A bit of an odd announcement as the New York Excelsior is one of the few teams, if not only team, that readily announces who their team captain is.
It used to be SBB, the team captain that had captured the hearts of the Overwatch League with steadfast resolve and loyalty to those bearing the New York colors; now, the offseason snap has resulted in SBB moving over to the Seoul Dynasty while NYXL resolves to rebuild from the ground up around the support player with fantastic aim and the 2018 MVP, JJonak.
So it kind of makes sense that NYXL would come out in their most recent YouTube video announcing that JJonak is going to shoulder the burden of ensuring that the team remains agile and competent through what could be another tumultuous year for the Overwatch League.
After the past year left many organizations that bought-in broke and desperate to win anything, a follow-up disastrous year could be an unfortunate conclusion to the league, or at least most competitive viability within Blizzard-controlled professional play.
No pressure.
From how the team looks on paper, it’s an admittedly strong line-up even if it’s absent a few of the legendary stars that made their name with the New York Excelsior; the primary question that NYXL will need to answer in the beginning stages of the fourth season of the Overwatch League is whether or not their new coach, Whynot, can handle the pressures and aspects necessary from a head coach within the League.
This ranges from the development of strategies to play and competitor analysis, and he’ll be joining Avalla from Paris Eternal in making a new debut to head coaching within the Overwatch League in the 2021 season.
Bianca will be joining Yakpung as the tank line, and reports have surfaced of Bianca being a natural leader under fire; the player left the NYXL in October for a short stint, and is the only returning player to NYXL aside from JJonak. Yakpung will be taking the role of main tank in the line-up.
For support, JJonak will be debuting along with a rookie by the name of Friday, a young Korean flex-support that will have his trial by fire sooner rather than later as one of two on the roster that plays support.
For DPS, the line-up is strong: Ivy joins from the Fusion, Flora who will also be a 2021 rookie along with the two other DPS players, Feath3r and Gwangboong (all graduating from Contenders).
2021 was a harsh year for the Overwatch League and NYXL in particular; soon we’ll know if they can turn it around.
