Hangzhou Spark change for 2021 OWL

Overwatch League esports team Hangzhou Spark shared that they want to overcome major communication issues holding them back in 2021 on an OWL site blog post.

For the @Hangzhou_Spark, communication is ?

See how this team is making changes in-game and out for #OWL2021

?: https://t.co/CqqvPFWNLR pic.twitter.com/3PfIDqoKVZ

— Overwatch League (@overwatchleague) February 12, 2021

Hangzhou Spark in OWL

In the post, various team representatives said that roster changes are just the start. In fact, over the offseason, executives overturned nearly the whole team. But the players and even the staff knew that communication looked like the biggest problem.

“At the start [of our first season], communication was indeed quite a big issue,” main tank Qiulin “Guxue” Xu stated. “Sometimes we would get into situations where I would just fall silent because I didn’t know what to say. And in real life, I would need a translator basically all of the time just to communicate with my teammates.”

The teammates could previously get past their language barriers because of the tank and GOATS meta. With high-level gameplay and a simple meta, communication was not needed. And then things changed when Blizzard removed that meta. Now, being able to speak to each other is core to succeeding in the 2021 Overwatch League. Thankfully, new roster signings and a new Overwatch esports team house are helping Hangzhou Spark move forward.

As our Hangzhou facility is finally complete, let us follow supervisor Xiaogui for a house tour! ✧(≖ ◡ ≖✿) #HangzhouSpark
? We are giving away 5 "Hangzhou Spark x A Certain Scientific Railgun T" shirts and 25×200 OWL tokens! (^・ω・^ ) To enter:
?Follow
?Comment
?Retweet pic.twitter.com/dwRG0vX2Lj

— Hangzhou Spark (@Hangzhou_Spark) January 7, 2021

2021 Overwatch League

In the past, the team quickly became known for disciplinary issues regarding Cai “Krystal” Shilong. Things soon improved when the Spark decided to remove Krystal from the team. While the Hangzhou Spark ended the 2020 OWL season in tenth place out of 20 teams, they want more. The standings show them as a team in the middle but 2021 will be a new year in Overwatch esports.

“In my opinion, equipment and environment is fundamental to player performance,” team Supervisor Tsung-Yu “Xiaogui” Huang stated. “We want them to be both teammates in game and friends outside of games to bring them closer together,” he added.

The players spoke to OWL staff and according to them, relations are improving for the team. As the Hangzhou Spark grow organic friendships and learn to properly communicate, the rest of the Overwatch League esports teams should watch out. This time, they may not end the season in the middle like an average team.

Written by Justin Amin

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