Meta Athena players Ha "Sayaplayer" Jung Woo and Kim "aWesomeGuy" Sung Hoon will join the Florida Mayhem, sources close to the players and team tell ESPN and confirmed by Florida Mayhem via Twitter. The moves come after Mayhem also acquired Meta Athena's coach, Hyun-jin "r2der" Choi, to be its assistant coach.
The Mayhem organization bought out the contracts of the three Athena members for an undisclosed fee, sources said. The moves signal the end of Mayhem's all-European lineup from Stage 1, which mustered up a second-to-last 1-9 effort in the Overwatch League standings.
The moves for Sayaplayer and aWesomeGuy bring much-needed firepower and stability in the tank line for the struggling ex-Misfits squad, led by Kevyn "TviQ" Lindström. Sayaplayer was instrumental in the Meta Athena organization's highest achievements in South Korea, becoming known for his flashy plays and consistency on hitscan heroes. He led a young squad to an undefeated season in Overwatch APEX Challengers Season 2 and a strong run in the OGN Overwatch APEX Season 2 where the team lost to eventual champions Lunatic-Hai in a close semifinal series.
AwesomeGuy gained notoriety in the early days of Overwatch esports with Luxury Watch Red, which featured featured current NYXL star Do-hyeon "Pine" Kim and youngster Yeon-oh "Fl0w3R" Hwang. After to fail to qualify for the OGN Apex Season 2 at the end of 2016, aWesomeGuy had difficulty finding competitive success; he joined Meta Athena at the end of 2017 to play in one online cup.
The addition of the Meta players with Mayhem's recent acquisition of former Ninjas in Pyjamas DPS Joonas "zappis" Alakurtti puts the roster total at 9 players with three open slots for free agents, not including Academy teams.
Florida Mayhem did not respond to requests for comment.