Los Angeles Valiant: Stage 2 Week 1 Preview

The LA Valiant may have ended Stage 1 with no won matches, but there’s still the whole season ahead of them. As of now, no player changes have been made on the team. It seems the Valiant simply want to shape up, rather than make drastic additions or removals in their line up. Though, Week 1 of the upcoming stage does not look easy.

Preview

San Francisco Shock (4-3)

San Francisco Shock Logo

For their first match of Stage 2, the LA Valiant will be facing the fan favorites of the Stage 1 playoffs, the San Francisco Shock. The Shock had an amazing run through the playoffs, ending in second place after fighting the Vancouver Titans all the way to a map seven. What this means for the Valiant is that the Shock are not messing around. The Shock only seem to have improved since their debut with their new roster this season. On the contrary, the LA Valiant were up and down in the worst way possible.

On top of that, it seems that the meta will, in fact, not be switching from GOATs come Stage 2. As several players from different teams have stated, the most popular composition is still 3-3. Some weeks ago, the Valiant made a coaching change, releasing head coach Byung-chul “Moon” Moon. Perhaps their current stand-in Mike “Packing10” Szklanny has helped them improve in the time they’ve had in the off-season. However, if their Stage 1 performance is anything to go by, this will surely be a very tough match for them.

The only thing the LA Valiant can ride on in terms of hope for this series is their own self-improvement during the off-season, unless an outstanding trade happens for them in the coming days. Even then, though, trades can only take a team so far, as cohesion is another important factor in success. A trade at the last minute would not be ideal. Aside from possible trades and improvement, the Valiant, despite being win-less, do seem to have somewhat of a history of performing better against the stronger teams in the league. Maybe this match will be no exception.

Prediction: Shock win 3-1

Player to Watch

Boasting quite an impressive Overwatch League debut, LA Valiant support Min-chul “Izayaki” Kim displayed a fierce Zenyatta throughout Stage 1. Many even see him as a contender for one of the best Zenyattas in the league. He certainly had a noticeable impact during several of the matches throughout the stage, and is, presumably, going to continue improving as he garners more experience in OWL.

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Featured image courtesy of the Los Angeles Valiant

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