Dallas Fuel
Dallas Fuel is an American professional Overwatch team based in Dallas, Texas. The Fuel compete in the Overwatch League as a member of the league's Pacific West Division.
Founded in 2017, Dallas Fuel is one of the league's twelve founding members and is one of two professional Overwatch teams based in Texas. The Fuel became the first team to play a home match, as they hosted the "Dallas Fuel Homestand Weekend" at the Allen Event Center in 2019; Dallas will host five homestands in 2020 at various locations. The team is owned by esports organization Envy Gaming, who also own Team Envy. Team Envy runs their own Overwatch division that competes in Overwatch Contenders as an academy team for the Fuel.
Kyle "KyKy" Souder was appointed the team's first head coach, but after a disappointing first-half of the 2018 season, he was replaced by Aaron "Aero" Atkins. Aero led the team to a Stage 4 playoff berth in 2018 but has yet to bring the Fuel to the season playoffs.
Franchise history
Team origins: 2016–2017
Formed during the Overwatch closed beta in February 2016, the Dallas Fuel originally started out as an all-American roster playing under the Overwatch division for esports franchise Team Envy. Even though their original roster showed some early promise in online tournaments, just prior to the official launch of Overwatch they disbanded. Their next turn in forming a roster saw them look abroad, eventually bringing players from across Europe to their Charlotte headquarters and securing the core of what would become the Dallas Fuel in Sebastian "chipshajen" Widlund, Christian "cocco" Jonsson, Jonathan "HarryHook" Tejedor Rua, and Timo "Taimou" Kettunen. The team found much success, going on to win Season 1 of OGN's Overwatch APEX in Seoul, Korea, winning the Overwatch NA Invitational at MLG Vegas, and going undefeated and winning 2018 Season 1 of North America Overwatch Contenders. The Contenders playoffs marked both the debut of Brandon "Seagull" Larned, as well as the final event played under the "Team EnVyUs" moniker.After weeks of speculation, on September 20, 2017, Blizzard officially announced that Envy Gaming had acquired the Dallas-based Overwatch League franchise spot, making them one of twelve teams competing in the inaugural season. Envy Gaming filled the Fuel roster by transferring all of the members and staff from the Overwatch team of Team EnVyUs, which officially ended EnVyUs' Overwatch division. On October 5, 2017, the Dallas-based franchise name was revealed as the Dallas Fuel. In late October, the Fuel announced that Scott "Custa" Kennedy and Félix "xQc" Lengyel would be rounding out their 9-player roster, joining existing members chipshajen, cocco, EFFECT, HarryHook, Mickie, Seagull, and Taimou.
Early years: 2018–present
In December 2017, the Fuel went undefeated in the first ever Overwatch League preseason. Shortly afterwards on January 10, 2018, the Fuel began their inaugural regular season campaign. Their debut match resulted in a 1–2 loss to early season favorites the Seoul Dynasty. They would struggle for the remainder of Stage 1, and end up finishing with a 3–7 record in 10th place, which did not reflect how the team did previously as Team Envy. The Fuel finished Stage 2 in 11th place with a 2-8 record. Early in Stage 3, head coach KyKy and DPS player Rascal were released after some in fighting between the two. The team's only victory in the stage was over the winless Shanghai Dragons, making their stage record 1-9. The team signed Fusion University head coach Aaron “Aero” Atkins before the fourth stage began. The Fuel would go on to achieve a season-high 6 wins, including victories against top-6 opponents the Valiant, Uprising, Spitfire, and Fusion. The record would be good enough for a 4th place finish and the team's first ever stage playoffs berth. In the stage semi-finals, the team would lose 2–3 against back-to-back stage champions New York Excelsior, the match marking the end of their season, as they would finish in 10th place with a record of 12–28.In their first full season under head coach Aaron "Aero" Atkins, the team looked to improve on their disappointing 12–28 record from 2018. Dallas began the 2019 season posting an impressive 4–2 record through six games, but a 2–3 loss in the final match of the stage to the Boston Uprising eliminated the team from Stage 1 Playoff contention. The team hit their stride in Stage 2, amassing a 5–2 record, and qualified for the Stage 2 Playoffs. However, they were knocked out in the quarterfinals round by the Vancouver Titans in a 0–3 loss. The Fuel fell apart in the final half of the season, finding only one win in their final fourteen matches. With a 10–18 record for the season, the Fuel again did not qualify for the season playoffs.
Team identity
On October 5, 2017, the Dallas Fuel brand was officially unveiled. The creation stemmed from the Overwatch League requirement for participating franchises to create new geolocated brands, as well as business entities, specific to the league.Due to the energy's sector's influence on Dallas culture and economy, plus the rich energy sector legacy of new investment partners Hersh Interactive Group led by Dallas-based Kenneth Hersh, the name "Fuel" was eventually selected. In addition, the team revealed they hoped the selection would appeal to fans from all walks of life.
With the franchise looking to breathe new life into esports fans in Dallas and hoping to transcend current industry standards, the iconic blue flame was selected to symbolize the spark that would ignite the change. The logo also pays homage to the heritage and strength of the energy sector in Texas, the industry in which team investor Kenneth Hersh made his riches.
The official team colors are blue, grey, and black. Blue serves as the primary team color in recognition of the endearment "Boys in Blue" that the team had acquired under parent organization EnVyUs. The Fuel’s jerseys are white on away games and blue on home games; they also have the Jack in the Box logo, the first OWL jersey sponsor, prominently placed on the front.
Ownership and finances
On September 18, 2017, Envy Gaming owner Mike "Hastr0" Rufail, a Texas native, confirmed that the organization had secured a multimillion-dollar investment from Hersh Interactive Group. The deal entailed Hersh serving as strategic partners to the organization, whilst Hastr0 would remain as the principal owner and operator of the team. Soon after, on September 20, it was officially announced that the Dallas-based Overwatch League franchise had been acquired by Team Envy for a reported $20 million.In November 2017, Team Envy signed a multimillion-dollar, multiyear deal with the restaurant chain Jack in the Box. As part of the deal, Jack in the Box became the official quick-service restaurant and exclusive jersey rights partner of the Fuel, as well as having their logo featured on official team merchandise available for purchase by the public. The team partnership marked the first of its kind in the Overwatch League.
Home arenas
The Fuel in 2019 became the first team in the Overwatch League to host a home game. The two-day event, the Dallas Fuel Homestand Weekend, took place at the Allen Event Center in Allen, Texas and sold out 4,500 seats each day. Held in part to test the viability of the league's plan to hold matches locally, Dallas Fuel was responsible for every aspect of the weekend aside from the broadcast, which was aired on ESPN2. Marking the highest viewership of 2019 Stage 2, the homestand showed that the local-match model has promise.The Fuel was slated to host a league-high five homestand weekends in the 2020 season. The matches would have taken place at Esports Stadium Arlington, Toyota Music Factory, Allen Event Center, and two more undetermined locations. These homestand weekends were later cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Personnel
Current roster
Head coaches
Awards and records
Seasons overview
Individual accomplishments
Dennis Hawelka Award- Mickie – 2018
- Mickie – 2018
- Seagull – 2018
- OGE – 2018, 2019
Academy team