The Overwatch League’s London Spitfire announced their roster update via their official website on May 23rd (KST).

London announced that they’re releasing 4 of their players, WooHyal, Hooreg, HaGoPeun, and TiZi. These players will remain on the roster until the end of their contract but as inactive players who do not get to actually play in the matches.

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WooHyaL, Hooreg, and HaGoPeun have been playing as starting line and rotation members for London until now, contributing much to their victory in Stage 1. However, as the stages went on, they seemed to fall behind in the competition for the team’s starting line; it seems that the organization decided upon this huge change, as London’s downfall continued on along with the players’ declining performance. TiZi didn’t get to play even once as he fell behind in the competition for the tank position in the starting lineup until he got released.

The players who got released have proven their skills to some degree and placed in the top of the SR rankings based on NA Competitive Play, making them liable to be transferred to other OWL or Contenders teams. Although, in the case of OWL, they will not be able to play until Season 2 in 2019 even if they do get to join other OWL teams since the trading window already ended at the start of Stage 3.

This appears to be the solution London had no choice but to come up with in order to overcome their decline since Stage 3. After they failed to proceed to the title match for Stage 3, and with their 2 losses in Stage 4, they are expected to play in the rest of the matches while prioritizing the playoffs.

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