2020_Washington_Justice_season
The 2020 Washington Justice season was the second season of Washington Justice's existence in the Overwatch League. The Justice planned to host a league-high five homestand weekends in the 2020 season; the first three would take place at The Anthem, while the second two would be at the Entertainment and Sports Arena.[1] While the first two homestands at took place, all other homestand events were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
| 2020 Washington Justice season | |
|---|---|
| Head coach | Seetoh Jian Qing (rel. Jun 5) Han Seung-jun |
| General manager | Analynn Dang |
| Owner | Mark Ein |
| Arena(s) | The Anthem |
| Conference | Atlantic |
| Division | South |
| Region | North America |
| Results | |
| Record | 4–17 (.190) |
| Place |
|
| May Melee | Knockouts |
| Summer Showdown | Quarterfinals |
| Countdown Cup | Knockouts |
| Season Playoffs | NA Lower Finals |
| Total Earnings | $255,000 |
On June 5, the Justice parted ways with head coach Seetoh "JohnGalt" Jian Qing.[2] On June 17, Washington promoted assistant coach Han "Sup7eme" Seung-jun to head coach.[3] After finishing the regular season with a 4–17 record, the Justice swept both the Vancouver Titans and Dallas Fuel in the North America play-in tournament to qualify to the season playoffs.[4] In their first match in the North America bracket, Washington squandered an early 2–0 lead over the San Francisco Shock and lost by a score of 2–3, sending them to the lower bracket.[5] The following day, on September 6, the Justice swept the third-seeded Paris Eternal, 3–0.[6] Washington continued their playoff run, taking down the fourth-seeded Florida Mayhem on September 11 and needing one more win to qualify for the Grand Finals Bracket.[7] However, the team fell to the top-seeded Philadelphia Fusion the following day by a score of 0–3, ending their playoff run.[8]
Organizational changes
In late September 2019, the Justice parted ways with their entire coaching staff from their inaugural season, including head coach Kim "WizardHyeong" Hyeong-seok.[9] The team signed Seetoh "JohnGalt" Jian Qing, who was an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Gladiators, as their new head coach in October.[10] Washington added two more coaches to their staff on November 8, with the hiring of former Hangzhou Spark assistant coach Han "Sup7eme" Seung-jun as a development coach and former XL2 Academy coach Lee "Wiz" Hae-joon as a strategic coach.[11][12] A month later, on December 5, the Justice signed former Houston Outlaws support player Chris "Bani" Banell as an assistant coach.[13]
Roster changes
| Role | Player | Contract status | Date signed | 2020 team | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Handle | Name | ||||
| Damage | Ado | Gi-Hyeon Chon | Free agent | – | – |
| Support | Ark | Yeon-Jun Hong | Free agent | October 31 | Washington Justice[14] |
| Support | Hyeonu | Hyeon-Woo Jo | Free agent | – | – |
| Tank | Janus | Joon-Hwa Song | Free agent | – | – |
| Tank | Sansam | Hyang-Gi Kim | Free agent | – | – |
| Support | Sleepy | Nikola Andrews | Free agent | – | – |
| |||||
The Justice enter the new season with six free agents, two players which they have the option to retain for another year, and three players under contract.[15] The OWL's deadline to exercise a team option is November 11, after which any players not retained will become a free agent. Free agency officially began on October 7.[16]
Acquisitions
The Justice's first offseason acquisition was on October 18, when they agreed to acquire main tank Gye "rOar" Chang-hoon from the Los Angeles Gladiators, pending approval from the league.[17] The team made their first signing on October 23 in flex DPS Lee "TTuba" Ho-sung.[18] On November 7, Washington signed former Boston Uprising flex support Kwon "AimGod" Min-seok.[19]
Departures
On October 7, the Justice announced that they would not re-sign free agents main tank Song "Janus" Joon-hwa, off-tank Kim "SanSam" Hyang-gi, DPS Chon "Ado" Gi-Hyeon, and support Jo "Hyeonu" Hyeon-woo.[20] Days later, they announced that they would not re-sign support Nikola "Sleepy" Andrews, and they would not exercise their option to retain flex support Mun "Gido" Gi-do.[21]
| 2020 Washington Justice roster | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Players | Coaches | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Legend:
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Latest roster transaction: September 1, 2020. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Transactions
Transactions of/for players on the roster during the 2020 regular season:
- On May 8, DPS Corey "Corey" Nigra and DPS Ethan "Stratus" Yankel retired.[22][23]
- On May 16, the Justice signed DPS Lee "Stitch" Choong-hui and tank Choi "JJANU" Hyeon-woo on 14-day contracts.[24]
- On May 22, the Justice signed tank Choi "JJANU" Hyeon-woo to a long-term contract.[25]
- On June 1, the Justice signed DPS Lee "Stitch" Choong-hui to a long-term contract.[26]
- On June 4, the Justice released tank Elliot "ELLIVOTE" Vaneryd.[27]
- On August 12, the Justice signed DPS Jang "Decay" Gui-un.[28]
- On September 1, the Justice released tank Lukas "LullSiSH" Wiklund.[29]
| Pos | Con | Team | Pld | W | BW | L | PCT | MW | ML | MT | MD | Qualification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ATL | Philadelphia Fusion | 21 | 19 | 5 | 2 | 0.905 | 59 | 19 | 0 | +40 | Advance to playoffs |
| 2 | PAC | San Francisco Shock | 21 | 18 | 7 | 3 | 0.857 | 56 | 17 | 2 | +39 | |
| 3 | ATL | Paris Eternal | 21 | 15 | 4 | 6 | 0.714 | 50 | 31 | 0 | +19 | |
| 4 | ATL | Florida Mayhem | 21 | 14 | 3 | 7 | 0.667 | 48 | 30 | 0 | +18 | |
| 5 | PAC | Los Angeles Valiant | 21 | 11 | 1 | 10 | 0.524 | 41 | 41 | 0 | 0 | |
| 6 | PAC | Los Angeles Gladiators | 21 | 11 | 0 | 10 | 0.524 | 43 | 39 | 5 | +4 | Advance to play-ins |
| 7 | ATL | Atlanta Reign | 21 | 10 | 0 | 11 | 0.476 | 43 | 35 | 0 | +8 | |
| 8 | PAC | Dallas Fuel | 21 | 9 | 0 | 12 | 0.429 | 35 | 44 | 0 | −9 | |
| 9 | ATL | Toronto Defiant | 21 | 7 | 1 | 14 | 0.333 | 32 | 48 | 0 | −16 | |
| 10 | ATL | Houston Outlaws | 21 | 6 | 0 | 15 | 0.286 | 32 | 50 | 3 | −18 | |
| 11 | PAC | Vancouver Titans | 21 | 6 | 0 | 15 | 0.286 | 23 | 48 | 0 | −25 | |
| 12 | ATL | Washington Justice | 21 | 4 | 0 | 17 | 0.190 | 21 | 54 | 1 | −33 | |
| 13 | ATL | Boston Uprising | 21 | 2 | 0 | 19 | 0.095 | 14 | 61 | 4 | −47 |
Rules for classification: 1) Wins plus bonus wins 2) winning percentage (excluding bonus wins); 3) map differential; 4) head-to-head record; 5) head-to-head map differential
Regular season
| 2020 game log (Regular season record: 4–17) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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February–April: 2–8
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May Melee qualifiers: 1–2
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Summer Showdown qualifiers: 0–3
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Countdown Cup qualifiers: 1–3
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August: 0–1
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Midseason tournaments
| 2020 midseason tournaments game log | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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May Melee: 0–1
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Summer Showdown: 2–1
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Countdown Cup: 0–1
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| Bonus wins awarded: 0 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Postseason
| 2020 playoff game log | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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North America Play-ins: 2–0
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North America Bracket: 3–2
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- Byrum, Tyler (July 16, 2019). "Overwatch League coming to The Anthem and the Entertainment and Sports Arena". NBC Sports Washington. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
- Washington Justice [@washjustice] (June 5, 2020). "Today we say thank you and goodbye to JohnGalt as he steps away from the Justice to further his education" (Tweet). Retrieved October 13, 2020 – via Twitter.
- Richardson, Liz (June 17, 2020). "Washington Justice promotes Sup7eme to head coach". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 13, 2020.
- Weyrich, Matt (September 11, 2020). "Washington Justice Pull Off Series of Upsets in Overwatch Playoffs". NBC Washington. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
- Richardson, Liz (September 5, 2020). "Hangzhou Spark, Chengdu Hunters eliminated in Overwatch League playoffs". Dot Esports. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
- Field Level Media (September 6, 2020). "Fusion, Shock hold form at OWL NA playoffs". Reuters. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
- Weyrich, Matt (September 12, 2020). "Washington Justice Pull to Within One Win of Grand Finals in South Korea". NBC Washington. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
- Jansen, Eric; Boykin, Nick (September 14, 2020). "Digital Cinderella story | Washington Justice make Overwatch playoffs amid pandemic, team shakeup". WUSA9. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
- "Washington Justice part ways with coaching staff". ESPN. ESPN. September 30, 2019. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
- Howard, Brandon (October 10, 2019). "Washington Justice Find New Head Coach". TheGamer. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
- Field Level Media (November 8, 2019). "Justice hire 'Wiz' as strategic coach". Gwinett Prep Sports. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
- Scrubasaurus (November 8, 2019). "Sup7eme joins Washington Justice". over.gg. Retrieved November 9, 2019.
- Richardson, Liz (December 5, 2019). "Washington Justice add Bani as coach". Dot Esports. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
- "Valiant, Defiant, Justice make moves in Overwatch League". ESPN. Reuters. October 31, 2019. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
- Morello, Matt (July 30, 2019). "2020 Team Needs and Player Contract Status". Overwatch League. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
- Richardson, Liz (October 4, 2019). "Overwatch League reveals player contract status for entire league". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
- Richardson, Liz (October 18, 2019). "Washington Justice acquire rOar from Los Angeles Gladiators". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
- Richardson, Liz (October 23, 2019). "TTuba joins Washington Justice". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
- "Justice round out Overwatch League roster with AimGod". ESPN. Reuters. November 7, 2019. Retrieved November 8, 2019.
- Richardson, Liz (October 7, 2019). "Washington Justice release 4 players". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
- Richardson, Liz (October 11, 2019). "Washington Justice release Sleepy and Gido". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 12, 2019.
- Gott, Jared (May 9, 2020). "Washington Justice Star Corey Retires From OWL To Pursue VALORANT". TheGamer. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
- Richardson, Liz (May 8, 2020). "Washington Justice DPS Stratus leaves competition for content creation role". Dot Esports. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
- Long, Bradley (May 16, 2020). "Washington Justice Sign Stitch and JJANU". Hotspawn. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
- Peres, Pedro (May 22, 2020). "Washington Justice signs JJANU to long-term contract, promotes PRE to GM". Dot Esports. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
- Castelot, Ophelie (June 1, 2020). "Overwatch League: Washington Justice Signs Stitch To Long Term Contract". ESTNN. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
- Weiss, Adelaide (June 4, 2020). "Washington Justice parts ways with off-tank ELLIVOTE". Dot Esports. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
- Wolf, Jacob (August 12, 2020). "Decay signs with Washington Justice". ESPN. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
- Peres, Pedro (September 1, 2020). "Washington Justice parts ways with LullSiSH following visa issues". Dot Esports. Retrieved February 3, 2021.