The Overwatch League teams are currently in a trade and signing period, and this week saw quite a few changes for New York Excelsior and Boston Uprising.
New York Excelsior released coach Kim “WizardHyeong” Hyeong-seok from the organization on Friday.
“Today we say goodbye to coach WizardHyeong,” NYXL wrote on Twitter. “We could not be more thankful for all his hard work and leadership throughout the team’s inaugural season. This was a mutual decision and simply put, WizardHyeong, you will be missed.”
No other details were provided, but Kim later wrote on Twitter that he’s looking for a new team, saying he’s planning to do “lots of streams and content creation.”
Even though NYXL didn’t make it to the Overwatch League grand finals, the team dominated the league and finished the inaugural regular season in first place. Kim was a beloved part of the NYXL community and fan reactions to the decision are varied.
There are no other changes yet to the NYXL roster.
Today we say goodbye to coach @WizardHyeong. We could not be more thankful for all his hard work and leadership throughout the team's inaugural season. This was a mutual decision and simply put, @WizardHyeong you will be missed! pic.twitter.com/VsqjXqfxIV
— NYXL (@NYXL) August 31, 2018
Boston Uprising also made some moves on Friday, dropping three players from their team: Shin “Kalios” Woo-Yul, Connor “Avast” Prince, and Mikias “Snow” Yohannes.
“Each of these players were a key part of our inaugural season and I want to thank them for their contributions and hard work,” The Kraft Group gaming president Chris Loranger said in a statement. “We wish them the best of luck and look forward to seeing where they go from here.”
The change leaves Boston with seven players on the roster for season two, and replacements have not been announced.
The Overwatch League is currently in a trade and signing period, so we can expect to see quite a few more changes to the teams over the next few months.
Since Aug. 1, a signing window has been open in which teams can negotiate with their current players, affiliated Contenders players, and complete trades with other teams. The teams have just over a month to do so before all inaugural-season contracts expire. This means that any player without a valid contract as of Sept. 9 will become a free agent.
From Sept. 9 to Oct. 7, Overwatch League expansion teams will have an exclusive window where they can sign free agents. Unsigned players will then get to negotiate with all of the OWL teams on Oct. 8, which is the official start date for the whole league’s free agency period.