DoA, Uber and KyKy Give Thoughts on Shanghai Dragons Winless Season

The Shanghai Dragons have had a rough first season in the Overwatch League, as the Chinese team currently sits with an overall record of 0-34 and a current Stage 4 record of 0-4. With their next two matches against the Seoul Dynasty and the Houston Outlaws, the Shanghai Dragons have a slim chance of pulling off a victory against the two struggling teams. However, there is still a strong chance the team that has set the record for most consecutive losses in professional sports history could leave Week 3 of Stage 4 with a 0-36 record.

With the possibility of the Shanghai Dragons finishing the inaugural season of the Overwatch League without a single victory, the team has been a major discussion point in the Overwatch community throughout the season. On a recent episode of the video game industry news show Game Talk Live, Overwatch League casters Erik "DoA" Lonnquist and Mitch "Uber" Leslie and Houston Outlaws coach Kyle "KYKy" Souder were asked about what they believed has contributed to the struggles that the Shanghai Dragons have faced so far. 

"I'd say it is just a lot of pressure and stage anxiety it seems. I think in scrims you could ask any team, and they would say they (Shanghai Dragons) are performing way better than they are on stage. To me it just boils down to the pressure and being on stage. They are so pressured to get their first win, I know the Chinese community definitely puts a lot of pressure on them," said KyKy. "I know that they probably have a lot of pressure themselves. I know that Geguri specifically has gotten a lot of attention that might have overwhelm her. I am not really sure how that affects her, but I am sure it affects her in some way. In scrims they are a lot better, and I think they could get their first win at anytime. They just have to overcome it."

"I mean they have come so close to winning on multiple occasions. At the start of this stage it definitely struck me, in the first week at least, that perhaps Shanghai didn't hit the ground running in terms of the new meta of utilizing Brigitte and playing around her. You have a team that came into the league, and I think initially when they hit the ground it was definitely clear to see that the understanding of how the game was played from the Chinese scene differed a little bit as opposed to the Western scene and perhaps even in Korea. It definitely took them awhile to reach the same point," said Uber.

"Also, you factor in you taking half of your team and replacing it with three people from South Korea who speak a completely different language, and you have to integrate them, and these players that you put in like Fearless, Geguri, Ado and even Daemin later on in the piece. These are people who are outperforming center piece roles on this roster, so being able to integrate with your support lineup or your tanks is super important," Uber continued. "It is such a huge barrier for these players to overcome, and they definitely complicated the situation by adding these players in. Naturally, it is an upgrade in many of those roles. We have seen individuals like Fearless and Geguri really step up to the plate, but communication is so important. You look at a team like the Florida Mayhem who have been together for so long and still struggle with that, and it shows in the standings in the league." 

"I think at the end of the day players are only as good as they can perform on stage. Scrims are one thing, you can be great in scrims when the pressure is off, but when you are a professional you need to be able to perform on stage. That is where it counts. Unfortunately, it looks like this group of players just hasn't been able to do that. I agree with Uber in that you do complicate things by adding these other players who speak another language, even though they are all individually major upgrades from the players who filled those roles beforehand for the Shanghai Dragons," said DoA.

"At the same time, you have to look at how this team was formed in the first place, and I think that there were a lot of better players in China that you could have gotten for this team that were not picked up, and now the organization is suffering for that too. Obviously, I think it is way too late in Overwatch League Season 1 for Shanghai to really pick it up. I personally do not think they are going to win a match in Season 1. I think it is going to be great for them to have this long off-season to retool the team," continued DoA. "I think you keep the players you have added on later. You keep Fearless. Definitely keep Geguri, she is awesome. You keep Ado as well and maybe replace some other players in those other roles. However you do that is fine, whatever it takes to win, but I think there are a lot of good Chinese players out there that are kinda getting overlooked unfortunately for this team and maybe by other teams in this league too." 

The Shanghai Dragons will have their next opportunity to secure their first Overwatch League win of the season on Wednesday, May 30th against the Seoul Dynasty at 6:00 PM PST.

You can view the entirety of the latest game Talk Live episode below with the portion discussing the Shanghai Dragons' winless season beginning at the 27:30 minute mark.

(cover photo courtesy of Overwatch League)