Fearless: 'It’s been less than a week since I’ve been playing with the team again'
Lee "Fearless" Eui-Seok, veteran tank for the Houston Outlaws and a freshly crowned RoleStar, has been a standout in the Overwatch League Season 6 playoffs.
Despite being one of the consensus best tanks the league has ever seen, it still looked like a meta switch for the playoffs could’ve benched the star player, with reports suggesting that Zarya would be the primary tank during playoff week.
As the meta became more open and chaotic shortly before the start in Toronto, his skills were needed again and he returned to the starting lineup.
In a post-match press conference, he opened up about navigating meta shifts and confronting the transitory nature of success in seeing his former teammates Han "ChiYo" Hyeon-seok and Kwon "Fielder" Joon exit early.
Adapting to the meta-dance
Anticipating a meta anchored around Zarya and Genji due to a recent balance update, several teams, including the Outlaws, adjusted their rosters. The Outlaws signed Offtank specialist Shin "BERNAR" Se-won, expecting him to shine in this anticipated meta-game.
However, the meta-state evolved, allowing for a diverse range of playstyles and this shift paved the way for Fearless's return. Commenting on his reintegration, Fearless said, “It really hasn’t been that long. It has only been a few days after we arrived in Toronto so it’s been less than a week since I’ve been playing with the team again.”
So far, the Outlaws have shown mixed results. After their match against the Florida Mayhem, they faced some fighting words from their opponents. Fearless, seemingly undeterred by earlier results, confidently replied, “At the end of the day, we did lose so we can’t say much but next time we meet, it won’t be as easy.”
Reflecting on former teammates
Having journeyed through the league and clinching the Grand Finals win with the Dallas Fuel in Season 5, Fearless has witnessed the peaks and valleys of competitive play.
The early exit of his former teammates ChiYo and Fielder from the Atlanta Reign in the Playoffs was particularly striking.
“Fielder and ChiYo have been my good teammates and they are genuinely good players, so seeing them get eliminated this early into the tournament has been a surprise and makes me sad too.”
Reflecting on the nature of being a professional player fighting for the title, Fearless added: “If anything, it reminds me it could happen to everyone. It could be us. We gotta try harder.”
The Houston Outlaws are set to play against the Dallas Fuel, a classic matchup that the Overwatch community has coined “the Battle for Texas”. The match carries additional weight as Fearless is facing some of his former teammates.
In a previous press conference, Dallas Fuel tank and former teammate of Fearless, Choi "Hanbin" Han-been shared that he is looking forward to playing against his old teammate. “I’m very excited to face Fearless. I feel like we are going to have a blast,” he confessed in a post-match press conference.
