Roster Overview and Discussion: Shanghai Dragons

Previous thread: Hangzhou Spark

The final APAC thread is here! Saving the best for last, let’s go over the immediate favorites to win the region this year, the Shanghai Dragons:

Shanghai Dragons Departures:

• Geguri (Off-Tank, released)
• Stand1 (Main Tank, released, signed with Boston Uprising)
• DDing (Flex DPS, released)
• Luffy (Flex Support, released)
• Fearless (Main Tank, traded to Dallas Fuel)
• Diya (Hitscan DPS, officially demoted from two-way player to academy team)

Shanghai Dragons Roster:

Main Tank:

• Fate (Formerly with Florida Mayhem)

Off-Tank:

• Void

Hitscan DPS:

• Diem
• LIP

Flex DPS:

• Fleta
• Erster (Formerly with Atlanta Reign)

Flex Support:

• Izayaki
• Molly (Formerly with Chengdu Hunters)

Main Support:

• LeeJaeGon

Personal Review:

This team is most people’s pick to finish first overall in APAC, and honestly why shouldn’t they be? Very few of their offseason moves have provoked any controversy, and they’ve picked up some pretty compelling pieces while holding on to most of their solid starting 6.

First and foremost however, let’s go over the biggest elephant in the room for this team: the Main Tank situation. Fearless, who had an incredible comeback season that saw him lead the Dragons to a 27-2 record and win himself two tournaments and a Role Star award, requested a trade to the Dallas Fuel this offseason to rejoin his former Element Mystic teammates. Backup Main Tank Stand1 was subsequently released, later joining the Boston Uprising, and as a replacement for both, the Dragons signed Florida Mayhem Main Tank Fate. Personally, I consider Fate to be a very good Main Tank, and one of the main reasons for the Mayhem’s sudden success last year. Team synergy is always a concern when new players come in, especially Main Tanks, but I honestly don’t have much concern. Fearless was definitely the best Winston player last year but he definitely had some flexibility issues. Fate isn’t like that. His Winston isn’t as good as Fearless’ but his Reinhardt is on a similar level, his Orisa is much better, as is his Ball. I think Fate will fit into this roster nicely.

As for the rest of the tank situation, I mean they have Void. What else do you need?

The DPS line saw little change this year after Diem was re-signed (Both DDing and Diya saw little to no playtime). The dynamic duo of Fleta and Lip returns, with newcomer Erster. This was a great lineup last year and I think Erster makes it a lot more intriguing. It’ll be interesting to see what his role is on the team. Most likely he’ll be playing heroes that Fleta somewhat struggled with last year, such as Genji.

Supports also stay the same this year besides the addition of Molly. Molly was definitely one of the stronger players on the Chengdu Hunters last year and I think Shanghai’s staff could coach him into a top-tier flex support. If that doesn’t happen though they still have Izayaki and LeeJaeGon, one of the best support lines in the league.

The Dragons aren’t messing around this year. They’ve dropped their dead weight and picked up some interesting new pieces, while retaining their stars. They are 100% the team to beat this season in APAC.

DISCUSS!!!