The Shanghai Dragons and Seoul Dynasty have verbally agreed to transfer Kim "Fleta" Byung-sun from the South Korean team to the Chinese franchise, a source familiar with the negotiations told ESPN.
The deal between the two Overwatch League teams is pending contract finalization, but terms were reached Thursday, the source said. The Seoul Dynasty declined to comment, and the Shanghai Dragons did not respond to a request for comment.
The Dragons looked to acquire Fleta, a DPS player, after the Dynasty made another move on Oct. 18: buying out contracts for main tank Hong "Gesture" Jae-hee and DPS Park "Profit" Joon-yeong from the London Spitfire.
After discussing his future with Dynasty, Fleta expressed interest in moving to the Dragons, per the source.
The move is a continuation of changes for a Dynasty roster that has seen multiple adjustments throughout the Overwatch League offseason. The Dynasty are the only team whose home base will be in South Korea when the Overwatch League geolocates starting in February. Of the 199 players who competed in the Overwatch League in Season 2, 104 of them lived in or were born in South Korea prior to the league holding its matches in the Los Angeles area in December 2017 through September 2019. That is expected to give Seoul a significant edge in negotiations for top players looking to return home to South Korea.
The majority of the players on the Shanghai Dragons roster in Season 2 were South Korean. In Season 1, the team did not win a single series as it went 0-40. In 2019, after significant roster changes, the team bounced back and went on to win the Overwatch League Stage 3 final and earn a play-in spot for the season playoffs.
The Dragons fell just shy of qualifying for the main playoff by losing 4-3 in a best-of-seven series against the London Spitfire in the play-in final.