Boston Uprising release Marve1 and Striker

The Overwatch League’s Boston Uprising have released tank Hwang “Marve1” Min-seo and DPS Kwon “Striker” Nam-joo in a pair of surprise roster moves.

Both players joined the Uprising prior to the 2022 Overwatch League season, heralding high-profile signings for the org. But just five games into the season, both players are no longer with the team.

Marve1 leaves to focus on himself

The first of the two moves was announced at around 1115 Boston time on May 23. According to Uprising’s Team President Chris “HuK” Loranger, Marve1 had been struggling with personal issues for some time and despite the team’s best efforts to help him address them, the decision was made that it would be best for the player to return home to South Korea. Marve1 has been a long-time fixture of the OWL, having begun his career with the Seoul Dynasty in 2018 before signing with Boston in October 2021.

Striker dropped due to poor fit

Just hours later, the Uprising announced another move, officially releasing Striker a little after 1900 Boston time. The iconic Tracer-main DPS had begun his OWL career in Boston before leaving for the San Francisco Shock following the 2018 season. Striker was a major contributor in the Shock’s back-to-back championships in 2019 and 2020 before re-joining the Uprising in October 2021. In another statement by Huk, the reason given for Striker’s departure was that “where we are as a team is not the right fit for Striker at this point”.

Boston in OWL 2022

Five matches into the OWL 2022 season, the Uprising find themselves towards the bottom of the West Conference standings with a 2-3 record. It is unclear whether they will look to sign replacements for Marve1 and Striker, or try to proceed as best they can with the remaining seven-player roster.

The team is next in action on May 29, when they close out their Kickoff Clash qualifying against the Dallas Fuel.

Header: Boston Uprising