Can Yaki Rebuild The NYXL’s Empire?

A kingslayer has entered the Empire State. Kim "Yaki" Jun-ki is Overwatch's most prolific challenger, toppling some of the greatest frontrunners in competitive Overwatch for years. And with their fifth season in the league, New York Excelsior has established a legacy of consistent success. However, after a disappointing 2021, they look to regain their lost land. Is Yaki the centrepiece of the NYXL's empire reforged or is this relationship more symbiotic than it looks on paper?

1 King, 2 King, Red King, New King

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For those uninitiated, let us run you down the laundry list of top competitors Yaki has had the pleasure of putting a stop to. Flipping the Rolodex back to OGN's Overwatch APEX League, there was one team that forged a dynasty ahead of the Overwatch League era. Lunatic-Hai's back-to-back APEX victories were unheard of at the time. Two significant competitions against the most challenging opponents through multiple metagames. It still holds today as an accomplishment, and yet Yaki's frank dismantling of Lunatic-Hai during APEX Season 4 put him on the map as a contender. This was when Overwatch world truly met one of their future stars. 

Before Yaki was a staple within the Overwatch League itself, he furthered his renown by battling through the colosseum that was Overwatch Contenders. Joining legendary team RunAway in 2019, Yaki had quite the year, but it was their Season 2 title win that would hold the biggest bounty. The North American legends sent to South Korea to challenge the best in the world, Fusion University, were sent home with a swift 3-0. The team that would shuttle up incredible talents to the Overwatch League and would one day become an academy team to San Francisco Shock, O2 Blast, were toppled 3-2. And in the grand finals, Element Mystic. Before being draped in blue and courted to Dallas, Texas, this Element Mystic squad was the team to beat. In retrospect, for all of 2019, not once did they place outside of second. 

Yaki and RunAway dealt them a silver medal.

Then the Overwatch League came calling. 

Bigger bounties. More grand castles to siege. Thrones of gold to usurp. 

Teams with history, players he was intimately familiar with, a world title to compete for. 

The Overwatch League came calling, and the kingslayer answered. "The Worst Generation", a moniker lifted from a beloved anime and given to the 2020 Overwatch League's graduating rookie class for the sheer power they brought to the table. Yaki, standing among the worst of that generation, assisted Florida Mayhem in something unthinkable. A franchise that once hid in the shadows of dragons, a team that was cast aside, they were brought back. Living up to its name, 2020's May Melee was a tavern brawl and Yaki and the Mayhem held court. Waltzing through the qualifying matches, Florida Mayhem would only drop a single map which put them tied with the eventual world champions, San Francisco Shock, leading into the May playoffs.

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Did they hold an easy schedule? Yes. But after besting the Atlanta Reign and the Philadelphia Fusion to pair off with the aforementioned Shock, it was safe to say that narrative was exactly what it was—a story, a tall tale with legs to stand on but disproven nonetheless. 

While the spectre of recency bias will shade the 2021 Mayhem with disappointment, lest we forget how they started the season. 2021's May Melee once again saw Yaki and the Florida Mayhem take centre stage, this time in international competition. Trading blows with the eventual champions, the Shanghai Dragons, and toppling the Chengdu Hunters was no small feat. The APAC region, as we found out, was no easy task that season. So to be able to spar with some of their best and even dish some bruises is an achievement to commend. And once again, Yaki was there to do it. 

Throughout his entire career, Yaki was always there, at the feet of giants and dragons and dynasties. He was the common denominator in it all. And now Yaki allied himself with another team interested in regaining their seat at the table in North America. 

The New York Excelsior needed a star coming into the 2022 offseason.

Yaki Is NYXL's Star

And if you don't believe us, then check the numbers. 

Known for his Tracer, it's no surprise that Yaki was ranked per the official Overwatch League Stats Lab at fourth in final blows per ten minutes as well as eliminations per ten minutes on Tracer while also dying amongst the least in the league in 2020. Past that, his Echo was also something to behold. The Stats Lab ranked him as the 2020 league leader in final blows per ten minutes as well as eliminations per ten minutes, he was ranked third in hero damage done per ten minutes and was second in solo kills per ten minutes. Then there was Mei which also ranked quite high in all your usual categories.

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2021 was a difficult year for the Florida Mayhem, and yet somehow Yaki's statistics didn't match his team's performance. Take a look at this Echo statistics. Sitting on the heels of Kim "Doha" Dong-ha in final blows per ten minutes and Huang "leave" Xin in hero damage done per ten minutes and holding his own in solo kills per ten minutes. Overwatch tends to be correlative, meaning if your team underperforms surely you will too. A sign of a good player is being able to stem that correlation between the team's performance and the individual. 

A special player exceeds it. 

With that in mind, this gives the new-look NYXL, at worst, a strong flex DPS option heading into Overwatch 2 which, for all intents and purposes, looks to be more DPS centric. 

However, this begs the question; does Yaki need the NYXL to become king or is it the other way around?

Like A House Of Cards

Let's face it, the 2021 iteration of the NYXL was a letdown. Rookie promises and moving to the APAC region dismantled what was once a great house that sat at the Overwatch League roundtable. They felt flimsy, lethargic, and lacked the cohesion that fans of the Excelsior came to know and love. Think back to 2018 when they were consistently threatening. 2019 saw them finish in a subtle third place, which many fans conveniently gloss over. The "plague years" grated on New York—but the new year didn't come with a fresh start so much as a window to return, to rebuild and regain.

Like a knight returning home, broadsword resting on his shoulder, Yaki and the NYXL would be playing in North America for 2022. As well, familiar faces greet him as he arrived in the Empire State. Names like Kang "Gangnamjin" Nam-jin and head coach Kim "KuKi" Dae-kuk are also making the trek upstate. Joining them is an exciting rookie tank prospect in Kim "Kellan" Min-jae and Seo "Myunb0ng" Sang-min from the Boston Uprising. Alongside them, Lim "Flora" Young-woo looks to expunge last season from his record. His debut wasn't fantastic but NYXL as a whole looked disappointing up until the end. This core alone looks competitive but the scary part is they have more room to grow. 

Much like a house of cards, Yaki and this newly built New York Excelsior core need each other. 

We've seen what Yaki can do with a competitive team, we saw it in his rookie season and we saw it prior to that in Overwatch Contenders. Those stats don't lie and neither does the string of success. 

New York on the other hand needs a face. Since 2019 they've been in need of someone who can carry the torch for one of the most consistent franchises throughout Overwatch history. Those numbers don't lie. Look at the all-time standings for the Overwatch League, the New York Excelsior tower over the league with a 72.4% win rate and a +140 map differential. To put that into comparison, the San Francisco Shock are second all-time with a 66.7% win rate and a +117 map differential. 

Yaki's best chance at striking a blow at the top of the food chain is with NYXL and vice versa.

Piece by piece, Yaki and NYXL will lean on each other come May 5. 

Painstakingly, they'll place card by card, carefully situating maps and matches and tournament appearances against one another to construct that familiar castle we remember all those years ago. 

The empire New York once had will be rebuilt—and Yaki is leading the charge.