It's hard to find the missing link within the San Francisco roster. Despite being almost unstoppable across the board, the Shock don't seem satisfied just yet after announcing their newest roster pickup, Sean Taiyo "ta1yo" Henderson from Overwatch Contenders. Ta1yo becomes the first Japanese American player in Overwatch League history and has the opportunity to make an impact on arguably the best team in the world.
Ta1yo has been grinding to get to this position for a long time especially coming from a Japanese background that is woefully underrepresented in the professional Overwatch scene. He helped lead Third Impact to numerous victories in season one of 2020 Contenders and after self-doubts about his future within the game, he makes it to the pinnacle. If he can come in and make a big impact for the team it could go down as one of the better success stories in the scene.
Though the Shock remain possibly the best team in the league, the lack of a premiere Genji player was felt during the Summer Showdown. The Shock announced on Twitter a little bit ago they would be hosting open tryouts for a roster position and Ta1yo came out on top. He is typically a hitscan player which makes the pickup interesting but if he can transition into a great Genji player for the Shock, the could actually be unstoppable, with virtually no weaknesses at all.
The San Francisco Shock currently sit fourth in the Overwatch League standings due to a few less games played, but have largely looked nearly as dominant as they did last season where they won the Grand Finals championship. Though they have lost some top-tier talent from last season, the coaching is still the best in the league and the new additions have made a massive impact. It's likely Ta1yo can do the same. It will be exciting to see how he works with the Shock for the rest of the season and beyond.