San Francisco Shock

On July 12, 2017, Overwatch developer Activision Blizzard officially announced that Andy Miller, co-founder and co-owner of the American esports organization NRG Esports, had acquired a San Francisco-based Overwatch League franchise spot for an estimated $20 million.[1][2] "The local aspect of the league was the biggest attraction [for purchasing the spot]," said Miller in an interview. "One of the biggest issues with esports, and also part of its charm, is that you can create a global audience. You can have fans all over the world. But it’s always become a big challenge for fans to actually see their favorite teams. You have to fly to a major event or a finals somewhere in a major city. And there was never a hometown team."[3]

On September 28, 2017, NRG Esports announced its official inaugural roster of eight players and head coach Bradford Rajani.[4][5] A month later, on October 16, the franchise name was revealed as the San Francisco Shock.[6]

The San Francisco Shock took part in the first match of the inaugural preseason, beating the Florida Mayhem 3-1.[7] Their official 2018 season began with a 0–4 loss against the Los Angeles Valiant on January 10, 2018.[8] The team's first victory came two days later in a 3–1 win over the Shanghai Dragons.[9] The Shock did not find much success in the 2018 Overwatch League season; they finished with a 17–23 record and were 9th of 12th in the overall league standings.[10]

Looking to qualify for their first stage or season playoffs, the team made several roster additions in the preceding offseason of their 2019 season, including acquiring main tank Yoo "Smurf" Myeong-hwan from the Houston Outlaws academy team,[11] promoting Kim "Rascal" Dong-jun from their academy team NRG Esports,[12] signing Park "Viol2t" Minki from Korean Overwatch Contenders team O2 Ardeont,[13] and acquiring DPS Gwon "STRIKER" NamJu from the Boston Uprising.[14]

The Shock claim the 2019 OWL Championship Trophy.

The Shock's first match of the 2019 regular season resulted in a 4–0 sweep over the Dallas Fuel.[15] The team followed the win by splitting the next six matches to finish Stage 1 with a 4–3 record and the sixth seed in the Stage 1 Playoffs.[16] The team made it to the Stage 1 Finals, but they fell to the Titans.[17] San Francisco hit their stride in Stage 2, as the team completed the "golden stage" with a 7–0 record and 28–0 map record.[18] Qualified as the top seed in the Stage 2 Playoffs, the Shock defeated the Titans in the Stage 2 Finals.[19] San Francisco dropped two matches in Stage 3, against the Houston Outlaws and Chengdu Hunters, and fell to the Shanghai Dragons in the Stage 3 Finals.[20] The team finished the regular season with seven straight wins to post a 23–5 record, the second best in the league, and the third seed in the season playoffs.[21] Jay "sinatraa" Won, Matthew "Super" DeLisi, Choi "ChoiHyoBin" Hyo-bin, and Grant "Moth" Espe were awarded the Role Star commendation for DPS, tank, tank, and support, respectively.[22] Both sinatraa and Super were nominated for the league's most valuable player award, which sinatraa won for his ability to flex onto a multitude of different heroes and hold his own as a championship team member.[23]

San Francisco faced the sixth-seeded Atlanta Reign in the first round of the 2019 season playoffs, but the team fell in a heartbreaking 3–4 loss to drop to the losers bracket.[24] The Shock responded to the loss by pulling off a dominant run in losers bracket; the team swept the London Spitfire in the first round, the Los Angeles Gladiators in the second round, the Hangzhou Spark in the third round, and the New York Excelsior in the losers finals to secure a spot in the 2019 Grand Finals.[25] The Shock swept the Titans 4–0 in the Grand Finals to claim the title of Overwatch League Champions.[26]

For the 2020 season, the Shock debuted new colors, trading the orange, grey, and gold color scheme that the team had used for two years in favor black and silver, with orange as an accent, as an homage to the Oakland Raiders.[27] Heading into their 2020 season, the Shock elected not to re-sign off-tank Andreas "Nevix" Karlsson and picked up sniper specialist Lee "ANS" Seon-chang in the offseason.[28][29]

The Shock's first match of the 2020 regular season resulted in a 3–1 win over the Dallas Fuel.[30] After starting the season with a 5–2 record, 2019 Most Valuable Player Jay "sinatraa" Won retired from competitive Overwatch to compete in Valorant.[31][32] Three weeks later, the Shock transferred DPS Park "Architect" Min-ho to the Hangzhou Spark and signed former Vancouver Titans flex support Lee "Twilight" Jooseok.[33] After going undefeated in the regular season for the month of May, the Shock claimed the top seed in the May Melee, where they ultimately defeated the Florida Mayhem in the finals to win the tournament title.[34][35] Having lost not a match since March, the Shock won all of their regular season matches in June to claim the top seed in the Summer Showdown; however, the team fell to the Paris Eternal in the finals.[36] After the loss, the Shock signed DPS Sean Taiyo "Ta1yo" Henderson from Overwatch Contenders team Third Impact. The Shock continued their regular season win streak throughout July and claimed the top seed in the Countdown Cup, where they won their second midseason tournament title after defeating the Philadelphia Fusion.[37] In their first match after the title win, the Shock again faced the Fusion and were swept 3–0, ending their regular season win streak and locking them into the second seed of the North America playoffs bracket.[38] The team finished the regular season with 18 wins, 7 bonus wins from midseason tournaments, and 3 losses, giving them an effective regular season record of 25–3.[39] Lee "Ans" Seon-Chang, Choi "Choihyobin" Hyo-Bin, and Park "Viol2t" Min-Ki were awarded the Role Star commendation for DPS, and support, respectively.[40] Choihyobin and Viol2t were also nominated for the league's most valuable player award.[41]

San Francisco faced the eighth-seeded Washington Justice on September 5 in the first round of the 2020 North America playoffs bracket, and after falling 0–2 in the match, the Shock won three straight maps to move on to the second round of the upper bracket.[42] The Shock then defeated the seventh-seeded Atlanta Reign by a score of 3–1.[43] Moving on to the upper bracket finals, the Shock faced the top-seeded Philadelphia Fusion. Despite keeping the maps close, the Shock came out with a 3–1 victory and advanced to the Grand Finals bracket.[44] As the top North America seed in the Grand Finals bracket, the Shock faced Asia's second-seeded Seoul Dynasty in the bracket's first round on October 8. After the Shock came out with a quick 2–0 lead, the Dynasty evened up the score, winning the following two maps; however, San Francisco won the final map of the match and moved on to the Upper Bracket finals.[45] The team faced Asia's top-seeded Shanghai Dragons in the upper finals, where, again, the Shock started the match with a 2–0 lead, but the Dragons tied up the series after four maps. The Shock won the final map of the match to advance to the Grand Finals match.[46] In the Grand Finals match, the Shock defeated the Seoul Dynasty by a score of 4–2 to win their consecutive OWL championship.[47]