Overwatch League team ties all-time worst record with Shanghai Dragons
1-42, an Overwatch League record set by the Shanghai Dragons that was meant for the ages has been tied.
29th Aug 2023 13:37
Image via Blizzard Entertainment
Overwatch League team ties all-time worst record with Shanghai Dragons
1-42, an Overwatch League record set by the Shanghai Dragons that was meant for the ages has been tied.
29th Aug 2023 13:37
Image via Blizzard Entertainment
1-42. While the order of operation isn’t quite as impressively awful as the 42-match loss streak that the Shanghai Dragons had starting from season 1 all the way to their third match of season 2, one Overwatch League team at least tied the record of one win to 42 losses in their most recent matches.
With their last season match, the Vegas Eternal have accrued the same record, though in a different order of operation. Through multiple roster rebuilds and seasons, the chronically underfunded team has finished Overwatch League season 6 with a match record of 0-16 plus an additional four losses during the pre-season event, Pro-Am.
An uphill battle
With the start of season 4, the Vegas Eternal (at the time still located in Paris) decided on a new roster-building strategy, significantly cutting down on their investment into their roster and counting on mostly European talent.
Under those new economic restraints, the team performed admirably and was able to punch above its weight, finishing 8-8 in the regular season and beating the likes of the Washington Justice, Los Angeles Gladiators, and Dallas Fuel.
For season 5, the team augmented their roster but failed to build similar momentum. Despite a soft rebuild in the later stages of the season, the team failed to create another low-budget miracle and walked away with only one close 3-2 victory against the second-lowest-ranked team, the New York Excelsior.
This one victory on June 19, 2022 would remain the only one of their last 43 matches, with the team losing all their official matches in season 6 of the Overwatch League under even heavier roster construction issues.
Input equals output
In August 2022, GGRecon derived an OWL budget tier list, questioning insiders with knowledge on the matter to estimate the working budget of each of the North American Overwatch League franchises.
At the time, the Paris Eternal was ranked at the bottom of the list, paying salaries only slightly above the league minimum, having only signed the required number of six players while not providing a team house or paying any buyouts.
The situation even worsened for season 6 with only five active players signed to the now Vegas Eternal after their franchise relocation. For the sixth mandatory player slot, General Manager Kim "AVALLA" Kyoung-Ey was signed to a player slot. The team promptly lost all of their pre-season Pro-Am matches and ended up being the only OWL franchise with a 0-4 scoreline.
Due to technical difficulties for the team’s DPS player Josh "MaltheL" Gonzales, AVALLA was moved into the active roster versus the London Spitfire. Down a professional player, the Eternal lost the series in a clean 3-0 sweep.
In a last-ditch effort to make the season whole, the team decided on another mid-season rebuild around a Korean core once again playing on ping from their home country. Signing Lee "KNIFE" Seon-woo, Lim "Toyou" Hyeon-woo, Kim "irony" Hyeong-woo, and later on Lim "Finale" Jung-woo, the team tried their best to get a victory on the board but ultimately failed.
With a 1-17 score in season 5, a 0-4 Pro-Am record, and an 0-16 record in Overwatch League season 6, the Eternal have therefore tied the Shanghai Dragons notorious 1-42 scoreline.
About The Author
Sascha Heinisch
Sascha "Yiska" Heinisch is a Senior Esports Journalist at GGRecon. He's been creating content in esports for over 10 years, starting with Warcraft 3.
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