Despite a successful second-place finish in this year’s Overwatch League Grand Finals, the San Francisco Shock announced Friday that four players have been dropped from the team.
On the chopping block were DPS players Samuel “s9mm” Santos and Kwon “Striker” Nam-joo and tanks Michael “mikeyy” Konicki and Colin “Coluge” Arai.
“Thank you for joining us on our journey this year, and all of the passion and hard work you have put in,” the team tweeted on Friday. “Thank you for an amazing season. Shock Fam forever.”
Today we bid farewell to @STRIKER_OW, @CucumberColuge, @s9mmow and @mikeyy_ow.
Thank you for joining us on our journey this year, and all of the passion and hard work you have put in. Thank you for an amazing season.
Shock Fam forever ?? pic.twitter.com/EK48OTuBHI
— San Francisco Shock (@SFShock) November 11, 2022
Coluge was the Shock’s only tank player when the 2022 season kicked off, having been brought on to fill the shoes of departing veteran dynamo Matthew “super” DeLisi. Coluge’s flexibility and versatility made a surprising impact given his rookie status.
s9mm and mikeyy were both faced with the challenge of often being subbed in on Control maps at the start or end of a critical series.
Striker, meanwhile, only rejoined the team out of retirement for the month of October. He drew upon his experience having won two titles with the Shock in 2019 and 2020 to help push the team to a runner-up finish.
–Field Level Media