NYXL Academy Player Fl0w3r Becomes Eligible for Overwatch League

New York Excelsior academy player Yeon-oh "Fl0w3r" Hwang is now eligible to compete in official Overwatch League matches, as the highly touted prospect turned 18 today. The skilled DPS player showed off his devasting damage dealing skills in South Korea's championship run at the 2017 Overwatch World Cup, where Fl0w3r was one of the very best players competing in the tournament.

However, due to him not meeting the age requirement of being 18 years old for the Overwatch League until today, Fl0w3r has not appeared in any official Overwatch League matches in the inaugural season. Even with the young player turning 18, he will have to wait until Season 2 to make his debut in the Overwatch League, as he did not meet the deadline to compete in the league's current season.

As of today, Fl0w3r is now the hottest commodity in Overwatch and the number one player on the market for OWL teams in season 2. As with other Academy teams, he's a restricted free agent/NYXL has first right to match other offers and keep him. https://t.co/0gTL11yy0j

— Rod Breslau (@Slasher) May 14, 2018

Since the 2017 Overwatch World Cup, Fl0w3r has been competing on recently crowned Stage 3 Champions New York Excelsior's academy team, XL2 Academy, and has been on the radar of every team in the league, as they awaited for him to be come eligible to compete. Becuase he is a Academy player and thus a restricted free agent for the New York Excelsior, the two time Stage Champion will have the ability to match any offers that are presented to Flow3r and keep the talented DPS player on its roster. 

With New York already having the strongest team in the league, the thought of the two time defending stage champion adding the talents of Fl0w3rd to its roster is likely giving the rest of the teams in the league nightmares. However, if a team is willing to offer a contract tempting enough to sway Fl0w3r from staying with New York, and the Excelsior are not willing to match the offer, fans could be seeing Fl03wr competing for a team outside of the Big Apple in Season 2. 

(cover photo courtesy of XL2 Academy)