Sweeping changes were coming for the Dallas Fuel, and Friday afternoon was the first big moment. William “Crimzo” Hernandez, Nolan “Paintbrush” Edwards, Lucas “NotE” Meissner and Stefan “Onigod” Fiskerstrand didn’t have their contracts extended and became free agents.
Hernandez told The Dallas Morning News that he found out Friday afternoon, as it was the Overwatch League’s deadline for teams to extend contracts that were made in 2019. Three players got the short end.
Dallas will not be extending my contract thus I'm now a Free Agent for the OWL 2021 season. It was a wild ride this season but I will cherish the good memories and learn from the bad.
— Crimzo (@Crimzo) October 16, 2020
Crimzo#0347 on Discord or crimzo@seg.gg for any inquiries.
i am now a free agent - exploring all options
— Nolan Edwards (@paintbrush) October 16, 2020
LFT for the 2021 season
DMs open
discord: Paintbrush#0001
agent: paintbrush@seg.gg pic.twitter.com/3gwNZoHNH6
More moves will come soon for the Fuel, as Oct. 24 initiates when team can begin signing free agents for 2021.
Other marquee players like former San Francisco Shock star Grant “Moth” Espe and ex-Fuel tank player Son “OGE” Min-seok announced their free agency too.
The Fuel’s two remaining starters were quiet on Twitter with regards to offseason drama — Noh “Gamsu” Youngjin and Kim “DoHa” Dongha are what is left of the Fuel’s core.
Dallas Fuel has decided not to extend my contract for the next season. I appreciate the time I had with dallas and they treated me extremely well so I'm sad to go :( That being said I'm LFT OWL and very motivated to play. My discord is NotE#0003
— N⛄tE (@NotEvenBleu) October 16, 2020
The starting lineup wasn’t all the Fuel moved on from Friday. Reserve players Ash “Trill” Powell and Jung “Closer” Wonsik won’t be with the Fuel in 2021 either, and Powell elected to transition over to Valorant esports.
The Fuel won’t just be active in search for starters. They need to acquire depth too.
Dallas weathered a 9-11 season that began with hopes of rewriting the team’s short history of not living up to expectations for the two years prior. The team parted ways with its head coach, assistant coach and best player in Jang “Decay” Gui-un on Aug. 3, a month before the start of the playoffs.
Kim “Yong” Yong-Jin was made interim head coach and Envy Gaming owner and Chief Gaming Officer Mike Rufail became more involved with his team.
My contract will not be extended, currently free agent looking for a team to join for 2021 season.
— Onigod (@Onigod) October 16, 2020
msg me on disc: Onigod#3733 - twitter dm - or contact my agency at Onigod@seg.gg
None of that could save Dallas this season. The Fuel went through internal conflict and didn’t have full trust in each other, Hernandez said. The team couldn’t overcome the issues it had and “drowned."
“It felt like there were always conflicting matters and we couldn’t agree on a style and it was a lot of conflict. It was really unfortunate because we had such a strong lineup,” Hernandez said. "There were so many good players but we weren’t able to click and do as well as we could’ve.
“It’s unfortunate to not see that realized.”
