Monday was a day of turmoil for the Dallas Fuel. A shift was brewing for a while. - The Dallas Morning News

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Update, 9:52 p.m.: This story has been updated throughout since it was originally published.

In the span of six hours Monday, the under-performing Dallas Fuel announced the release of their star DPS player, head coach and an assistant coach.

It was a day of turmoil that followed another disappointing weekend for a wildly popular Overwatch League team that has once again failed to reach expectations.

But an organizational shakeup -- which consisted of the departures of head coach Aaron “Aero Atkins, assistant coach Louis “Tikatee” Lebel-Wong and Jang “Decay” Gui-un -- had been brewing over the last few weeks, according to those familiar with the inner workings of the team.

The big question now is if the Fuel can salvage the remainder of the 2020 OWL season, or if this will set them up for success in 2021. Kim “Yong” Yong-jin, an assistant in his first season with Dallas was named the interim head coach.

Aero out

Aero was not immediately available to speak with The Dallas Morning News on Monday night, though he took to social media to give his immediate thoughts.

I've hugged players that are feeling the pressures of life and esports. Through all of the ups and downs I've always tried to learn, grow, and make the best decisions I can for all the players and staff I'm responsible for. Sometimes I make good ones, sometimes I make bad ones.

— Aaron Atkins (@Aero_OW) August 4, 2020

Will be taking some time to consider all of my options and then will look for new opportunities both in and outside of coaching. Shoot me a DM or Email: Aero@FTWTalent.com

— Aaron Atkins (@Aero_OW) August 4, 2020

The Fuel’s move regarding Aero and Tikatee was about results, though the team now has a history of DPS stars departing midseason. More on that later.

The Fuel (7-10) are currently in their third losing season in three tries and on the heels of a brutal 12-match skid that ended the 2019 campaign. Aero, who led Team USA to an Overwatch World Cup last offseason, was given a chance to continue what he started despite last season’s poor performances.

An offseason overhaul of the roster, punctuated with the blockbuster trade that sent main tank Son “OGE” Min-seok to the Los Angeles Gladiators, breathed new life into a team backed by juggernaut Envy Gaming. A strong start to the season ultimately started to go sour over the last few months, though. Decay only played in three of the past 12 maps, last competing in a full match back on July 3.

“I was personally expecting changes to happen in the offseason more than anything,” Tikatee told The News. “But I was pretty caught off guard by today.”

To his credit, Aero consistently took the blame after losses and in speaking with the media, and it wasn’t until this weekend that behind-the-scenes drama started to leak out publicly. Mentality and lack of synergy were highlighted as the culprit of two poor showings.

Decay again didn’t play, and the reasons were revealed less than 24 hours after a 3-1 loss to Atlanta.

On the outs

The star broke out as an early-season MVP candidate, boasting impressive numbers and creating memorable performances in tournaments. But Envy Gaming owner Mike Rufail pointed to a lack of professionalism with the young Korean; he wasn’t willing to show up for practice.

The Fuel released Decay per the player’s request, according to the team.

“For him to come out and flat out refuse to practice, at that point I just knew,” Rufail told The News in a phone interview Monday afternoon after Decay was released, but before the coaches were. “He actually said this to us, that he would refuse to practice but would show up to matches. At that point I knew we had to let him go. That doesn’t work for us.

Decay was hailed as a huge pickup in the offseason, but Rufail alluded to issues from the start. A source said maturity issues also contributed to the player’s downfall.

“From the get-go it didn’t seem like he was very receptive to working with our team,” said Rufail, who recently was named the company’s first chief gaming officer.

But Monday’s three-person release showed that the problems weren’t isolated to the team’s best player. Nor was he 100 percent at fault. The Fuel were only scraping wins from the bottom of the Overwatch League standings, even with Decay’s in-game heroics. At times, broadcasters fawned over his ability. When Decay was absent from the lineup, questions from analysts and fans flooded match streams.

Problems arose within the team early in the season, Tikatee suggested. He didn’t have a specific date, but said the Fuel’s loss to the Vancouver Titans on June 20 was a true low point. The Titans were a brand new roster at the time, searching for a first win as a group at the bottom of the power rankings.

“There was definitely a time after we lost to Vancouver when we took a long, hard look at ourselves and reevaluated a lot of things,” Tikatee said. “There were times before that where issues came up, but I guess we struggled to address them more than anything.”

While the assistant didn’t think there was a huge disconnect between staff and coaches, he said Fuel missed the mark when integrating a team composed of players speaking both English and Korean.

Tikatee also said Decay’s imbalance within the team was perhaps a slow burn, and something the team wasn’t able to recognize until it was too late.

While it may have been a shocking development to see one of the most talented players in the world be released, the DPS line has been a revolving door for the Fuel.

Dallas departures

The Fuel haven’t had the best of luck with high-profile players in the Overwatch League.

While he was a tank player as opposed to damage, the team also famously parted ways with Felix “xQc” Lengyel early during OWL’s inaugural season in 2018 due to violating multiple Overwatch League Code of Conduct violations.

Not every problem within the Fuel drew league involvement, but former damage stars Hyeon “Effect” Hwang and Kim “Rascal” Dong-jun also saw short stints with the team.

Maturity level among DPS players was already a problem in the past with the Fuel, though Rufail said there were key differences from the recent spout with Decay.

“Effect had a lot of personal things going on in his life and different things that happened that prevented him from playing,” Rufail said. “It’s a completely different situation. Rascal was being very difficult, but I think Rascal actually learned from us and went on to have a successful career, which is great. We are happy to see that.”

A source told The News that one of the strongest bonds between teammates on the Fuel was between Decay and his damage counterpart Kim “DoHa” Dongha. That notion was backed by DoHa’s brief note on Twitter.

DoHa, perhaps the only recent stability for the Fuel in the DPS line as the entire lineup from last year hasn’t logg any minutes in 2020 -- Dylan “aKm” Bignet, Zachary “ZachaREEE” Lombardo and Timo “Taimou” Kettunen haven’t appeaedr. (aKm has been on the bench while ZachaREEE and Taimou are no longer with the team.)

Damage players have been hard to come by in Dallas. The Fuel’s recent shakeup was par for the course in that regard.

But DoHa and newcomer Stefan “Onigod” Fiskerstrand have been bright spots during the Fuel’s recent dim stretch.

The Fuel are moving forward, and wasting no time to make adjustments. While the team as fans knew it in 2020 may be gone, the season isn’t over.

Looking ahead

Dallas may need cultural collection. Miscommunication among the coaching staff and players in regards to philosophical issues and roles isn’t the recipe to success.

The Fuel could use a fresh start, and will almost certainly look differently under Yong as interim head coach. Yong said on Twitter that he may not know all the answers, but he wanted fans to avoid pointing fingers at his players.

I know that I may not be good enough and it'll be difficult to make a big difference immediately.
However, I will always do more than I can regardless of how tough it is.
I would like the fans to refrain from criticizing the players if we ever lose a match, and blame me instead https://t.co/M6oImy46dp

— Fuel_Yong (@FuelYong) August 4, 2020

From here on out, it’ll be about coaching. That’s at least how he saw it. The Fuel have had preparation blunders on several occasions this season, working on certain styles in practice only to be stunned with a different strategy from an opponent.

That won’t win championships either, and Yong can kick-start the remainder of the Fuel’s season with a convincing win over a struggling Washington Justice team in the Countdown Cup on Friday at 6 p.m.

The Fuel perpetually have high expectations from their fan base. Level of talent has never been a limiting factor. They entered the inaugural season of the Overwatch League in 2018 as a title favorite. Big things were expected in both 2019 and 2020.

None of that came to fruition. That doesn’t mean Yong can’t get something started now, because the Fuel will remain under the microscope.

Envy and the Fuel know that.

“We are still going to try and be a force in the playoffs,” Rufail said. “That’s the basis for the moves. We can’t keep somebody around that is hurting the team. We are trying to make the changes that allow our players to have a comfortable position to make a playoff push.”

Monday tested the endurance of the Dallas Fuel and their fans. Tuesday could be a new beginning.

Find more esports stories from The Dallas Morning News here.

Find more Fuel stories from The News here.

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Monday was a day of turmoil for the Dallas Fuel. A shift was brewing for a while. - The Dallas Morning News
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