After starting the season on an incredibly tough note, the Valiant sought to turn things around this week against a Guangzhou Charge team that has been anything but predictable.
Yet, this week was not the week the Valiant would gain their first win of this Overwatch League season. The Charge simply got out of the gates too quickly for the Valiant. By the time they caught their breath on Rialto, it was already too late.
The series opened on a very back-and-forth Well map that ended up going in favor of the Charge. This, in large part due to the fact that Hong-joon “HOTBA” Choi negated two Graviton Surge’s from Young-seo “KariV” Park who continues to flex on Zarya. Lighthouse began from some very smart staggering from Pan-seung “Fate” Koo and the Valiant. However, despite the Valiant’s strong start, HOTBA and the Charge managed to take the map and the round, leaving the Valiant down 0-1 in the series.
Image Courtesy of OverwatchLeague.com
The Valiant elected to start King’s Row on offense, starting the map off with a quick and explosive initial attack. Through persistent aggression and some sneaky back caps from Indy “SPACE” Halpern, the Valiant moved through King’s Row with an impressive 2:41 left in the time bank. The Charge snapped back with a record-breaking offense of their own, leaving a whopping 3:44 left in the time bank.
The Valiant capped the first point quickly but failed to move significantly through the streets of King’s Row. This, paired with the massive time bank from the Charge, led to an eventual Charge victory on the map. This put the Valiant down 0-2 in the series, with Horizon Lunar Colony up next.
Coming back from the break, the Valiant looked to turn the series around and begin the reverse sweep. Despite a strong first point take, the Charge cycled ultimates effectively enough to hold off the Valiant attack. This put the Valiant in a tough position to avoid losing the map.
With their backs against the wall, the Valiant were unable to hold up to their namesake and succumbed to the electric attack of the Charge. With this, the series was decided in favor of Guangzhou. With one map left, the Valiant sought to avoid the full sweep.
This map started slow, taking several minutes to net the first elimination. The Valiant, on attack first, succeeded in winning several team fights, including one on the back of a massive D.Va bomb from SPACE. This, plus some other strong combos on defense, led to the Valiant fighting back to claim the map. Despite losing the series, this map win is crucial for the Valiant turning the tides next week and shooting to get their first win.
While they seemed to improve slowly over the course of the match, the Valiant still struggled against the Charge in the series. With notable Zarya improvement from KariV, the Valiant have some positives to take away from this series among the many points of improvement. The Valiant are back in action on Thursday, March 7th at 9:00 pm CT.
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