San Francisco Shock Unveil 2023 Overwatch Roster

Former Overwatch League champions San Francisco Shock unveiled its 2023 Overwatch League (OWL) roster on Tuesday, December 27, at the LAN showmatch. As revealed, the Shock will again rely more on younger talents, this time on pros from 02 Blast, who previously competed in Overwatch Contenders.

San Francisco Shock made a few changes to its Overwatch League roster ahead of the 2023 season, singing three new players in Chae “HeeSang” Hee-sang, Choi “MAX” Su-min, and Park “Vindaim” Jun-woo. The South Korean trio got unveiled as Shock’s new members on Monday, before the LAN showmatch between San Fransisco Shock and Dallas Fuel.

The three new signings got added to the Shock’s roster as replacements for Kwon “Striker” Nam-joo, Colin “Coluge” Arai, Michael “mikeyy” Konicki, and Samuel “s9mm” Santos, who were let go from the team in November.

With the three signings, San Francisco Shock continued the trend of relying on younger talent, only this time, the former OWL champions will pair younger players with established and experienced veterans to form a strong core to build a team with a high ceiling.

As now confirmed, the Shock’s 2023 OWL roster will consist of:

• Oh “FiNN” Se-jin – support
• Kim “Proper” Dong-hyun – DPS
• Chae “HeeSang” Hee-sang – DPS
• Choi “MAX” Su-min – tank
• Park “Vindaim” Jun-woo – support
• Park “Crusty” Dae-hee – head coach
• Bumhoon “NineK” Kim – assistant coach

Two of Shock’s new signings in MAX and HeeSang join the San Francisco outfit from 02 Blast, with who they dominated the 2022 Overwatch Contenders season and have proven themselves as some of the best young players in the scene.

The duo kicked off 2022 with a runner-up finish at TEN 2022 Overwatch Special Match #1 and a bronze medal from TEN 2022 Overwatch Special Match #2, but quickly found traction as soon as the Overwatch Contenders season kicked off.

02 Blast won the Overwatch Contenders 2022 Summer Series: Korea A-Sides – Round 3 qualifying event and have been since unstoppable, winning Overwatch Contenders 2022 Summer Series: Korea A-Sides and B-Sides, Overwatch Contenders 2022 Run It Back: Korea, and Overwatch Contenders 2022 Pacific Showdown.

Due to their success, MAX and HeeSang join San Fransicso Shock as two of the most hyped rookies in the world, and it’s fair to assume that had 02 Blast not been San Fransisco Shock’s academy team, Shock would have had a difficult time signing them both.

Joining the duo is Vindaim, who spent the last season with Seoul Dynasty but was also a part of 02 Blast in 2021, and has won many tournaments playing alongside MAX and HeeSang.

Rounding up the roster are FiNN and the 2022 Rookie of the Year and MVP, Proper, who has extended his stay with the Shock following a fairly successful season.

Although the Shock didn’t win the 2022 OWL title, the former champions placed second in Overwatch League 2022 – Midseason Madness, Summer Showdown, the regular season, and made it all the way to the grand finals, where they narrowly lost against Dallas Fuel (3-4).

After the announcement of Shock’s 2023 OWL roster, the fans quickly noticed the absence of support and IGL Park “Viol2t” Min-ki, who was not unveiled as Shock’s member for the next season. Neither the team nor the player commented on his absence from the match and the official announcement, but it’s fair to assume that Viol2t might not be in Shock’s plans.

Without Viol2t, Shock field five players, which is enough for the roster requirements until the end of March, but the Shock will still need to add a few more players before the season starts. Who that might be, remains to be seen.