A new Season gives us a whole new realm of possibilities for what the LA Valiant can achieve. Will the team be able to get another Stage Title? Will they be able to overcome their rivals and reign supreme as Overwatch League Season 2’s Champions? It all depends on many factors, and with the changes that were made to the League, we’ll have to wait and see.
LA Valiant wasn’t sleeping this offseason though, it has been tough. Everything started on September 7th, when the team announced the release of tanks Seb “Numlocked” Barton and Finnbjorn “Finnsi” Jonasson, support Stefano “Verbo” Disalvo, and assistant coach Christopher “Grimreality” Schaefer. Later on, they announced they transferred assistant coach Jordan “Gunba” Graham to the Boston Uprising, and the most hurtful of all, DPS Terence “Soon” Tarlier and assistant coach Julien “Daemon” Ducros to Paris Eternal. No longer will the audience be able to chant “SOOOOON” when the Valiant takes the stage. They also acquired tank Dae-Kuk “KuKi” Kim from the Seoul Dynasty.
The offseason has been rough on the team. The sheer amount of transfers and releases seems a bit harsh. However, this allows the coaches to focus their attention on a more compact roster and specialize their players. They have a whole year of matches to prove themselves. But which matches matter the most? We’ll take a look at them here.
Courtesy of Overwatch League
The Valiant will make their debut game of Season 2 on Saturday, February 16th, against none other than the Hangzhou Spark.
Even though a new team going against the Inaugural Season’s Pacific Division Leader doesn’t sound like such a big match, we have to remember the changes that the team has suffered throughout the offseason. It is right here that the LA Valiant must prove to everyone that even though Soon isn’t wearing green and gold anymore, they’re still something to take seriously.
Hangzhou isn’t a team to take lightly, either. They might be new, but they don’t lack good players. They have in their ranks two of Overwatch World Cup 2018’s crowd favorites, tank Qiulin “Guxue” Xu and DPS Shilong “Krystal” Cai, who managed to reach the finals and give Team South Korea a hard fought match.
The San Francisco Shock at the California Cup. Courtesy of Samuel T. Chen and Emerald Gao.
Starting right on week 1 of Stage 2, the rematch of the California Cup will be presented live on the stage at the Blizzard Arena.
After having a very busy offseason, the San Francisco Shock will try to prove that they’re still worthy of holding the title of Kings of the Golden State.
Contrary to LA Valiant, the Shock has signed more players than they have released. With strong additions like DPS Nam-Ju “Striker” Gwon and support Min-Ki “Viol2t” Park, it won’t be a stroll in the park. But the question remains, how will their DPS players perform when there are five already on the team?
Courtesy of the London Spitfire
Everyone likes to see their team face off against the big ones and prove themselves superior, and what better way to experience this than against the London Spitfire, Overwatch League’s Season 1 Champions.
London’s offseason has been hard, but not devastating. They announced that Won-Sik “Closer” Jung was being transferred to the Dallas Fuel. In his absence, however, two other star players were signed. DPS Hee-Dong “Guard” Lee and support Young-Hoon “Krillin” Jeong will be playing with the big boys in town on Season 2. Krillin is the player that has everyone wondering though, because he was apparently picked up straight from the ladder. Will they be able to keep their glory? We’ll have to see.
Courtesy of LA Gladiators
What better way to close the books than with a match that will have everyone going crazy at the stands? The long-standing rivalry of the Los Angeles Gladiators and the Los Angeles Valiant will come to life again on the last road game of the season, hosted by the Valiant as well.
Currently, the standings between these two teams shows that the Valiant holds a rather large advantage, holding 3 victories over 1 loss against the Gladiators throughout the Inaugural Season’s regular matches.
By this point in the season, both teams will have their current roster figured out, and with it, even the lack of players like Chan-Hyung “Fissure” Baek will not impact highly, but we still cannot say for sure who will prove the better team.
Featured Image Courtesy of Los Angeles Valiant.
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