals October 09 Shanghai Dragons 2 – 3 San Francisco Shock Online   9:00 am UTC     Lower Finals October 09 Shanghai Dragons 2 – 3 Seoul Dynasty Online   1:00 pm UTC

References

1. Castelot, Ophelie (September 24, 2019). "Overwatch: Shanghai Dragons Announce Drastic Coaching Changes". ESTNN. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
2. "Overwatch League : Tous les changements du mercato overwatch 2019-2020, intersaison" [Overwatch League: All changes of the overwatch transfer window 2019-2020, offseason]. Millenium (in French). November 28, 2019. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
3. Morello, Matt (July 30, 2019). "2020 Team Needs and Player Contract Status". Overwatch League. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
4. Richardson, Liz (October 4, 2019). "Overwatch League reveals player contract status for entire league". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
5. Richadson, Liz (November 13, 2019). "Fleta joins the Shanghai Dragons". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 13, 2019.
6. "Dragons and Spitfire set rosters for OWL 2020 season". ESPN. Reuters. November 26, 2019. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
7. "Shanghai Dragons bring back Fearless; Envy retires". ESPN. Reuters. January 19, 2020. Retrieved January 19, 2020.
8. Vera, Nicolas (October 23, 2019). "Around the OWL: Seoul Dynasty sign Profit and Gesture as they part ways with London Spitfire". Esports.net. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
9. Esguerra, Tyler (November 4, 2019). "Shanghai Dragons part ways with Gamsu". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 4, 2019.
10. Samples, Rachel (November 8, 2019). "Shanghai Dragons part ways with CoMa, re-sign 7 players". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
11. Shanghai Dragons [@ShanghaiDragons] (August 30, 2019). "Venue Reveal" (Tweet). Retrieved October 11, 2019– via Twitter.
12. Amenabar, Teddy; Hume, Mike (January 29, 2020). "Overwatch League cancels China matches for February, March due to coronavirus". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 30, 2020.
13. Richardson, Liz (February 24, 2020). "Overwatch League cancels Seoul Dynasty homestand, studio games due to coronavirus". Dot Esports. Retrieved February 28, 2020.