The 2019 season of the Overwatch League culminated in a dominant victory for the San Francisco Shock in the Grand Finals. As teams begin to transition into the off-season, roster changes are imminent as they look to build for the upcoming 2020 season and beyond. One of those teams quickly making changes are the Washington Justice who recently released four players following a disappointing 2019 season. Gihyeon “Ado” Chon, Hyeon-woo “Hyeonu” Cho, Jun-hwa “Janus” Song and Hyang-ki “SanSam” Kim hit the free agent market following their release from the Washington Justice.
The Washington Justice had a dreadful start to their 2019 season, going 2-19 for the first three stages of the season. It wasn't until the meta changed that the Justice picked up their play by going 6-1 in the final stage for an overall record of 8-20 and the third worst record in the league. Justice's starting DPS player - Corey - was a big factor in their success in stage four with his strong Hanzo play and Washington indicated that he will remain on the team for the 2020 season.
The release of both Janus and SanSam is a bold move for the Justice as they were the tank duo for the entirety of their 2019 season. They might be looking to pick up a great tank line in free agency or develop their remaining tanks that didn't see time on stage all season. Ado was one of the few strong spots for the Shanghai Dragons in the 2018 season of the Overwatch League but still found himself released from the Dragons and finding a home with Washington. He never lived up to the expectations placed on him, considering the relatively quiet year he had, while the fourth player - Hyeonu - saw very little play time throughout the 2019 season.
These roster changes indicate that Washington is focused on building around their strong DPS play which carried the team to a 6-1 record in the final stage of the season. With a massive hole left in their tank line, Washington will probably look to fill it in free agency as a couple of big name tanks hit the market. The Justice will need to make some key additions if they hope to replicate the success of the end of the season and not repeat the failure of the first three stages.