Thank you, Philadelphia. To all the boys I've loved before

---

This is not a twitlonger, this is the twitlongest. Someone wiser than me told me that if you love someone, to tell them, because you never know if it could be your last time. When you lose someone precious to you, you’ll always wish you could tell them you love them one more time. There is no one in the world that loves the Philadelphia Fusion as much as I do. To move on, I wanted to take some time to tell our players and fans at least one more time. Here are bunch of messages letting each of them, and our fans, know how impactful and important each of them has been to me and the franchise.

I love every single one of our players, from the bottom of my heart—no matter how long or short, good or bad our time together, each of your experiences live with me and have shaped me into the person I am today. I love every single one of our fans, from the bottom of my heart—no matter how kind or mean, supportive or unreasonable your words are, I heard, I listened, and I tried to do the best I could to make you guys proud.


Philadelphia--- I am really sorry that we left you. I’m sure you all understand that this decision was made way above my leadership level, but I wanted to take some time to really thank you for the love, support, and unforgettable memories. I grew up in Los Angeles, where the sports fans are nothing like you guys are. LA has far too many fair-weather bandwagon fans and spending time in Philly showed me what die-hard sports fans are like. Tucker used to tell me, “Trust me Roston, when we move to Philly, if we continue to be one of the best teams in the league, people won’t even need to know what’s going on to come watch us live.” After just a few months in Philly, I knew that was the truth. I really fell in love with the city’s sports culture, food joints, and brotherly love. I loved the city so much that I bought a condo in Center City, knowing I could happily live there forever.

It’s already 2023 now and I really hate to blame COVID, but it really did change our situation. I don’t expect you to accept our apology or our reason for moving, but we’ve always been a player-first organization and our initial move to Korea was in the best interests of our players’ health and safety. Things didn’t exactly work out as planned, but even when it was the opposite of perfect, both our Korean and Western players said that Seoul felt extremely safe and easy to navigate. With the changing dynamics of the league, operating in Seoul with the T1 facilities gave us a sustainable way to continue to give our players a best-in-class environment.

After carefully evaluating our operations and team management for two seasons, the permanent relocation was inevitable. It’s unfair to our loyal fans who were fans just because they were from Philadelphia, those rowdy fans who took us in as family deserve much better. There are things that I can’t change, but I can at least promise you that the things we’ve learned about the grit of Philly fight won’t die with the name change. Hungry dogs will still run faster, we’ll still be ready to upset opponents with a haymaker uppercut, we’ll still find a way to go to map 5. And you bet your ass I’m still showing our players how to enjoy a Philly cheesesteaks. (We really did find a place that’s almost as good as my personal favorite Dalessandro’s)

Many of our fans were very understanding about our motivations to move, but where we really messed up is during our communication. I am incredibly sorry that you didn’t get a more heartfelt and personal message during the rebrand process. All Fusion fans deserved better than that. I’ll personally take the blame for the poor communication, our timeline got really messed up by a potential leak at the worst possible time, and I’ll go over our rebrand process and give our die-hard fans more insight into what happened sometime next week.

I close this letter out with a cliché “the night is darkest just before the dawn.” Dawn is here and a bunch of great announcements are coming soon and with our players moving in, we’ll start posting regularly again and we’ll show that the Seoul Infernal brand will still get the same level of love and care that we gave to the Philadelphia Fusion. If you stuck with us last season, I promise you’ll want to stick with us for the next season.

I promise you we’ll always sneak in some callbacks to our origins, I promise you that none of us will ever forget the incredible homestand we had before the pandemic hit, I promise you that none of the lessons learned will be lost in our future teams. Philadelphia you’ve been amazing to us, and I promise when we finally get that long-awaited 1st place, we’ll be dedicating it entirely to you and Alarm. Thank you, Philadelphia, the city we loved and didn’t deserve.

Gyutae “Belosrea” Hwang--- Gyutae, I want to thank you so much for the 2022 OWL Season. Despite joining the team late, you made an instant impact on our team environment and proved how hard of a worker you can be and what an incredible teammate you are. Every single day it was obvious how much passion you have for Overwatch and I personally love to see rookies who play the game emotionally. I know how much you care about your teammates mentalities, even if caring for others can be a heavy burden for you. Our midseason madness miracle run was largely due to your insane Wrecking Ball plays and you had so many clutch moments in our matches.

When the coaches and I talk about you, there is nothing but good things to say. It’s so hard to believe you were a rookie when you were always smiling, working hard, and putting your team first. I hope your passion never fades and you continue to be the confident leader that I got to know this year. PS. I saw your note on our whiteboard, next time you come let’s eat together xD ALSO, I’m starting to practice karaoke skills, so let’s go together next time! But don’t judge me because I’m so bad…

Yeonghun “FiXa” Kwon--- The youngest player I’ve ever worked with… and one of the deepest voices I’ve ever heard. Being the youngest player in a team with veterans like Carpe, Fury, and AimGod is NOT easy, but you earned their respect over the course of the year. Everyone knows you have the highest mechanical ceiling, but playing main support requires a lot of team synergy and confidence, something that we didn’t always have last year. If we had the chance to build a more consistent teamplay identity last year, I know that the rest of the league would see you the way we do.

I HOPE I DON’T EMBARRASS YOU, BUT… I think your OWL debut was one of the most nervous I’ve ever seen from a player. LOL I thought you were going to pass out! However, we still won our first match and I got to watch you become more and more confident as the year went on and I was especially proud of your ability to flex onto flex supports. I still think about your first ever sleep dart on AlphaYi for the first fight win and the many clutch sleep darts you had afterwards. You know how much I love you as a player and I will always be a big fan of your game wherever you go. Please take care of yourself and stay in touch with me.

Minseok “AimGod” Kwon--- BuffGod, our 2022 season celebrity. There is no way we would have had such a magical season without you. You and Junho were the kings at making the team atmosphere great. You two were so great at taking care of all our rookies and making fun activities like going to the movies, board game cafes, or bowling. Also, I know it was not always consistent with all the players, but I appreciated how you were a perfect role model on keeping a good exercise routine while still giving everything during the tough practice schedule.

But the thing I respect you for most is that you remained strong throughout the season. You came into our team due to a tragedy in our offseason and had to fill shoes that were nearly impossible to fill. Some of our fans unfairly blamed you for some of our team shortcomings, but you stayed strong and kept a smile on your face for the team. You really don’t know how much I admire you for being such an amazing teammate and person. You’re obviously a natural on stage and always so charming in front of the camera, I can’t wait to see where your journey takes you next. I’ll always be a huge fan, and LAMB SKEWERS SOON!

Hyunwoo “Zest” Kim--- I can keep you and MN3’s short because I think we’ll have a long future working together. You are as cute as your are deadly and I’m so proud the league understood your impact as you were an MVP nominee as a rookie. This next season I want you to be more of a leader, you should voice your opinion more and lead by example with better work ethic. You are such a kind teammate and have limitless potential as a playmaker. The future is so bright working with you and MN3 and I can’t to see how high we can go next season!

Jaehee “MN3” Yoon--- This will be your REAL breakout year. Last year the league got to see flashes of your brilliant potential, but they didn’t get to watch you dominate consistently. I think you learned so much by splitting playtime with Carpe and I want you to be more confident in yourself. There are days when you feel hot and days you feel cold, but you don’t have to stress about your individual performance so much. Your teammates believe and trust in you. Carpe and I had a long talk about your potential and he truly believes that you are a special player that will develop into one of the best players the league has EVER seen. Let’s keep up the good work and show the league next year!

Dongjun “Rascal” Kim--- You know I’ve always liked you as a player but there was one dumb reason I didn’t like you before I met you. In season 1 at the Blizzard Arena, there was this one fan that would scream so loud every time you simply took a breath that I was sick of hearing your name. I think scream might even be an understatement, it was more of a deafening shriek that felt like it was shredding my ear drums every time. LOL! But after I got to know you, I might be a bigger fan than they are. (Where is your apex singing video… I can’t find it anymore…….)

I am so happy I got to work with a superstar like you despite our season being a complete covid visa nightmare. Before the season started, our roster looked really, really good. With you on board, I thought you would be the veteran player we needed to finally get our big victories, but the Korean government became so strict with foreigners that just had visas a couple months before. It was an unfair season to all of us, but I still have so many fond memories hanging out with you. You genuinely made me laugh so many times and I really loved doing silly things with you. I know the season was stressful for you towards the end, not sure whether to continue being a pro or whether to transition to coaching, but you were always 100% locked into vod reviews, practice time, and giving our team everything you could. Seeing you in LA again was so heartwarming, you stuck to your workout routine and looked buff, and I got to watch your coaching in action as you worked with Dallas and won the Grand Finals. I’m so proud of you and can’t wait to hang out with you soon.

Jinmo “Tobi” Yang--- Real living legend. It’s actually such an honor to say that I’ve had the opportunity to work with you in my OW career. I still remember the days when you and Ryujehong were the most legendary duo, your experience and veteran leadership were a huge part of our incredible start to our season. This was the only year where Carpe wasn’t the oldest Korean player on the team and it was so interesting to see it. I loved watching the players interact with you—the little catch phrases you had, the advice you gave others, the opinions you had on strategy—you had so much of an impact on all our players.

But what I loved most about you was your role on the team as the older brother who understood each of his younger brothers, and even how maturely you embraced our foreign players despite the language barrier. You were always giving feedback to our coaches to help the team play as a cohesive unit and taking care of our young players after tough losses. It was obvious you were going to be a great coach and it’s incredible to see how much you have already grown since our season together. Even though we lost to your team many times last season, I was still always proud to see you leading Dynasty to one of their best seasons ever. I know we messaged briefly when I said happy birthday but hope to see you soon!

Niclas “sHockWave” Smidt-Jensen--- NIKI THE SUBWAY SIGMA GRINDSET TFT DURING VOD LORD. Honestly, so far in esports, it’s pretty rare to meet someone who talks such a big game online and actually lives up to it IRL. You were such a breath of fresh air in a stressful season of visa nightmares. You were always amping it up in the practice room and being the center of attention. I am so sorry that the covid situation became so dreadful that you ended up coming towards the end of our season. It’s a damn tragedy that we didn’t get to unlock the full potential of that insane roster.

I spent so much of the season feeling so guilty about how little time we had together, but that heart to heart we had really made me feel better. Thank you so much for being so genuinely appreciative of every single moment we spent together here. Despite the short amount of time you got to be with the team in person, you made the most of it. I’ll never forget your face having your first real Korean BBQ and the moments like you and Kyeongbo bumping Ash Island – Melody. Seriously miss you man, can’t wait for you to come back to Korea. (I’ll also visit EU at some point when I get some time).

Donggyu “Mano” Kim--- MANNER MAKETH MAN. What is it with my main tanks and being wonderful. You are one of the best men I’ve ever met in my life. Ever since the first time I met you at the Fusion house in the inaugural season… a bunch of your teammates were over and making a mess and you were silently cleaning up after them with a big thankful smile on your face. ANYONE that meets you would consider you the perfect gentleman and teammate. No matter how stressful, demoralizing, or unlucky of a situation we found ourselves in, you were the first to look inwards on how you could have done better for the others versus how others could have done better for you. You were quick to notice your own mistakes, but you blamed yourself too much for some of our struggles. As a main tank player, it’s very important that you can easily communicate with the rest of your team, and this was your first season in a hybrid roster and didn’t even have the full season to practice English. Don’t let anyone ever let you think you were the reason we fell short, you were exactly the player I wanted to sign and I’m so proud to have worked with you.

While the end of the season was tough, we still had a lot of amazing times together that season. The smile you had on cam when we had are early 4-0 start was hilarious. It was the face of pure joy and it was a hell of a meme. You were also so great with the westerners, I feel like you were one of the few players to go out of your way to show each of them a nice restaurant that you liked around the area. Your food recommendations were always on point and you really gave it your best when it came to practicing English. Thank you so much for being such a great leader that season, always putting in the extra hours of practice or vod review in order to improve on yourself. I know we’ve talked a lot about hanging out, but I know I’ll visit you in Busan as soon as I have a free weekend!

Philip “Chipsa” Graham--- THE LEGEND HIMSELF. The highest win percentage of any Fusion player, and an indispensable part of Overwatch League history. The whole situation how we signed you is hilarious. Tucker called me and asked if I knew who “Chipsa” was. I responded by saying “of course! He’s bros with ChrisTFer.” To which you responded “that’s awesome! I didn’t know they were close like that, do you think Chris can intro us and maybe we can look into signing him?” Only halfway through the conversation realizing that you were actually BIOLIGICAL BROTHERS. That whole thing was a fiesta as so many fans were tuning in excited for the big debut that didn’t disappoint.

Speaking of that debut, I owe you a necessary thank you for carrying us with Doomfist to a win over the previous season’s grand finalist Vancouver Titans. xD All the memes aside, I was genuinely very happy to have worked with you. Before I met you, I was afraid of some of your stream highlights, but quickly realized you’re actually a very laidback, articulate, and smart guy. I also really appreciate the efforts you put into helping out our team wherever you can. You genuinely did help the rest of our flex dps understand some of the shot calling and resource management of doomfist, and those scrims where you came in really lifted our team atmosphere when we were struggling. Always wishing you the best and hope we can hang out again when I visit England.

Seunghyun “Ivy” Lee--- A man of few words, but a man with a big heart. I used to think that language barrier was the biggest reason we didn’t talk that much, but then I always remember that you and Moby would jokingly say “Aphasia.” For the first few times I talked with you, I felt like I was interviewing you because I would ask questions and you would just have quick, short answers, but was happy I got to hear more from you as we eventually got closer. You were such an important part of that season as you are one of the most disciplined and highest impact team players I’ve ever seen. I miss seeing your little goon squad of Moby, Fury, and Sado constantly fooling around together.

I know living in Philadelphia was especially tough for you, so I’m super thankful that you were able to give each and every day your best efforts. One of the most special moments in my life was when you, Sado, and Moby prepared a birthday meal for me. I think I only mentioned my birthday one time to you guys and when you invited me over for a home cooked Korean meal, it was really one of the most special things that ever happened to me. Those are the moments that make all of my hard work worth it. Sorry I got food poisoning couple weeks ago when we were supposed to hang out, but I am planning a Busan trip to hang out with you, Moby, Mano. Can’t wait!

Huisu “Heesu” Jeong--- HEEEEESUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU. Our youngest player from our legendary 2020 season. I have so much love for you as a player and person. Before we signed you, I had the chance to watch you in scrims and matches against our Fusion University team. Snillo was actually one of the players that had the highest praise about you, he told me that you had really good mechanics and decision making. Negotiating to get you on our team was a bit tough, but I was so happy we did it. You were one of the best rookies we ever signed. It’s amazing to see how much you’ve grown as a player each season.

My experience with you also made me realize just how precious and fragile each of my players lives can be. Do you remember when you got sick during our season? I was so worried about your symptoms but felt like it was such a dangerous time to go outside. It was during the first strict covid lockdown AND the George Floyd protests. I remember the area where I lived was completely shut down due to the violence and curfews, so I couldn’t call a taxi to take you to the hospital, I had to walk past burning and looted buildings to go to your apartment to have you admitted to the emergency room. To be honest, I was so scared to walk through the city that day, but I was even more scared that you were going to be really sick. In the end, I’m so grateful that Tucker was able to get us some of the best care possible and that you were able to have successful surgery and recover so quickly. No matter how old you get, I will always think of you as one of my babies and I’m always here to take care of you no matter what.

Junho “Fury” Kim--- What an incredible player and kindhearted teammate you are. I think the most excited I’ve ever been as a GM was when I was able to sign you in a trade for Bernar+Fuze straight up. Bernar is one of the FusionUni players I love most, but we had a stacked roster and it was perfect to add a championship pedigreed / one of the greatest off tanks to ever play the game. Your mechanics are like a DPS player, your game IQ is incredible, and you have a calming presence in the team. You were the perfect partner for Carpe, and bringing you back to Fusion last year was the #1 thing Alarm wanted most in the offseason. Last year you cared so much for all of our rookies and almost the entire team had voted for you as their best teammate.

I really want to thank you so much for your help last season. I felt like I relied on you to give me the unbiased, most grounded perspective on the situation whenever we would have trouble. After we let you go in the 2020 season, you really showed that you grew so much in the 2021 season away from us. You came back as a true leader—and not in the typical sense by telling others what to do, you were someone who stayed behind and made sure that no teammate got left behind. I really feel like we got so much closer last year than in 2020. You’re really someone I will always trust and respect, I really wish we were able to win one together…

Daniel “FunnyAstro” Hathaway--- DANIEL!! What a hilarious way for us to meet. Your agent said that your signing with Fusion was a “done deal” and I took you out to a congratulatory welcome dinner in Korea after the OWC Gauntlet. Afterwards we ran into all the casters and GMs, I felt like a proud GM showing off my brand-new player… Only to find out that it was NOT a done deal and we still had a lot of negotiating to do. Anyways, it all worked out in the end and the birth of one of the greatest young support duos was born. You and Alarm as a duo were one of the best, if not THE best, to ever do it.

I’ve never been shy about my praise for you, so you know how much I’ve always considered you the perfect player to have—incredibly hard working, fiercely competitive, and friendly with teammates. More than a perfect player, you were probably one of my best friends those seasons. I felt like I could truly talk to you about anything and you would also talk to me about anything. Our last season together was a nightmare for covid reasons out of our control, but I think we really made the best of it. Miss our off-day bro dates, it was awesome spending every off-day traveling around Seoul to find amazing places to eat and drink. While I know passion ebbs and flows, I know you hate losing more than anything and will always give your 100% while you are a professional. Keep up the great work, you know I’m forever a fan and always staying in touch.

Elijah “Elk” Gallagher--- I just realized it’s actually been a long time since we caught up. You are hands down one of the smartest people I’ve ever met in my life. You used to crack me up so much, no matter what how random of a topic any group was ever talking about, you’d have some out of pocket encyclopedia snapple did you know fact. I swear to god your brain has downloaded Wikipedia and had so much knowledge about so many topics. I’m praying that curiosity for knowledge is still with you and you’re still expanding your Elkpedia.

Season 2 was the only season I truly regret, we had a very delicate and overly stressful environment, and I’m sorry our coaches never got the opportunity to give you a proper chance to shine on stage. I tried my best to provide you with anything we could outside the game (BTW I still LOVE mango loco). I’m very thankful that you were still such a great teammate and I loved how you are such a confident person that you were willing to play for Boombox when he was sick without even a full day of practice. Do you remember that one scrim with NYXL that you were actually popping off on Zen? JJ himself even messaged you giving him props. Beyond that, still sorry that “waiting” for GOATS to end never ended up panning out for us. Tough season and hate how your time ended with Fusion, but honestly so happy that you’ve been so successful as a student athlete afterwards. Loved watching you look like you’re smurfing even on DPS LOL.

Finley “Lil Quami X” “Kyb” Adisi--- Still don’t know why I was your Mr. Miyagi (racist???????? LOL jk), but I guess that makes you the Karate Kid? Our time together was WAY too short… and I’m still sorry that you weren’t selected for the team in season 3 after of our massive changes in coaching and direction. You were always an insane player when you were having fun and playing confident, I wish we had more time after the trade to get you meaningful playtime. A common theme here is that year 2 of Fusion was our major sophomore slump where a lot of us were figuring out how to move past our failures and grow together. By the time you had gotten to our team, you could tell that there was so much pain and stress between the players and coaches.

That being said, I am seriously thankful for how much love and fun you brought to our house. Your voice was always filled with laughter, samirs breaking cars, and FORTNITE POGGERS!!! Also, I still can’t believe that mission we busted to go clubbing that one night for your 21st bday. and LOL. YOUR FREAKING PANTS. I hope you always love gaming and continue to light up your friend groups with the hilarious banter. You better come out when I make that eventual trip to the UK or I’ll come to your house and embarrass you. Definitely need to catch up with you before that too.

Simon “Snillo” Ekstrom--- My sweet boy, why do you make it so damn hard to catch up with you. LOL. It still cracks me up that I have to email your parents to ask how you are. Every time I reach out, their responses on how you’re doing is so ridiculous. “He’s still working out a lot, hanging out with his friends, and collecting mushrooms and berries.” What the hell LOL! I also wonder how buff you’ve gotten by now. You’re one of the only guys who I don’t think will ever see this, I’ll reach out to your parents again for a catch up soon. Your birthday is in a few days.

Behind your always smiling, care-free nature, I saw the real you that only a few of your teammates really knew about you. You were always a good listener, kind and loving, and willing to keep the team atmosphere positive, even if it was sometimes at your own expense. You were the youngest player on our season 1 roster but you were more mature than so many of your teammates.

Hongjun “Hotba” Choi--- My baby. You’re not a baby anymore, but when you first arrived to LA, you were MY baby. You are a tall, big boy, but all season long, I couldn’t help but imagine you as a short, tiny boy. You were the friendliest with the westerners and picked up English insanely fast. Watching you and Joemeister goof off together is one of my fondest memories in the first season. As a player, I don’t think I have to talk about your insane mechanics and flexibility. Ever since your Tracer on Volskaya in our season 1 playoff run, the league quickly found out that you were the most mechanical, flexible player in the league. I remember cheering so hard as you popped off on heroes like Pharah with Guangzhou. Beyond your skills in game, you’re a hard worker and a great influence on your teammates. You always knew how to get other players to duo with you and have fun while practicing.

Also, I’m sorry we had to separate from each other twice. All things happen for a reason, and you know we’re always such a big fan of you no matter where you go. Having the opportunity to watch you grow up year after year is one of my greatest joys working in esports. Keep up the amazing growth, both in and outside the game, and I hope we continue to have a great relationship! See you soon :)

Isaac Benjamin “Boombox” Charles--- Boomers.

Giuseppe (lool) “Joemeister” Gramano--- My guy. The first player that arrived in LA for the inaugural season. I assume you already know how much I respect and revere you. I don’t think I’ve learned more from any player as much as I’ve learned from you. You were so good at teaching me more about the game, so good at helping me determine what I should or shouldn’t do as a manager, and you were always the level-headed unbiased guy I could lean on. Despite not having much of an opportunity to shine on stage, there’s no way we go to the Grand Finals without your presence in the team.

We had so many good laughs and I really miss the days I would come downstairs and you were just up early chilling with your morning cup of coffee. I miss goofing around with the rest of the guys that season and still appreciate how much you were that initial bridge between so many players (Faze/non-faze, western/Korean, coaches/players, old/young, etc.) Most importantly, I really want to thank you for being there for me. While I was killing myself for the team, I still remember you mentioning how ridiculously overworked I was. I was never sure if what I was going through was normal or fair, but hearing you validate that I was indeed going above and beyond the norm really helped me keep going.

Jeonghwan "DayFly" Park--- JeongHwan, when I think about our time together at Fusion, it makes me laugh. We had a lot of funny memories together… I still remember how there was a week where we had too many players that were waking up late, so we turned off the internet for bedtime. I came downstairs and saw that you had ACTUALLY installed Cuphead and other single player games that don’t require internet. LOL! Creative... We had so many fun memories like our trip to Philadelphia, the July 4th BBQ, and that time we went to eat NakGopSae.

I’m always so happy to catch up with you. It’s crazy to think you’ve already finished military duties and thriving in the post-gamer life with friends in college. I know we had been messaging back and forth while I’ve been in Korea, and I can’t wait to have dinner and drinks with you again soon! I’ve gotten better at Korean and can’t wait to hear about what’s new with you.

Alberto “Neptuno” Gonzalez-Molinillo--- WOOOO! Hahaha, still one of my all-time favorite sounds in the world. I know we caught up a bit recently since your bday recently passed (you getting old boy!!!), but dude, I should just ask you for an audio clip of that WOOO! If I get stressed I can just play it and rewind to a time where I was even more stressed (LOL season 1-2) and know that it was still able to put a smile on my face. You were the class clown in our legendary inaugural season roster and brought that Spanish fire to our match days. I’m so thankful for the passion you brought to the team and all the laughs we had together. I’m also so glad that you have always remained so friendly no matter how long it’s been since we’ve seen each other.

The team should be thankful about how you were always trying to get the guys to do something different, like planning movie nights, shopping trips, different board games… but why do your plan require me to be the driver for EVERYTHING. Then again… I don’t think any of us can ever forget that time you tried to drive to in-n-out… LOL after that.. yeah.. let me drive. BUT… if I come to Spain, you drive me around and give me the manager treatment like I gave you! I know it’ll be a blast.

Sumin “Sado” Kim--- SODA? LOL I am so sorry that we ran out of coca cola cans, and we got you a 2L bottle as a game-day emergency supply of your liquid power source. I still look at that montage of pictures of you chugging the 2L bottle throughout your career and it seriously makes me laugh every damn time. Other than managing your coke addiction, you are one of the lowest maintenance, smartest, mechanically gifted players I’ve ever seen. How the hell are you so good at every single game you play? In all my years in esports, I really think you’re the most gifted gamer I have ever met. But with great gifts comes great responsibility…

Before I met you, I really didn’t know what to think of you. There was so much controversy around your signing due to your boosting history. Honestly, as a Korean American, I really hated that we had such negativity surrounding the start of our team because of you… But when I started to read some of the terrible letters and death threats some of our fans sent us, I started to feel bad for you. You are one of the kindest and sweetest teammates I’ve ever had the chance to work with and I’m grateful that you were able to withstand so much stress and work with us for three amazing seasons.

Georgii “ShaDowBurn” Gushcha--- An absolute legend. You were the most famous player we had on our massive 12-man roster in the inaugural season. I remember when I had first started the job at Fusion and all my friends couldn’t stop asking me about what you were like in real life. Before meeting you, I was actually a bit nervous (I remember both Zac and I were fanboying pretty hard once we actually met you). That being said, you are probably the lowest maintenance, chillest player I’ve ever had.

For example, you flew in straight from Russia to do a content shoot the day you arrived. Your airline lost your baggage, so you basically had nothing but the merch we gave you for the first week living in LA. You had some unfair pressure given to you by our coaches early in the season and you were always just laidback chilling. Never complained about anything once. I know I try to check in a couple times a year and talked to you fairly recently, but I’m always wishing you the best and think I am so lucky to have shared these special memories where you were smiling and laughing so hard. Also, bless you for giving the league the tecktonik dance LOL. That had to be one of the most random things ever and was so happy to send you some of my favorite songs.

Joona “Fragi” Laine--- My guy. Due to our closeness in age, you were naturally one of the first players that broke past a player-manager relationship and became more of a friend. No one looked more like a main tank than the our Finnish Reinhardt, and your personality was even manlier than the way you looked on the outside. I’ve never met anyone in my life who was as stoic, mature, and generous as you. There were a few key situations during our time in Fusion that you weren’t treated fairly and I still harbor regrets that I wasn’t in a position to help handle it better. But you always took the mature, high road and always shielding others from stress even if it hurt yourself. One of the crazier memories I have with you is when I went downstairs at like 4a before our match day, and you were just sitting there half awake because of your tooth pain. You were in so much pain but didn’t complain to anyone and still made it out to a big match where you were loaded up on painkillers and we secured the victory. Also, I will always remember our heart to heart talk on the drive down to Arcadia for you to join Guangzhou at the end of season 2. I was forever thankful to J1N and GZC for giving you an opportunity to shine and win on stage again. All of us at the fusion house were watching the match at cheering you on, it was probably one of my favorite matches ever.

Life after Fusion seems to have really gone well for you. I love tuning into your streams and watching you have so much fun with your guildmates. It also makes me so upset that I haven’t seen you in so long. You were someone that I leaned on for two years straight and I do look forward to the day I make that trip to Europe and see all my Fusion boys again. I’m thankful you’re better at keeping in touch than some of our boys, and always love talking to you.

Isaac Benjamin “Boombox” Charles--- Boomers. That’s all you get, jk. I love you bro. Second player to move into the Fusion house and one of the players I probably hung out with the most in all of my years with Fusion. You really are one of the smartest, chillest people I’ve ever met in my life. I miss trolling everyone with you and having fun doing anything and nothing together. You’re one of the most easy going and open minded players we’ve ever had and was consistently voted by your teammates as the player they wanted to play with again in every single one of our years together.

In our first two seasons together, we had a lot fiery personalities, and you had the perfect mindset and would always be able to see the bigger picture and make the play that was best for the team as a whole. When we had big discussions about strategy, I always paid extra attention to what you had to say because none of your intentions were selfish or ego related. In our last year together, we had Alarm as a core piece, but the coaches would often say that you were one of the smartest players in our team and trusted your decision making. I really wish we won that tournament, second place is always painful but I’m still so proud of how well you and EQO played in that stage.

I feel like we’ve both been busy and I’ve had less and less time to hang out and talk with you, but every time we do, it’s like we never skipped a beat. Our squad at the Fusion house had the perfect combination of personalities that made going out fun, dinners, movies, board games so fun and you were often the glue between us that would always bring good energy and be down to do what the group wanted. Thank you so much for being such a good friend to me throughout the years, you really were the rock for a lot of us on the team and were always there for us to lean on.

Josh “EQO” Corona--- Managers aren’t supposed to play favorites, but it was obvious how much of a favorite you were to me. When you first entered the league, people thought you were just a back-up to Shadowburn and had no clue what a franchise star you would have been for us. From the day you debuted until your very last match, you always had me on the edge of my seat with your clutch plays. You were always such a special player for us: super flexible, super vocal, super smart. You came into our team willing to do anything and everything for us.

I feel so blessed to have gotten the chance to see you grow up so much as a player and teammate, but I’m so proud to have seen you grow so much as a person. We honestly went through so many ups and downs together. You were such a little shit season 1 when I think back to it… often saying the right things but at the wrong time and in the worst ways (IQ-9000, EQ-ZERO). Yet… you were the only person in the org to actually wish me happy birthday (don’t even know how you knew), and when I thanked you sincerely, you said something like “I don’t actually care, but I thought you would, so I said it.” LOL that is caring, bro! I can’t believe you almost actually became my brother, my mom and I looked into if there was a way to legally adopt you. But you know what? I do consider you a brother to me. Sometimes we would just chill and talk about life and then out of nowhere it would get SO late. Watching a movie or shows and then getting late night grub in Philly with you and Boom was also such a good time. That week in Korea when we decided to randomly learn TFT and we would just have beers, play TFT, and talk mad shit to each other. LOL we’ve created so many memories both in and out of the game, those four years were a blessing to me and I’ll always, always, ALWAYS be here for you no matter what. You know I’m always one dm a way bro.

I think some of the league’s GMs are pretty stupid for not reaching out to pick you up. You’re still playing the game at such a high level mechanically, you’re a great IGL, and you have passion and a vision for the game. You’ve learned so much from your coaches and teammates and think you could be a perfect captain for any young roster. I know you’ve been grinding and I’m hoping you’re in the league again soon. Even if you’re not, you’re one of the guys I worry the least about. You have a special ability to just watch someone do anything once and visualize yourself doing it, and with a little practice, you’re doing the same thing, and usually better. No matter what you do, I know you’re going to kill it.

Gael “Poko” Gouzerch--- The face of the Philadelphia Fusion. And what a good-looking face too. With most of the players on this list, I have zero regrets about their time with us and a 100% confidence that we did everything we could for that player. For someone like you, who had been a perfect teammate and player to manage, it was painful for me to feel so much remorse. During our covid visa disaster season, you went from being the first player expected to arrive in Korea to only arriving in time to support the team during the playoffs. I know I kept you in the loop throughout all the bad news, but constant bad news kept getting harder and harder to deliver that season. We really did everything possible to try and get you over here, but still can’t believe it took that long for you to get to Korea. In the end, you finally made it, and we were so incredibly happy that you were willing to make such a long journey just to be with us for a short trip.

You are one of the most beloved personalities the game has ever, and will ever, see. I still remember when we first signed you before the inaugural season and your famous Poko Bombs. I watched a couple of your streams and you looked like some nerd (hehe) playing Overwatch with his face lit by his monitor in a dark room. By now we’ve seen you streaming in so many places—from our Fusion teamhouse, Philly apartments/facility, your home in France with that disgusting chair, to London with ChrisTFer, back to France with a nice set up. We’ve seen you stream with so many ridiculous haircuts and moustaches, in season, out of season, try hard-ing and straight up trolling, and we’ve loved every moment of it. You’re so loud and wild on your streams that I think a lot of your new teammates were surprised when they met you. You were a lot quieter and thoughtful than people would ever expect. I always felt like you were so perceptive about how each person felt in the room and actively tried to make the environment better. On the other hand, I think you are actually funnier than people expect. You’re so funny in a group setting and the way you sometimes repeat what someone else says in a caricature way literally replays in my head. So many of our team memes came from you, but so much of our team leadership also came from you.

I hate that some people underestimate how good of a player you really were. While you weren’t necessarily a mechanical freak at every role like some players, you had a very high game IQ for the flow of the game and how to fit your teammates perfectly. You played very unselfishly and played your role perfectly to help your teammates do what they wanted to do. During Fusion’s most dominant 2020 season (19-2), you were so impressive to KDG that he would say the most stressful thing about our roster is that both you and Fury couldn’t play at the same time. He told me the smallest gap in skill in his roles was between you two. That covid visa nightmare season was supposed to be your year. We hired a head coach in NineK that had helped developed two of the best Off-Tanks in OWL history (CHB and Hanbin), a hardworking, mature tank duo in Mano, and a hybrid roster that was probably perfect other than … not having a Sombra player LOL. I will always wonder if we would have gotten that first if the season panned out how it should have.

You also developed into such a good leader for your teammates throughout our seasons. When players had issues that needed to be fixed, you would bring them up in a mature and timely manner and help everyone fight the problem together. You weren’t always like that, when you first joined the team, I think it was a lot easier for you to try and brush the issues aside and try to avoid them versus bringing them up. I’m always going to miss our one on ones, where I would take you out for a meal to chat. I would take you out when I knew you were stressed and you would initially respond with a simple “everything’s all good.” Then we get to our second beer, and you finally opened up about what had been stressing you out and we would try to brainstorm how we could help make the situation better. Then by the third beer, we’re just chilling with a stress-free energy almost like we had already solved the problem.

For some reason, I felt a bit distant before seeing you in LA for last year’s 2022 Season Playoffs. When I had last seen you in person, the decision to stay in Korea for another season had just been made, with Covid still rampant during the previous offseason, that decision to stay in Korea meant it would be much safer to field a full Korean roster to avoid visa issues again... It’s so damn embarrassing for me because we hung out so many days in Korea, but I wasn’t even able to enjoy or be myself, I felt like I was always fighting the urge to just cry for some reason… LOL It’s still so embarrassing to think of, I felt like you and EQO were consoling me and not the other way around. Then things got a lot harder, we lost our little brother, someone I know you cherished and adored so much. A little brother who loved and looked up to you so much. I felt like there was so much sadness that I actually wondered if you and I would be able to be friends and just hang out normally again.

2022 Season Playoffs finally fixed all of that for me. Us Fusion guys truly had a special bond. We didn’t plan a specific time to hang out, but one by one, our Fusion group started to get huge. We filled an entire section of the restaurant for all of us. I will always be so thankful for every single memory—both the good and the bad. You have done so much for our team and our fans and there is no Fusion history without your name on it. We’re both pretty sentimental guys and I know your time at Fusion meant so much to you too. You are lowkey so sneaky and took so many good pictures too (I NEED TO SEE MORE OF THEM LOL), we need to have a Fusion Reunion sometime where we get some of the guys together and just recap random ridiculous stories about our years together. Always love catching up together and watching your streams (even though I can’t understand French), so proud of you and will be a fan forever.

Jaehyeok “Carpe” Lee--- Damn… How do I even start with you? My Day 1, all-time greatest Fusion player. Spending almost every day together for all 5 years of Fusion, that is more time than most people have with their best high school or college friends. You are, and always will be, the greatest choice of franchise star players I could ever ask for as my partner. No person in this world is perfect, so the best we can do is surround ourselves with the people who make up for our weaknesses and help build up our strengths. Year after year, day in and day out, you and I pushed each other to be better at our roles and more importantly, better as people. It’s actually crazy to me to think about how much we’ve matured and how our relationship has evolved over those years.

When we first picked you up, you were insanely talented but also flawed. You were like a young Kobe—incredible mechanics, extraordinary game IQ, insane work ethic, but demanded a lot from your teammates and sometimes created a stressful team environment. Growing up in LA getting to watch Kobe’s growth as a leader, I wholeheartedly loved your strengths and knew that your weaknesses could eventually be your strength. Every year, there was a pivotal moment in the season where we were losing scrims and you would lose your shit. Some other players would get frustrated saying “it’s only a scrim, why is he getting so upset?” but your answer of “How can they be okay with losing scrims and not getting better?” I fucking loved that answer. Matches are won and lost during the practice week and you knew that better than anyone. Despite the occasionally complaints from teammates that you stressed them out a lot, when I asked who the most important teammate to the team was every single season, you were always voted as the number one teammate they wanted to play with again. Naturally with time as a leader, you learned how to channel that frustration into better conversations with others and learned to use that passion in your leadership as a team captain.

We went through SO many different arcs together: The Inaugural Season MVP performances where it felt like you played like a madman and had so many games where you singlehandedly carried us to match wins we had no right to win. The forgettable season 2 Fusion GOATS gone wrong year where every day felt like a dysfunctional nightmare, you tried so hard to be a good teammate and listen to others’ feedback on how you can best use your Zarya and all that feedback sometimes ended up confusing our team playstyle more than helping. The season 3 dominant Fusion team where you returned to MVP level play with Alarm and you continued to clutch so many important fights at so many important moments for us (if anyone re-watches our mei-cassidy comps and sees how many first picks you got in key fights your MVP play was a no brainer). People sleep on how truly dominant our season 3 was because we got 2nd place so many times. The season 4 visa nightmare where the pressure of being a captain truly weighed heavily on you as we struggled to create an identity for ourselves with all the changing parts. Even so, you still showed the world you are still at the top of your game with wild clutch widow and nano-cass plays. Season 5 was so unique for you as our captain, you were splitting playtime with a hungry, explosive rookie in MN3, wondering what was next for you while still giving every day your best and still willing to do anything to make our team as strong as possible. All our young players thought of you as the smartest teammate they had, you were able to share so much of your knowledge and experience with them. Five full seasons where your passion never wavered—you never stopped getting mad when we were struggling in scrims, never stopped pushing your teammates, and never stopped working hard.

Every hit scan rookie that we ever recruited would always say you were the player they idolized and they dreamt of having moments on stage like you had. You literally inspired a generation of young hit scan players to grind the game to try and reach some of the heights you had in your career. We went through a lot of coaching changes together, but every year I heard the same things from each of them. “I can’t wait to work with a star player like Carpe,” (every coach wanted a clutch player who is not scared of the big moments) “Wow, he is so smart and his in-game communication is so special,” (every coach realizing how much of an IGL you have been for us each season) “Wow he is stressing me out,” (every coach during our stressful time knowing that you were putting pressure on them as a coach as well) “he is one of the greatest players I’ve worked with, I want to work with him again next season” (every coach realizing how rare veteran players that give each and every day the effort and passion you gave).

We’ve had so many different memories together—fun, stressful, happy, sad—and I hope we continue to make memories together. One of my favorite memories I had with you was when we went to the DMV together after our second season. We had a very good relationship at that point, so after hanging a while, you built up the courage to tell me “Roston, I want to be honest and tell you I don’t think I will be with Fusion again next year.” Your contract was naturally expiring and after the GOATS season we had, it was completely understandable. I smiled and answered back, “thank you for letting me know, but you don’t have to worry about that decision until you have to make it.” After that, we talked every day and we had one of the most exciting off-seasons in OWL history. You really made me work to re-sign you and I’m so happy we did. You will forever be someone I trust and respect so much, and I’m so happy we’re still in the same organization together. I’m becoming the biggest T1 Valorant fan and despite the rough debut for you guys at LOCK//IN, I know that you guys will grow together and grow stronger in a very formidable Pacific region.

Thank you for being you—the perfect person for me to work with. Your passion for competing in Overwatch was contagious and I never wanted to fall behind you in work ethic. You motivated me to never be satisfied and to continue to give my everything to make this team and org the best we could be. I’m also sorry that we never got to really win anything with Fusion. I’m happy that you won a gold medal with South Korea in the OWWC, but seriously, you have given so much to Fusion every single day of every single year and you deserved to have that First-place finish. We were close so many times, but it almost felt like we were cursed with the type of freak accidents and unlucky situations that stopped us from achieving that first place. Regardless of the result, the journey was more important than the end or the start and I’m forever proud of what we have achieved together. Thank you for giving me the honor to work with you for every single season of your OWL career.

Kyeongbo “Alarm” Kim--- “When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure.” And I will treasure you for the rest of my life. Each and every memory of you is so special and I so often rely on those memories to give me strength. It’s still unbelievable that you’re not here with me today... I’m finally not crying anymore because I miss you, I am just thankful that I got to spend so many beautiful moments with a real angel of a person and an absolute phenomenon of a player. I still believe that you would have been the greatest player of all time.

I wouldn’t say I’m a religious man, but I know you’re in heaven and watching over all of us. We made so many plans for the future and it breaks my heart that we didn’t get to travel and make so many of our dreams come true. Although I’m emotionally much better than I was a year ago, writing to you still feels too personal to share at this time, so I’ll still keep my thoughts mostly private as I continue to visit you and talk to you in my prayers.

Thank you for being the sweetest and kindest player I’ve ever had. We shared so much laughter and tears together and I will always take care of our players the way you took care of us. You have always motivated to be a better man and when you told me that you wanted to play for a team with me forever, it only made me want to do even better for you and the team. No matter what direction this team takes, you will always be our heart and my motivation.

----------------------

I don’t expect anyone to have read everything, but if you scrolled down to this point, I want to give you a chance to receive a Fusion jersey. I don’t think you can buy Fusion jerseys anymore, so I’m going to be giving a lot to our fans. I’ve pretty much bought or own a jersey from every single Fusion player ever. Instead of being a hoarder I think it’s better if I share some of those jerseys with our amazing fans. Please comment any personalized “Thank You” message to any of the players you love (multiple comments are welcome, I hope to compile them and send individually to our players). When I return to the US where I kept my jerseys (at the end of the 2023 season), I’ll message you to discuss where I should send it.

Even if the name has changed, I promise you that we will always carry on our memories and traditions. I hope many of you can come around to support the team made of a Fusion heart and an Infernal soul.

Reply · Report Post