Toronto Defiant sign Gods and Sharyk

Going off of our previous article about the Toronto Defiant, they seem to have made two surprising signings earlier today. With a puzzle that left the community confused, people were in the dark on which player would join the Overwatch League. It turns out that the puzzle was much more complicated than people imagined, leading to two new signings.

ROSTER UPDATE

Welcome to the @overwatchleague, where heroes become legends, and legends become gods.

Please give a warm welcome to our new tank duo, @gods_live and @sharykOW! Congratulations on graduating from @MTLRebellion!#RiseTogether | #OWL2019 pic.twitter.com/EpAbFvWJRP

— Toronto Defiant 🖤 #RiseTogether (@TorontoDefiant) May 21, 2019

The Toronto Defiant have signed flex tank Daniel “Gods” Graeser and main tank Normunds “sharyk” Faterins from the Montreal Rebellion.

Who are these new Defiant players?

Both of these players are experienced people from the Contenders scene.

Starting off with Gods, he is one of the most experienced players in Contenders. He has played since closed beta, as well as for big teams like Cloud9, NRG Esports, and Gladiators Legion. Along with being part of a lot of good teams, he has also played multiple different roles throughout his career. Gods was originally known as a DPS player, using heroes like Tracer, Widowmaker, and Genji. But in more recent times, he’s dedicated himself to the flex tank role, focusing on D.Va and excelling.

The other key signing is Sharyk, the first ever Latvian player in the Overwatch League. As a main tank, he has shown immense skill on both Winston and Reinhardt. Much like Gods, he is also experienced in the Contenders scene, playing for great teams in Europe like EUnited and Winstrike Team. One of the things he is most known for online is this insane clip of him touching point from spawn on Nepal in six seconds, helping his team win. Considering how the main tank role in the Defiant roster has been a weak spot, having Sharyk should prove quite the boon.

Not only are these two experienced, but they have also worked together in a tank duo on the Toronto Defiant’s Contenders team, the Montreal Rebellion. They gave the eventual champions a map five series in their playoff games, losing valiantly to a powerhouse team. The only worry with these signings is coordination with the rest of their new team.

Changing to a mixed roster

With these signings, the Defiant are committing to running a mixed roster for the rest of this season. That also hints at not only these signings playing, but possibly playing over current tank players Gyeong-mu “Yakpung” Jo and Kang-jae “envy” Lee. This might seem scary for an all Korean roster, having to learn English to work with these two new tanks. But on the bright side, only three players on the Defiant roster haven’t played with English rosters in the past. Yakpung is one of these, and Defiant may bench him for Sharyk.

Honestly, this duo player signing is a risky one, but one the coaching staff have no doubt given due consideration. If both Gods and Sharyk work well in the roster, the Toronto Defiant could be scary for the rest of the season.