Overwatch players Ryu "Kaiser" Sang-hoon, Daniel "Gods" Graeser, Cho "Guardian" Joon-hwan, Finley "Kyb" Adisi, Yoon "Butcher" Seong-won, and Adam "Adam" Eckel are among the 40 players expected to be part of seven Overwatch League Academy teams announced Thursday ahead of the next season of Contenders, sources close to the teams and players told ESPN. Blizzard and the teams will reveal the full rosters Thursday at 11 a.m. PT.
Players acquired for academy teams range from entire rosters, such as Those Guys to the London Spitfire, which features several British players who recently won the European Overwatch PIT Championship Season 2. Others have been picked up individually as free agents or with transfer fees. And some come from former South Korean Overwatch powerhouse teams, including Lunatic-Hai, Runaway, Kongdoo Panthera and Uncia, and Rox Orcas, as well as western organizations Cloud9, NRG, Reunited, Fnatic, Evil Geniuses and Luminosity.
The Philadelphia Fusion is not expected to have any additions to its Fusion University roster, and the Los Angeles Valiant, Seoul Dynasty, Dallas Fuel and Shanghai Dragons have elected not to have academy teams at this time.
Sources told ESPN of the following Academy teams and players. Not all players from all teams have been revealed, and additional acquisitions are expected to be made throughout the Contenders season. Blizzard did not respond to a request for comment.