The Los Angeles Gladiators have the chance to compete with the best teams in the Overwatch League. After they reached the Season playoffs last year, and crashed in glorious fashion, they rebuilt. Dropping a few players, they were left with few key pieces. Lane “Surefour” Roberts and João Pedro “Hydration” Goes Telles remained as the DPS players. Benjamin “BigGoose” Isohanni and Jonas “Shaz” Suovaara, the famous Finnish duo, remained with the Gladiators as well. Hyung-seok “Bischu” Kim and mid-season pickup Jun-woo “Void” Kang made up the tank line of the Gladiators. This left the Gladiators with no substitutes, as well as no main tank.
When the offseason opened, the Gladiators took charge. First, they announced the signing of two Korean players from KongDoo Panthera, Void’s former team. Gui-un “Decay” Jang and Chang-hoon “rOar” Gye were brought on in October. In November, the Gladiators shocked the Overwatch world by seemingly announcing that both Shaz and BigGoose would be leaving the Gladiators. Half an hour later, they announced that the Finnish duo would be leaving, but in exchange the Finnish trio would be completed. The Gladiators brought in Finnish support player Riku “Ripa” Toivanen from Team Gigantti. Finally, they announced that they would be offering a two-way contract with their Gladiators Legion main tank, Byung-ho “Panker” Lee.
With all of these new additions to the Gladiators, including a main tank who will be starting every game, how will communication and chemistry affect them? Will the language barrier be their downfall? Will the amount of new talent in the team disrupt the chemistry that was built before? These are the questions that will plague the Gladiators for the upcoming season of the Overwatch League.
The Old Guard
One question that head coach David “Dpei” Pei will have to figure out is a starting lineup. They now have three DPS players who, many argue, deserve to start every game. For a look into the Gladiators’ DPS options, click here. One problem the DPS players face is the fact that GOATS is still the current meta. GOATS uses no DPS Heroes, only tank and support. Surefour, Hydration and Decay have all shown their ability to flex onto other Heroes. However, with Void and Bischu both being off tank players, is there still a place for them in GOATS meta? In an interview from May, Hydration said that he believes that Void is in the top three Zarya players in Overwatch. Decay plays a very competitive Zarya, along with Tracer, Widowmaker and Genji. Adjusting to new teammates can be difficult at times. One thing that can make new teammates difficult is a language barrier, which the Los Angeles Gladiators will have to deal with.
Korean Takeover
With half of the Gladiators’ roster now being composed of Korean players, the Gladiators need to figure out what language will be used to communicate during games. During the first season of the Overwatch League, the team started communication in English, since most of their roster spoke the language. Eventually, when they brought in more Korean players, it began to be an issue. Hydration, in the same interview for Akshon Esports, is quoted as saying “This past month, Void wasn’t able to play, so he was studying all of the map names and words that we use in English during the game.” This shows that they decided that English would be the best language for the team to communicate in.
For the upcoming season, it seems that they will stick with English as their main communication. The two new Korean players from KongDoo arrived in October, so they will have had plenty of time to learn the key words in English, similarly to what Void did. The positive aspect of this is that the offseason was long, so there was more time for the team to start practicing together and communicating.
How to Connect the Dots
One of the biggest keys in the communication and chemistry gap is the off tanks. Bischu is fluent in both English and Korean, thus making him the perfect translator for the team. His D.Va play was consistent for the Gladiators, making him an integral part to the GOATS meta. His time was split with Void once he was brought into the team. Void will also be and integral part of the team chemistry. He formerly played with Decay and rOar on KongDoo, so he has played with them before. Because of this, he knows how they play, and how they act. He has also been with the Gladiators since late March of last year. Living with the team, as well as playing with them, will give him a very important role for the team. He will be the initial bridge in the chemistry gap.
Overwatch is very much a team game. The communication and chemistry between all six of the players is key to a team’s success. Any rift in those aspects can doom a team in the Overwatch League. The Gladiators will first test their team chemistry and communication against the Seoul Dynasty on Feb. 14, when the Overwatch League returns. For a look into the Gladiators potential metas, click here for GOATS and here for dive.
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Featured Image Courtesy of Heroes Never Die
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