The Seoul Dynasty Unlikely Playoffs Run
Each week at CheckpointXP we bring you a moment in gaming that’s too close for comfort. This week we wipe the sweat from our brow after an intense playoff tournament for the Overwatch League Grand Finals. Three of the four teams that qualified had a combined regular-season loss record of six. The fourth and final team to make it into the Grand Finals playoffs had double that at 12 losses. So, when the Seoul Dynasty made a run through the playoffs and got a chance at the Champions, it was the closest of shaves.
Building a Dynasty
It seems as though the Seoul Dynasty has always been on the cusp of greatness. Every year they’ve had legends and pros from some of the best teams in the history of Overwatch. But, they always seemed to fall short. This season was definitely a shaky one with a 50-50 winloss record for the Dynasty. But two players in particular really stood one in their playoff performance. Those players are tank player Jae-hee “Gesture” Hong and DPS player Joon-Yeong “Profit” Park.
Both Gesture and Profit are proven champions having won the 2018 inaugural season with the London Spitfire. They were also both part of GC Busan prior to the formation of the Overwatch League. As part of GC Busan, they took first in the Overwatch APEX Season 4 and APAC Premier 2017.
Taming the Dragons
In the first round of the playoffs, the Seoul Dynasty faced the former Champions, the San Francisco Shock. in a nail-biting game 5 series, the Dynasty was eventually sent to the losers bracket. There they defeated the 2018 runner-ups and 2020 regular season NA first seeds, the Philadelphia Fusion. They did so in a convincing fashion with a 3 and 0 sweep. This put them up against the Shanghai Dragons, who were the first seed from the APAC region and to most, the true contenders to the crown this year. But in one of the closest games of the playoffs, the Dynasty managed to pull off a win in a game 5 series.
The Dynasty would go on to face the San Francisco Shock and lose in game six with a series score of 4-2. You can check out our past archives of Close Shaves here.
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