The great culling continues throughout the Overwatch League today as the NYXL has just announced that they’ve removed a total of four members from their roster in the Thanos snap of the offseason.
Both off-tank players within the New York Excelsior roster have been removed, being Hotba and Bianca, only leaving the indomitable main tank Mano at the moment.
고생했다 얘들아…
— saebyeolbe (@saebyeolbe) October 21, 2020
Two DPS players were also removed; Nenne and WhoRU from the roster in the current culling. This still leaves more than a few DPS players on the roster; New York Excelsior has run deep on DPS players since its inception in the inaugural season of 2018 with the likes of Big Boss Pine and SBB.
There are currently only three DPS players left on the team at the moment, however: Saebyeolbe, the seemingly omnipotent IGL, Libero, and Haksal. It’s plausible that NYXL looks at picking up one additional DPS player for the roster to prepare for the upcoming year to give enough of a bench-buffer in the event that a DPS player gets sick or is otherwise absent.
Currently, the NYXL has all of one tank on their roster, and they’ll need (at an absolute minimum) one additional tank player to brave the next season of matches; much like the DPS lineup, it would behoove the organization to hold at least one additional tank-role in their pocket.
Their healing line as of yet is unaffected: the Jjonak has shown zero inclination to leave the New York team, and Anamo and Mandu both seem similarly pleased with their current status and position.
https://twitter.com/FlorentRomain5/status/1319006040764129281?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The question moving forwards is precisely who the team will be looking at to fill the sizeable gaps; it’s unfathomable that Andbox moves away from an all-Korean team which allows for clear and consistent communication while simultaneously not introducing cultural disparity across the roster.
With the Thanos snap thus far, there are quite a few players available to play for the Excelsior; the question is which ones could outperform the dropped players without NYXL overspending their offseason budget.
In-game leader Saebyolbe commented briefly on the announcement stating that the players that are leaving have had a hard time of it, as seems to be the norm currently with the vast number of off-season drops that are occurring after three-year contracts have expired.
If you’re less worried about the teams and just want some tasty Overwatch League action, this shouldn’t concern you greatly: we’ll likely to see some new names come next year bringing about new exciting moments.