Tank Coluge Joins San Francisco Shock

San Francisco Shock announced the addition of Colin “Coluge” Arai, who joins the team as the newest tank player. The Shock announced the news on Monday, March 28, just under two months before the Overwatch season begins.

With just under two months separating us from the Overwatch League’s fifth season, the teams have started making some adjustments to their rosters. The most recent and most notable change that has come from the Overwatch League happened this Monday when San Francisco Shock announced Coluge as the team’s new tank.

Coluge is an American Overwatch esports pro, who has yet to compete at the highest level and joins the Shock as a rookie. But even though Coluge is an OWL rookie, he has been competing since 2017.

The American tank player made his debut with AnimeIsReal and has since played for Fractal Esports, GOATS, Second Wind, Wave Check. Most notably, he was a member of American Tornado, with who he won two Contenders series in 2020.

Since 2021, Coluge was seen playing for spackle academy, Ardour, DarkMode NA, Bobby Wasabi, and Maryville Esports.

During his time competing in the Overwatch Contenders, Coluge has achieved plenty of success. In 2020, he won Contenders 2020 NA Season 2 – September and November and The Gauntlet: North America with American Tornado.

Last year he did not win a single tournament title besides the ZOTAC CUP Overwatch Community Tournament – NA #18. Still, he had collected two silver medals from Contenders 2021 NA Season 1 – April and July with DarkMode NA.

Having proven himself in the Overwatch Contenders, Coluge has now been given a chance to prove his worth in the big boy leagues. Moreover, he joins one of the most successful OWL teams.

With great power comes great responsibility, though, as Coluge has huge shoes to fill. He will replace veteran Matthew “super” DeLisi, who retired from competitive Overwatch on March 27.

The signing of Coluge is Shock’s most recent roster change, but it’s by far not the only one the team has made ahead of the next season. The team has made a handful of roster moves since San Francisco Shock ended the 2021 OWL season in fourth.

On October 8, Shock parted ways with assistant coach Alex “byZenith” Ames and released seven players just a day later.

The list of departed players included Myeong-hwan “smurf” Yoo, Seonchang “ANS” Lee, Joo-seok “Twilight” Lee, Sean Taiyo “ta1yo” Henderson, Charlie “nero” Zwarg, Gil-seong “Glister” Lim, and Brice “FDGod” Monsçavoir. Fortunately, all seven quickly found a new home in the OWL, except for FDGod, who joined Team Peps.

Since then, the Shock also lost Hyo-bin “ChoiHyoBin” Choi, who retired from pro play. San Francisco Shock acquired new faces and completely rebuilt its roster to fill in the gaps.

Joining Minki “Viol2t” Park as the only carryover from 2021 were Se-jin “FiNN” Oh, Jin-woo “Kilo” Jung, and Dong-hyun “Proper” Kim, who joined the team on October 29. A week later, Shock also announced the signing of Samuel “s9mm” Santos as the new Flex DPS and now Coluge as the most recent addition to the team.

With a new Korean-American lineup, San Francisco Shock look ready for the 2022 OWL season, where they’ll chase the organization’s third OWL title. With the introduction of Overwatch 2 to the league, there are definitely more questions than answers, but it’s fair to say that the Shock have assembled a competitive roster.

The addition of Coluge does raise a few questions, though. The young OWL pro has a controversial history, having been suspended from professional Overwatch in 2018. However, the ban was appealed.

Moreover, he is known for his toxicity in his professional career earlier days. On a more positive note, Coluge is known for being a part of the GOATS roster in the Contenders, which popularized the GOATS team composition that dominated the OWL scene in 2018 and 2019.