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The Overwatch League playoffs are in full swing. Last week we looked at the wildcard teams and this week we’re looking over the division winners. How will the Los Angeles Valiant, fresh off the week off, fare in this new meta?
Not picked as a genuine contender at the start of the season, the Valiant navigated a ho-hum start, added some great pieces to the roster at the halfway point and surged through Stages 3 and 4 end up Pacific divsion champions and second overall seed.
The Valiant were a part of Overwatch League history, playing the competition’s very first match against the San Francisco Shock and emerging 4-0 victors. They enjoyed a very strong Stage 1, recovering from two losses in Week 2 to go 7-3 overall, the major highlights being a 3-2 win over the Gladiators in the first LA derby and a 3-0 win over title fancies Seoul Dynasty in Week 5.
They narrowly missed out on stage finals (edged by London Spitfire by just two maps), but looked to have entrenched themselves as one of the better teams in league.
But Stage 2 was a different story. Valiant struggled badly post-Valkyrie nerf, with their support players unable to adapt to the new metagame.
They lost five of their last six matches in the stage, including the last four in a row, to go 4-6 and sit 11-9 at the halfway point of the season, seemingly at the crossroads.
Many were picking the green and gold to tail off even further, but they revitalised their season with a very smart trade period in between stages. Swapping Benjamin “uNKOE” Chevasson to Dallas in exchange for Australia’s own Scott “Custa” Kennedy proved to be a masterstroke, while the additions of Joon-hyuk “Bunny” Chae from Seoul and Kyle “KSF” Frandanisa from a Contenders team gave the squad envaiable depth.
A 4-0 demolition of the Dynasty in their first match of Stage 3 was a tick of approval for their roster moves, and it only got better from there. A 7-3 run through the third stage saw them make the stage finals for the first time, although they were given a 3-0 reality check by the league-leading New York Excelsior.
Los Angeles were only getting started, however, clicking into another gear in Stage 4 with an incredible 9-1 run. The revitalised roster overcame just about every challenge before them, catapulting the club right into the championship conversation.
Even more satisfying for Valiant fans was their performance in the Stage 4 finals, where they knocked off the crosstown rival Gladiators 3-2 and got revenge on New York 3-1 to claim the stage title.
All season long, the Valiant’s culture of hard work and commitment to success has been lauded across the league.
Even before the season, when the team wasn’t tipped to be a contender, the environment Immortals CEO Noah Winston was said to be creating for his squad was the envy of the league.
As a result, this is a team that has the utmost (and well-founded) belief in themselves, and that mental resilience has proved so important in the early playoff rounds.
Valiant have the talent, teamwork and culture to take this all the way, and their form across Stage 4 proved as such.
They had the equal-best record across the most recent stage, while also notching victories against the other two top sides in the Stage 4 playoffs.
They’ve hit their stride at just the right team and won’t start as outright underdogs in any match they play.
Custa.
No, we’re not saying that because he’s the lone Australian in the Overwatch League – it’s because of how Mercy has been played so far in the playoffs.
While there are several unshared factors that can be attributed to the the Boston Uprising and Los Angeles Gladiators getting knocked out in the first round, one thing their defeats had in common was their Mercy players being routinely punished for being out of position.
Boston’s Kristian “Kellex” Keller and the Gladiators’ Benjamin “BigGoose” Isohanni were both very often the first to fall in teamfights, leaving their respective teams very much high and dry on the healing front.
If Valiant are going to come out of their series with a rejuvenated London side unscathed, they’ll need Custa to show more discipline with the Swiss medic than his counterparts did.