Asher Retires from Overwatch League

Matt Buchholtz,

June 2, 2019 7:00 PM

Toronto Defiant's DPS sub, Asher, retires from the Overwatch League to find their future. Read their uplifting retirement message and relive some of their greatest clips with us.

Cue the music, yet another Overwatch League player has retired from the league; this time the cheerful and charismatic Joon-seong "Asher" Choi. The decision was announced on Twitter in a farewell video by Asher’s former team, the Toronto Defiant.

Asher had been picked up by the Defiant in Season Two, but only saw a single match of game-time. In the inaugural season of the league, however, Asher was a staple DPS player for the Los Angeles Gladiators. Raking up kills and playing a key part of the Gladiators' impressive season.

Asher released their own statement about retiring, which revealed a very different story than those that have come before. In the Twitlonger—translated by the epic Overwatch League community member Gatamchun—Asher talks about how he started off with very little aspirations in life. Like other professional players, they referenced constant feelings of anxiety.


“Do you know that feeling, where no one is around you, those anxious emotions and those negative than that nothing’s going to go right?” Asher’s translated Twitlonger reads.”I feel like I was in the early stages of mental illness, but I was still really happy to be with the team.”

The support during these times seems to have been amazing, with Toronto Defiant staff allowing Asher time off to get in a better head space. Additionally, Asher thanks the fans for supporting them during that time.

(Photo Credit: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment)
(Photo Credit: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment)

Asher’s Twitlonger also reveals that their time gaming may have been what shook them free of a sense of complacency, a time when they felt that they were just drifting through life and just wondering what they would end up doing. They say that joining the Overwatch League and making friends there could have been the catalyst to wanting to take control of their life.

“Looking back,” the statement reads, “it may have been this happiness that woke me up.”

Asher isn’t sure what will come next for them, but we’re excited to see where they go. Now, with their destiny in their own hands, it looks like their first stop will be back in South Korea. “I don’t know how long I’ll rest when I go back to Korea, but afterward I’m going to do what I want to do.”

To celebrate Asher’s new grasp life, we want to look back at some of the amazing memories the player has given us. Perhaps you remember the time Asher stopped the clock, shutting down a High-Noon with a Pulse Bomb.


Or just their insane mechanical skills:

Or the time they danced:

Or the time they crested 115 eliminations:


But mostly, we’ll always remember how Asher made us smile. Best of luck out there, good sir.

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