The 2019 Toronto Defiant season was the first season of Toronto Defiant's existence in the Overwatch League as one of eight expansion franchises added for the 2019 season. After posting a 5–2 record in Stage 1, the Defiant qualified for the Stage 1 Playoffs, but a 0–3 loss against the Shock eliminated the team in the quarterfinals. The team failed to recreate the success they found in Stage 1 in the following stages, going 2–5, 0–7, and 1–6 in Stages 2, 3, and 4, respectively. A 2–3 loss to the Fusion on August 4 officially eliminated Toronto from postseason contention, and three days later, the team released head coach Lee "Bishop" Beom-joon. Despite numerous roster changes throughout the season, the Defiant finished the season in 17th place overall with an 8–20 record.
The roster of Toronto Defiant at the beginning of the 2019 Overwatch League season: Left to right, top to bottom: Aid, envy, RoKy, Neko, Ivy, Yakpung, Asher, Stellar.
Toronto announced their initial inaugural season roster over a span from October 27 to November 27; the team's roster consisted of the following players:[1]
Lee "envy" Kang-Jae,
Park "Neko" Se-hyeon,
Lee "ivy" Seung-hyun,
Lee "Stellar" Do-hyung,
Jo "Yakpung" Gyeong-mu,
Ko "Aid" Jae-yoon,
Choi "Asher" Jun-sung, and
Park "RoKy" Joo-seong.
Regular season[]
Stage 1[]
The Defiant opened their 2019 season with a match against the Houston Outlaws on February 15. Despite losing the first two maps, Toronto was able to grab the second two to force a fifth tiebreaker map on Busan; the Defiant won that map as well, completing a reverse sweep, and won the match 3–2.[2]
The following week, Toronto took on fellow expansion franchise Atlanta Reign on February 22. After taking the first map, Busan, the Defiant lost the next three maps to fall by a score of 1–3.[3] Two days later, the team faced the Los Angeles Valiant. Led by strong performances by Kang-jae "envy" Lee and Seung-hyun "Ivy" Lee, the Defiant were able to pull out a close 2–1 victory over the Valiant.[4]
Toronto's first match of week three was against the New York Excelsior on March 1. After a close map one loss on Busan, the Defiant dropped map two, King's Row to enter halftime down 0–2. Toronto lost map three, Temple of Anubis, to cement a series loss, but they were able to take map four, Dorado, to end the match with a 1–3 loss.[5] Two days later, the team faced the Boston Uprising. Boston was favored to win the match against Toronto; however, the Defiant pulled out the upset by winning the match by a score of 3–1.[6]
The Defiant next faced the Chengdu Hunters on March 7. Unphazed by the Hunter's unorthodox compositions, the Defiant only dropped one map, Volskaya Industries, in the match, as they took the series with a 3–1 win.[7] Toronto's final match of Stage 1 was against the Hangzhou Spark two days later. Standout performances by Kang-jae "envy" Lee and Park "Neko" Se-hyeon drove the Defiant to a 3–0 victory.[8] The win finished Toronto's Stage 1 with a 5–2 record and secured the team a Stage 1 Playoff berth.[9]
At the end of Stage 1, the Defiant were tied with the Philadelphia Fusion for the third seed of the Stage 1 Playoffs. By rule, the teams would have to compete in an offline match to determine seeding; however, both teams agreed on a coin-flip, instead. The Defiant received the third seed and to take on the sixth-seeded San Francisco Shock in the quarterfinals on March 22.[10] Mainly running Sombra-based compositions throughout the match, the Defiant took a point on the first map, Busan, but the Shock were able to adapt effectively to win the map. Map two, King's Row, was not as close as the first, as Toronto was unable to stop San Francisco from completing the map and were full-held themselves to go down 0–2 going into the match break. On the third map, Horizon Lunar Colony, both teams were able to complete the maps on their respective attacks, pushing the map to an overtime round. The Defiant, who had smaller time-bank, could not edge out a victory on the third map and lost the series 0–3.[11]
Stage 2[]
Just a few days prior to the beginning of Stage 2, Toronto Defiant parted ways with their strategic coach Kim "Don" Dong-wook.[12] A day later, DPS player Lee “Stellar” Do-hyung retired from professional Overwatch for personal reasons.[13] To take his place, Defiant signed Jin "im37" Hong, who had been playing Overwatch professionally for only just over a month, hours before the beginning of Stage 2.[14]
The Defiant opened Stage 2 on April 5 with a match against the Washington Justice. The Defiant won on Oasis and Hanamura to enter halftime with a 2–0 lead. The third map, Blizzard World saw the debut of im37, and the team took that map as well to cement the victory. A loss on the final map ended the match with a 3–1 victory for Toronto.[15] The team took on Boston Uprising a day later. Although the Defiant was able to take the first to maps of the match, the Uprising were able to pull off a reverse sweep, as Toronto took a 2–3 loss.[16]
The Defiant's first match of the following week was against the Philadelphia Fusion on April 11. The Defiant lost on Busan but won on Paris to enter halftime tied 1–1. Toronto was held from completing both Blizzard World and Rialto on their attacks and, on their defenses, were unable to stop Philadelphia from pushing the payload further to drop both maps and lose the match 1–3.[17] Two days later, Toronto took on the Dallas Fuel. Despite a close map loss on Paris, the Defiant were rolled throughout the match and were handed their first 0–4 sweep of the season.[18]
For their only match in week three, the Defiant faced the San Francisco Shock in a rematch of the Stage 1 Quarterfinals. Toronto was shut down on Lijiang Tower and lost a closer map on Hanamura to enter halftime down 0–2. On map three, Eichenwalde, the Defiant were only able claim one point on their attack and could not stop the Shock from pushing the payload further to lose that map as well. The team was subsequently full-held on Watchpoint: Gibraltar to ultimately pick up their second 0–4 loss in a row.[19]
After a week off, Toronto's next match was against the undefeated, and fellow Canada-based team, Vancouver Titans on May 3. After losing map one, Oasis, the Defiant claimed the next map, Temple of Anubis to even the series. Coming out of halftime, Toronto was unable to win on King's Row or Junkertown and lost the series 1–3, putting the team on a five-game losing streak and officially eliminating them from Stage 2 Playoff contention.[20] The team's final match of Stage 2 was against the Paris Eternal two days later. Toronto was able to take map one, Lijiang Tower; on Temple of Anubis, the second map, the Defiant capped both points on their attack; on the Eternal's attack, the team capped the first point with over five minutes remaining but could not find ground on the second. Toronto went on to win on King's Row and Watchpoint: Gibraltar to claim their first 4–0 sweep of the season.[21]
Stage 3[]
There were more roster changes for Toronto heading into Stage 3. Both tank Daniel "Gods" Graeser and tank Normunds "sharyk" Faterins were moved up from the Defiant's academy team Montreal Rebellion in mid-May.[22] The Defiant also had another roster member leave, as Choi "Asher" Joon-seong retired from competitive Overwatch on May 29.[23]
For their first match of Stage 3, Toronto faced the Paris Eternal on June 7. After winning on Ilios, Toronto was full-held on map two, Paris, and eventually lost the map to enter halftime tied 1–1. The Defiant were unable to find wins on Hollywood and Havana to fall 1–3 in the match.[24] In their only match in week two, Toronto took on the London Spitfire. The team was able to win the first map, Ilios, but they were unable to find another map win afterwards, falling to the Spitfire by a score of 1–3.[25]
Following the loss, Toronto transferred off-tank Lee "envy" Kang-jae, who had not played in a match since Stage 2, to the Shanghai Dragons on June 18.[26] For the third straight week, the Defiant would only have one match; in week three, they faced the Guangzhou Charge. After a convincing loss on Ilios, the Defiant were able to complete map two, Paris, but the Charge were able to complete is as well and won the map in overtime rounds. Coming out of halftime down 0–2, the Defiant were unable to stop the Charge from completing their attacks on Hollywood and Gibraltar and were full-held on their own attack, leading to a 0–4 sweep by the hands of Guangzhou.[27]
More roster transactions took place the hours prior to their next match. The team promoted veteran DPS Andreas "Logix" Berghmans from the Montreal Rebellion and signed DPS Liam "Mangachu" Campbell, who had played for Team Canada in the 2017 and 2018 Overwatch World Cup.[28]
Toronto took on the Los Angeles Gladiators on the same day, June 28. A quick loss on Nepal and another loss on Horizon Lunar Colony put the Defiant down 0–2 going into halftime. The team was able to put on a more competitive showing on Numbani and Dorado by completing the maps on their attacks, but the Gladiators were able to do the same and won both maps in overtime rounds, giving the Defiant their second straight 0–4 sweep.[29] Toronto's next match was two days later against the Houston Outlaws; the Defiant were handed their fifth consecutive loss after losing the match 1–3.[30]
In the last week of the stage, the Defiant headed to the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre in Atlanta to play at the "Atlanta Reign Homestand Weekend". Their first match at the homestand was against the Atlanta Reign on July 6. After losing the first map, Toronto was able to take the second map to enter halftime tied 1–1. The third map, Eichenwalde, was completed by both teams, but the Reign took the win in overtime rounds; Toronto would drop map four as well to lose the series 1–3.[31] The next day, Toronto took on the New York Excelsior. The team found little success throughout the match and were swept 0–4. The loss ended Toronto's Stage 3 without a win.[31]
Stage 4[]
The Defiant's first match of Stage 4, along with the first match with an enforced 2-2-2 role lock by the League, was against the Washington Justice on July 26; Toronto lost the match by a 1–3 scoreline.[32] Two days later, the team took on the London Spitfire. Toronto took the first map, but London rolled through Toronto in the following three maps, as the Defiant lost the match 1–3.[33]
Toronto's next match was against the Stage 3 Champions Shanghai Dragons on August 1. DPS Logix's effective performances on Widowmaker and McCree carried the team to a 2–1 victory over the Dragons and snapped the team's nine-game losing streak.[34] The Defiant faced the Philadelphia Fusion three days later, but the team was unable to scrim due to an upper-management decision to send Daniel "Gods" Graeser and Go "Aid" Jae-yoon to a media event in Toronto. Toronto lost the match against Philadelphia in a five-map series by a score of 2–3; the loss officially eliminated the Defiant from postseason contention.[35]
Following the loss, on August 7, the Defiant released head coach Lee "Bishop" Beom-joon and announced that assistant coach Matthew "Optidox" Sims, assistant coach Shim "Mobydik" Seung-bo, and analyst Dennis "Barroi" Matz would be taking on the role of head coaches by committee for the remainder of the season.[36]
The following day, the team faced first the Florida Mayhem. The Defiant took the first map, but the Mayhem strung together three straight map wins to hand Toronto a 1–3 loss.[37] Two days later, Toronto took on the Seoul Dynasty. While the team was able to force a draw on map two and win map four, losses on maps one and three gave the team a 1–2 loss.[38]
Toronto's final match of the season was against the Florida Mayhem on August 18 in a match that had no postseason implications. The Defiant were unable to win a map in the series, getting swept 0–4 to close out the season in 17th place with a 8–20 record.[39]
Injury / Illness
