It’s hard not to cheer on the defending champions in all competitive areas, the Monitoring League included. And after emerging as a dominant force throughout last season, the Shanghai Dragons are naturally exceeding community expectations as we inch closer to the start of May 5 for Monitoring Fifth season in the league.

After nearly sweeping the entire top bracket in last year’s playoffs, are they the de facto option for the best team right now? With a new battlefield to master, a triumphant but not unblemished record, and the league continually advancing, the Shanghai Dragons 2022 are a automatic locking for the better team entering Monitoring League?

Starting with admittedly some of the weaker reviews, we often wonder if the Dragons ride high on a slight recency bias tailwind. It is indisputable that the 2021 Shanghai Dragons were the most consistent and prepared team for the playoffs, however, their record this season was not without some strange and frankly irrelevant losses.

Week 1 of the May scrum saw the Shanghai Dragons swept convincingly by the Chengdu Hunters. The jitters and jitters at the start of the season are certainly not out of the question, especially in light of their run in the playoffs at this stage, so perhaps we can excuse that from the record. However, this ever-so-slight inconsistency comes to life again in the June game, especially in Shanghai’s Week 6 loss to Hangzhou Spark. Now at the Dragons’ defense, Spark qualified for the playoffs with a perfect record and dropping just two cards in their four sets.

We will become heretics for a moment for all those who pray at the Church of the Dragons. Would the 2021 Shanghai Dragons have been as good as they were had a team like Dallas Fuel not been typecast? This same question could be asked of teams like the Chengdu Hunters and the Atlanta Reign. Beyond that, would the Dragons have been so dominant playing from the west with more of a supposed difficulty trying to find best practice?

There is no doubt that every team can find success under the circumstances, but if we can agree that some of these points are a bit of column A and a bit of column B, then this pristine view of their run the last year is beginning to crumble. Not to discredit their achievement, but to show that there’s a lot more to do in and out of season than just frolicking in cement and etching the Dragons logo permanently into the top spot. This reality becomes even more disconcerting when you look at how the offseason has progressed for some of the league’s top teams.

First on this list has to be the San Francisco Shock. While the two-time champions were thwarted in their dreams for three, the Shock took no prisoners this offseason. Being able to hold someone like Matthew “Great” DeLisi will never be a bad shot, but on top of that the Shock have signed former O2 stars Blast Jung “Kilo” Jin-woo and Oh “Finnish” Se-jin. However, what dominates their narrative is their acquisition of what many pundits claim to be not only one of the first Rookie of the Year nominees, but also the winner, Kim “Correct” Dong-hyun. Being spoken alongside and even surpassing some of the best DPS we currently have, this rookie should have a gigantic impact on the Monitoring League. However, they aren’t the only ones landing rising stars.

Take for example the Chengdu Hunters’ promotion of star DPS Li”Apr1ta” Yuanjinghao. Arriving so easily one of the hottest talents in Monitoring Contenders China over the past few years, Apr1ta is addressing many of the issues the Hunters 2021 faced last season and is able to do so at a world-class level. His presence is going to see both immediate improvements looking at the skill set needed for Chengdu to advance, but also has the potential to make a name for himself as one of the best DPS players in the world.

Sitting next to them are teams like the Los Angeles Gladiators, Dallas Fuel and Hangzhou Spark, the list goes on. Year after year, we constantly say the same thing; this upcoming season will likely be even more competitive than the previous one. That feeling only comes when teams make those tough wholesale changes and really level up. This directly serves to challenge the Dragons even further, especially as we enter the uncharted waters of a new title.

While Overwatch 2 uncertainty is something that can be exploited against every franchise, team and player entering the 2022 season, it is this inherent dilemma that makes it difficult to paint anyone in an “secure” position next season. As of this writing, we know next to nothing about Monitor 2 apart from the few alterations and small anecdotes that have been given by the developers. Anyone who claims one way or another when it comes to favorites right now is using an outdated review lens. We may be playing a similar game, with heroes that look and feel like they once did, but it’s always been about the detail, the nuance that professional players can exploit at the highest level. In fact, they play their own game, shaving percentages here and there to try to take a stand on their opponents.

It would be like showing up to a football game not knowing if the ball had been deflated, if the pitch was bigger or smaller, or if the keepers could only use their elbows to deflect and guard the net. We can make assumptions, of course, but for sure lock a team at the start with so little information does the league as a whole a disservice.

When you look at the 2022 Shanghai Dragons roster, it’s hard to try to approach it with an unbiased lens. The staff are world class, the staff have continually made the right moves and delivered results, and after that their off season moves have ironed out any rough edges you might even try to separate.

Returning to our discussion of Overwatch 2 new battlefield, the idea and concept of “support” play is something that many pundits see as a possible facet of change, which makes the Dragons’ acquisition of former support Washington Justice flexible , Yoon “Baby” Hui-chang is much more interesting. Shanghai has always had a very full bench since head coach Moon “Moon” Byung-chul was placed in power. This also shows in their decision to keep Lee “Who are you” Seung-jun too. Neither should expect to see playing time, even if that is inherently biased towards Monitoring 1– but that’s not the point. Coach Moon and the Dragons aren’t looking for replacements, at least that’s the sentiment from the outside watching, as much as players who can fill in if the need arises in this uncertain new space.

The Dragons can be the quintessential favorites to find repeat success and not be locked into the number one seed – those two things are mutually exclusive. One claims certainty in the face of the unknown and the other inherently admits its flaws and gives advantages with what we now know. If we don’t want to marry the meta, then we should be sure to nominate last year’s best team, as it’s more practical to ignore the possibility that a new team might thrive in an environment we don’t. haven’t unlocked yet.

No one here is claiming that the Dragons are bad or can’t do great things this year.

We say; let’s not jump the gun for number one.