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Bae “diem” Min-seong has decided to hang up his mouse and keyboard on Thursday, June 3, citing personal issues and desire to take some time off. Diem leaves Overwatch competitive scene after four years.
Diem Has Had Enough of Competitive Overwatch
Diem started his professional Overwatch career in 2017 when he joined a South Korean esports team Mighty AOD. The team ended up disbanding in June, with their core members leaving for Ardeont.
Diem continued his professional career at Ardeont, leading the team to gold at Overwatch Pacific Championship 2017 – Season 2 champions in October 2017. His stint with the Korean side came to an end in January 2018, when Ardeont disbanded.
Most of Ardeont players joined Lucky Future Zenith, where Diem continued making a name for himself. With Lucky Future Zenith, Diem dominated the Chinese Contenders scene, winning LanStory Cup 2018 – Chengdu and both seasons of Overwatch Contenders 2018: China.
His success in the lower echelons of the Overwatch esports scene landed diem a spot in the Chinese Overwatch League (OWL) powerhouse Shanghai Dragons, who picked him up in October 2018.
Diem did not need long to prove his worth and played a crucial role for the Dragons. He helped the Shanghai side win Overwatch League – 2019 Stage 3 Playoffs, but the team fell flat in the regular season and finished the season in ninth-10th.
Despite Dragons’ struggles in 2019, the team picked up the pace in 2020 and quickly cemented themselves as one of the best team in the league. Diem won OWL May Melee, OWL Countdown Cup, and finished at the top of the regular season standings with a 27-2 record.
The team went on to crush it in the Asian OWL Playoffs. However, they ended up with a bronze medal after getting eliminated by Seoul Dynasty in the season-culminating tournament.
To kick-off the new season, Shanghai Dragons won the Esports Shanghai Masters – Overwatch Shanghai Masters Invitational – 2020 and finished second at the Overwatch League 2021 – May Melee.
One of the Most Mechanically Gifted Players
Diem was widely recognized as one of the most mechanically gifted Overwatch players in the world. And he has titles to back those claims up.
Not only has the 21-year-old been highly successful throughout his professional Overwatch career, but he has also won individual titles. During his debut year in the OWL, Diem won the OWL All-Stars 2019 – Widowmaker 1v1 without any issues.
There, he defeated some of the best players in the scene. His list of victims includes Minki “Viol2t” Park, Byung-sun “Fleta” Kim, and Yeon-kwan “Nenne” Jeong.
Diem would add another 1v1 title to his name a year later when he won OWL All-Stars 2020 – Widowmaker 1v1: Asia. Once more, he faced some of the biggest talents from the region, including Jae-hyeok “Carpe” Lee, Gil-seong “Glister” Lim, and the reigning OWL champion Seonchang “ANS” Lee.
Shanghai Dragons Continue Without Diem
With Diem’s retirement from competitive Overwatch, Shanghai Dragons lost another big star. Only two weeks ago, the team announced the retirement of Joon “Erster” Jeong, who has left the team on Friday, March 21.
The Dragons are now left with only eight players on their active roster. Although still a serviceable lineup, the team is now deprived of two key players.
Shanghai Dragons already filled in the void left behind by Erster with the signing of Seung-jun “WhoRU” Lee, who has joined the team on Thursday, May 24. It is, however, unclear who will replace Diem.
Shanghai Dragons are the only Asian team that have already qualified for the OWL June Joust tournament. They ended the qualifiers with a perfect 3-0 record and 9-4 map differential.
This sets them up for another deep run. Whether they’ll manage to improve upon their runner-up finish from OWL May Melee remains to be seen.
The esports bookmakers have yet to release betting odds for OWL June Joust since there are still two more rounds of qualifiers left to be played. Nevertheless, you can expect Shanghai Dragons to enter the tournament as one of the main favorites to claim the crown.