Envy’s Dallas Fuel: A Brief History and Their Fall From Grace
esports: Dallas Fuel, no longer the best, but can they bounce back?
Team EnVyUs were once the best Overwatch team in the world. Now the Dallas Fuel, for three seasons they have disappointed in the Overwatch League. In this article, I will examine what has happened to them over the last 5 years, culminating in the loss of their entire original roster.
Ewan Lury runs through the recent history of one of Overwatch’s most dominant teams, and how that domination began to fade away.
2016-17: OGN Apex
Roster
Timo ‘Taimou’ Kettunen (Flex/DPS)
Jonathan ‘HarryHook’ Tejedor Rua (Support/Flex)
Christian ‘cocco’ Jonsson (Tank)
Sebastian ‘chipshajen’ Widlund (Support/Flex)
Dennis ‘INTERNETHULK’ Hawelka (Support)
Ronnie ‘Talespin’ Dupree (DPS) (Left prior to playoffs)
Pongphop ‘Mickie’ Rattanasangchod (Flex) (Replaced Talespin for playoffs)
Kim ‘Effect’ Hyeon (DPS) (Joined for Season 3)
Coming into the first season of APEX Season 1, Envy were a team that were possible favourites for the title. Despite this, they had finished second in their group behind the extremely impressive Lunatic-Hai and successfully made it into the playoffs.
And that point, disaster struck. Star DPS player Ronnie ‘Talespin’ DuPree left the team with immediate effect, with some murmurings that this was due to some form of disagreement with fellow team member Timo ‘Taimou’ Kettunen.
The replacement for Talespin confused many, and the majority thought that the signing of Pongphop ‘Mickie’ Rattanasangchod would lead to an early exit from the playoffs. Mickie had been handpicked by late team captain Dennis "INTERNETHULK" Hawelka, not just for his clear natural ability as a phenomenal D.va player, but for his exceptionally positive attitude in-game, something that this Envy side needed.
A patch in the game shifted the meta, and everything clicked into place for Envy, with Mickie’s D.va working perfectly with Christian "cocco" Jonsson’s Reinhardt, and they defeated every team in the playoffs, including fierce rivals Rogue, and an amazing 4-0 victory over Afreeca Freecs Blue in the final to become the first Western-owned team to have ever taken home an esports title on Korean soil. At this point, Mickie was still a stand-in, shortly after, when Envy won the MLG Las Vegas tournament, it was publicly announced that Mickie would be signed to the team.
The necessity to maintain this success was there as they entered Season 2 of Apex, and the signing of Kyle ‘KyKy’ Sounder as coach for the team was a positive step into keeping this success going.
Season 2 however was an instant snap back to reality for the team, being eliminated in the second group-stages. Continuing to compete in Season 3, excellent Tracer player Kim ‘EFFECT’ Hyeon, was added to the roster to help progress the team to new heights. Yet again however, something didn’t quite work and the team finished their time in Korea as the 4th best team, which was however an impressive feat nevertheless.
Their team cohesion was the reason for their success throughout their time in Korea, and fans had hoped that this would hold them in good stead for the upcoming Contenders and Overwatch League seasons.
2017: Overwatch Contenders Season 1
Roster additions
Brandon ‘Seagull’ Larned (DPS)
Before the Overwatch League began in 2018, Team EnVyUs had one last chance to show the world how good they were before the start of the inaugural Overwatch League season. And they did exactly that.
With a menacing roster that now included the massive streamer Seagull from the quarter finals onwards, Envy breezed through the opposition in North America’s Overwatch Contenders undefeated, comfortably defeating Faze in the final in a 4-0 whitewash.
During the tournament it had been announced that the whole roster would be signed and transformed into the Dallas Fuel, becoming one of the twelve founding teams of the Overwatch League. They had the hopes of North America on their shoulders, the clear favourites to challenge the other big names in Seoul Dynasty, London Spitfire and the New York Excelsior.
2018: The Overwatch League: Season 1
Roster
Timo "Taimou" Kettunen (DPS)
Jonathan "HarryHook" Tejedor Rua (Support)
Sebastian "Chipshajen" Widlund (Support)
Christian "cocco" Jonsson (Tank)
Hyeon "EFFECT" Hwang (DPS)
Pongphop "Mickie" Rattanasangchod (Tank)
Brandon "Seagull" Larned (DPS)
Scott “Custa” Kennedy (Support)
Felix “xQc” Lengyel (Tank)
Benjamin "uNKOE" Chevasson (Support)
Dylan “aKm” Bignet (DPS)
Kim “Rascal” Dong-jun (DPS)
Son “OGE” Min-Seok (Tank)
If hopes weren’t already high in the Dallas Fuel fanbase prior to the Overwatch League’s inaugural season, the signings of support player and prime shot-caller Scott “Custa” Kennedy and huge personality and phenomenal tank player Felix “xQc” Lengyel put The Fuel in prime position to compete for the top spot.
The first game of the season however resulted in a disappointing 2-1 loss to the Seoul Dynasty, including an amazing game on Temple of Anubis. Nevertheless, expectations remained high, as the performance in the opening match was impressive against one of the favourites of the Overwatch League. But things didn’t quite work out in the opening two stages.
xQc was banned for violating the Overwatch League code of conduct in Stage 1, and was later released by the team, and star DPS EFFECT struggled with mental health issues and didn’t feature as often as the team had hoped he would. OGE was another player who was banned for boosting for money. I repeatedly had the feeling that Dallas wouldn’t be able to turn this around, as the team started to look lost on stage.
The addition of coach Aaron “Aero” Atkins before stage 4 did however improve the team’s performance, as they achieved a season record 6 wins before losing in the stage playoffs against the New York Excelsior. The season-ending off in such a positive manner helped to lessen the blow for fans of a season of ultimate disappointment. Particularly memorable was a 3-1 win against the Philadelphia Fusion, where Mickie announced himself as the best Brigitte player in the League.
But the highlight of the year came for star-player and fan-favourite Mickie, who won the inaugural Dennis Hawelka award for giving off positive energy and optimism throughout the Overwatch League community. This was an emotional moment for me and many Dallas Fuel fans, as Mickie had been in many ways the heir to Dennis’ throne, and memories of their great time together in the OGN Apex series was brought back to us.
Nevertheless the pressure on the team in their first season as North American favourites, and a few signings that failed to work out due to their professionalism led to a serious failure for the team. Hopes were high for the next season, but with three fan favourites in Seagull, chipshajen and Cocco leaving the team, the old Envy roster had been broken up.
Throughout the season you saw the despair on the original rosters faces, other than Mickie of course. My favourite player of all time, Taimou, was gradually phased out and forced into roles that he was not particularly comfortable with, famously playing a distinctively average Winston. It leads me to think what could have been if that iconic roster had stayed together and not been tinkered with, with the players given the freedom to pick the heroes that they wanted to.
Overwatch League Season 2: 2019
Roster:
Benjamin “Unoke” Chevasson (Support)
Min-seok “OGE” Son (Tank)
Jonathan “HarryHook” Tejedor (Support)
Timo “Taimou” Kettunen (DPS)
Pongphop “Mickie” Rattanasangchod (Tank)
Zachary “ZachaREEE” Lombardo (DPS)
Lucas “NotE Meissner (Tank)
Ashley “Trill” Powell (Tank)
Won-sik “Closer” Jung (Support)
Richard “rCk” Kanerva (Tank)
I went into the Overwatch League’s second season with high hopes, especially with the potential of some of the Fuel’s signings including rCk and ZachaREEE. Yet again however it was the similar sort of inconsistencies that covered the whole season. The playoffs were only reached in Stage 2, where the Fuel exited in the quarter-finals. Nothing seemed to be going right for the team other than the extremely popular and fun Homestand Weekend which showed yet again how loyal the Dallas Fuel are to their team, many having followed them since their days in the mighty Envy. Stages 3 and 4 were equally disappointing, with the season culminating in a disastrous 12 match losing streak. It was clear that something wasn’t right, and I’d argue that too many changes to the roster and the line-ups led to inconsistencies across the team.
Overwatch League Season 3: 2020
Final End of Season Roster:
Dylan “aKm” Bignet (DPS)
Dong-ha “Doha” Kim (DPS)
Stefan “Onigod” Fiskerstrand (DPS)
Lucas “NotE” Meissner (Tank)
Ashley “Trill” Powell (Tank)
Young-jin “Gamsu” Noh (Tank)
Won-sik “Closer” Jung (Support)
Nolan “Paintbrush” Edwards (Support)
Benjamin “Unkoe” Chevasson (Support)
William “Crimzo” Hernandez (Support)
Season 3 of the Overwatch League was equally disappointing for the Fuel. Despite the Covid-19 pandemic affecting the team, their performances were lacklustre at best throughout the season, with the roster and coaching staff suffering from huge changes again throughout the year. But ultimately the fans, me included, were fine with these results. We had become accustomed to the disappointment that came with being a Dallas Fuel fan, and when your best player Decay asks to leave the team, there is a natural feeling of sadness and disappointment. I can’t help but think if the team had been built more around the talents of Decay then the team may have been more successful.
And it was on August 5th that the legacy of Envy came to an end.
Team legend and captain HarryHook was released by the team, with him being the final member of the original Team EnVyUs roster to leave the Dallas Fuel.
It marked a sad day for me, someone who had thoroughly enjoyed watching this Envy team when they were on form and firing back in the days of OGN Apex, but also when they misfired in the inaugural Overwatch League Season. As HarryHook left you really felt that EnVyUs’ fall from grace had completed under the name of the Dallas Fuel.
I hope for the best in 2021 with a great roster that could really compete, but I sadly say that my hopes aren’t that high. Perhaps now that HarryHook has left, the pressure of the success of Team EnVyUs will mean that the team can finally succeed. Hopefully…
