Florida Mayhem Overhaul Roster and Coaches Ahead of Stage 2

After finishing the Overwatch League’s Stage 1 in an embarrassing 19th place, the Florida Mayhem have announced some pretty major updates to their organization and roster heading into Stage 2. 

In what could be easily classified as the least surprising news in OWL’s 2019 calendar year, a lot of changes needed to happen for the Mayhem to shake off their Stage 1 performance. 

Playing today against the London Spitfire, it’s important to note that these big changes may not produce immediate results, but as their Assistant GM eludes to, their future is looking brighter already.

Player Changes

“We are laying a stronger foundation that will allow us to improve in the short term, but more importantly, will prepare us to build a successful organization in perpetuity. Immediately, Florida Mayhem will move to a Korean speaking roster and coaching staff,” said Florida Mayhem Assistant General Manager Scott “Bearhands” Tester in a blog post. 

The move to build-out a fully Korean roster and on-stage staff will serve the purpose of cutting out communication problems from their list of hurdles. This means that they will eventually part ways with tank player McGravy, flex-DPS Apply, and fan-favorite DPS player Tviq. 

As of now, the team has not “officially fired” them, but all three parties have posted on social media regarding their newly found free-agency. "It's all too easy to tunnel in on the feelings of anger or being upset. But I am truly only focused on looking forward and what the future holds," wrote McGravy on twitter. 

Mayhem Academy Tank FctFctn tweeted out that “any Overwatch League team would be blessed to have them on their roster,” speaking into the trios availability. 

After having worked with @Apply @McGravy and @MisfitsTviQuE for a while now, I can safely say that any Overwatch League team would be blessed to have them on their rosters. All three are insanely talented and dedicated.

— Russell Campbell (@FCTFCTN) April 5, 2019

Coaching Changes

On the coaching side of things, the Florida Mayhem team have also let go of Head Coach Vytis “Mineral” Lasaitis, and Coach  Young Su “Yeah” Jung. In both their statement on their blog, and a video posted on social media, the Mayhem stated that the coaching changes were necessary given the new direction of the team. 

Since letting go of their main coaching staff, the Mayhem have brought on Sang Min “Insight” Oh from the Contenders Korea league, as their new Coach. Internally, they promoted Team Translator to Team Manager and brought over Andrew Kim from the Los Angeles Valiant as Assistant Team Manager.

A Killer Korean Talent Pool

With last year’s prolific finish from the London Spitfire, and the most recent stage being dominated by the all-Korean Vancouver Titans line-up, it’s obvious that some of the best talents in the Overwatch League come from Korea. The moves made by the Mayhem this week are with the intention to shore-up their coming season and build a future that works together. Eliminating the language barrier is a very strong start to revamping internal team synergy. 

While we hope the best for Apply, Tviq, and McGravy, we’re also very excited to see if this major roster and team leadership overhaul pays dividends for the struggling Florida Mayhem.