2018 Los Angeles Valiant season

The 2018 Los Angeles Valiant season was the first season of Los Angeles Valiant's existence in the Overwatch League. The team finished with a regular season record of 27–13 – the second best in the Overwatch League.

2018 Los Angeles Valiant season
Pacific Division champions
Head coachHenry Coxall (rel. Feb 19)
Moon Byung-chul
OwnerNoah Whinston
Results
Record27–13 (.675)
Place
Stage 1 PlayoffsDid not qualify
Stage 2 PlayoffsDid not qualify
Stage 3 PlayoffsSemifinals
Stage 4 PlayoffsChampions
Season PlayoffsSemifinals
OWL All-Stars
Total Earnings$400,000

Los Angeles qualified for the Stage 3 and Stage 4 Playoffs. The team lost in the Stage 3 semifinals to the New York Excelsior. Los Angeles found revenge in the Stage 4 finals when the defeated the New York Excelsior. The team qualified for the Season Playoffs, but lost to the would-be champions London Spitfire in the semifinals.

Preceding offseason

Valiant revealed their inaugural season starting roster over a series of Twitter posts from October 30 to November 2, consisting of the following players:[1]

  • Brady "Agilities" Girardi
  • Terence "Soon" Tarlier
  • Ted "silkthread" Wang
  • Christopher "GrimReality" Schaefer
  • Park "Kariv" Young-seo
  • Stefano "Verbo" Disalvo
  • Benjamin "uNKOE" Chevasson
  • Indy "SPACE" Halpern
  • Koo "Fate" Pan-seung
  • Seb "Numlocked" Barton
  • Lee "Envy" Kang-jae

Review

Los Angeles Valiant's first OWL regular season game was a 4–0 victory against the San Francisco Shock on January 10, 2018.[2] The Valiant posted an impressive 7–3 record in Stage 1, but did not qualify for the Stage 1 Playoffs.[3] On February 19, two days before the beginning of Stage 2, the Los Angeles Valiant announced the departure of head coach Henry "Cuddles" Coxall. The team announced, on the same day, the hiring of Byung Chul "Moon" Moon as the team's new head coach.[4] Stage 2 ended in a disappointing 4–6 record.[5]

The Valiant had a more successful Stage 3, as the team posted a 7–3 record – good for the 3rd seed in the Stage 3 Playoffs.[6] The team faced off against the 2nd-seeded New York Excelsior in the semifinals of the Stage 3 Playoffs, but the Valiant lost in a 0–3 sweep.[7]

Los Angeles Valiant had its best stage in the 4th stage. The team was undefeated going into the final regular season game against the Dallas Fuel. The Valiant lost that matchup by a score of 3 to 1, giving them a 9-1 record and the 2nd seed for the Stage 4 Playoffs.[8] The Valiant faced their intercity-rivals and top-seeded team, the Los Angeles Gladiators, in the semifinals, and were able to pull off a 3–2 victory to move on the finals against the New York Excelsior. On June 17, the Los Angeles Valiant claimed their first-ever stage title, defeating the Excelsior 3–1 in the Stage 4 Finals.[9]

The Valiant ended the regular season with a 27-13 record and the 2nd seed and a first-round bye in the Season Playoffs.[10] The team's was set to face the London Spitfire in the season semifinals. The first matchup was on July 18, in which the Valiant fell to the Spitfire by a score of 1–3. On July 20, the Valiant was eliminated from the Season Playoffs after getting swept 0–3 in the second semifinal match against the Spitfire.[11]

Final roster
2018 Los Angeles Valiant roster
PlayersCoaches
RoleNo.HandleNameNationalityPrevious team
Damage 8 Bunny  Chae Joon-hyuk  South Korea  Seoul Dynasty 
Damage 9 Agilities  Giradi, Brady   Canada  Immortals 
Damage 27 KSF  Frandanisa, Kyle   United States  Simplicity 
Damage 99 SoOn  Tarlier, Terrence   France  Rogue 
Tank 1 Fate  Ko Pan-seung  South Korea  Immortals 
Tank 6 Numlocked  Barton, Sebastian   United Kingdom  NRG Esports 
Support 10 Custa  Kennedy, Scott   Australia  Dallas Fuel 
Support 13 Verbo  Disalvo, Stefano   United States  Immortals 
Support 99 KariV  Park Young-seo  South Korea  Immortals 
Flex 8 Finnsi  Jonasson, Finnbjorn   Iceland  Orgless and Hungry 
Flex 16 SPACE  Halpern, Indy   United States  Cloud9 EU 
Flex 22 Izayaki  Kim Min-chul  South Korea  Foxes 
Head coach
  • Moon Byung-chul
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (TW) Two-way player
  • (I) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injury/Illness

Latest roster transaction: April 13, 2018.

Transactions

Transactions of/for players on the roster during the 2018 regular season:

  • On March 31, Valiant acquired Chae "Bunny" Jun-hyeok from Seoul Dynasty.[12]
  • On April 2, Valiant released Lee "Envy" Kang-jae and Christopher "GrimReality" Schaefer.[13]
  • On April 2, Valiant traded Benjamin "uNKOE" Chevasson to Dallas Fuel in exchange for Scott "Custa" Kennedy.[14]
  • On April 3, Valiant transferred Ted "silkthread" Wang to Los Angeles Gladiators.[15]
  • On April 4, Valiant signed Kyle "KSF" Frandanisa and Finnbjörn "Finnsi" Jónasson.[16]
  • On April 13, Valiant signed Kim "Izayaki" Min-chul.[17]

Standings

Record by stage
StagePldWLPctMWMLMTMDPos
11073.70026133+134
21046.40018231-58
31073.70028151+133
41091.90028132+152
Overall402713.675100647+362
  Qualified for playoffs

League
# Team Division W L PCT P MR MD STK
Division leaders
1 New York Excelsior ATL 34 6 .850 40 126–43–4 +83 W1
2 Los Angeles Valiant PAC 27 13 .675 40 100–64–7 +36 L1
Wild cards
3 Boston Uprising ATL 26 14 .650 40 99–71–3 +28 W4
4 Los Angeles Gladiators PAC 25 15 .625 40 96–72–3 +24 W5
5[lower-alpha 1] London Spitfire ATL 24 16 .600 40 102–69–3 +33 L1
6[lower-alpha 1] Philadelphia Fusion ATL 24 16 .600 40 93–80–2 +13 W1
Did not qualify for playoffs
7[lower-alpha 2] Houston Outlaws ATL 22 18 .550 40 94–77–2 +17 L1
8[lower-alpha 2] Seoul Dynasty PAC 22 18 .550 40 91–78–3 +13 L1
9 San Francisco Shock PAC 17 23 .425 40 77–84–5 -7 W1
10 Dallas Fuel PAC 12 28 .300 40 58–100–7 -42 W1
11 Florida Mayhem ATL 7 33 .175 40 42–120–5 -78 L3
12 Shanghai Dragons PAC 0 40 .000 40 21–141–2 -120 L40
Tiebreakers

  1. London placed ahead of Philadelphia based on map differential.

  2. Houston placed ahead of Seoul based on map differential.

Game log

Preseason
2018 preseason game log
Preseason (2–0)

Regular season
2018 game log (Overall record: 27–13)
Stage 1 (7–3)
Stage 2 (4–6)
Stage 3 (7–3)
Stage 4 (9–1)

Playoffs
2018 playoff game log
Stage 3 Playoffs (0–1)
Stage 4 Playoffs (2–0)
Season Playoffs (0–2)

References
  1. "Los Angeles Valiant unveil roster". over.gg. November 2, 2017. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  2. Carpenter, Nicole (January 10, 2018). "Hometown favorites Los Angeles Valiant win Overwatch League's first match". Dot Esports. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  3. Mejia, Ozzie (February 10, 2019). "The London Spitfire Win the Overwatch League Stage 1 Finals". Shack News. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  4. Tahan, Chelsey (19 February 2018). "Los Angeles Valiant announces a change in their coaching staff". Overwatch Wire. Archived from the original on October 21, 2018. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  5. Thomas, Jeremy (March 26, 2018). "Breaking Down Overwatch League Stage Two – The Good, the Bad, The Ugly". 411 Mania. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  6. Lingle, Samuel (May 5, 2018). "Boston Uprising select Los Angeles Gladiators as their stage 3 playoff foe". Dot Esports. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  7. "New York Excelsior earns back-to-back stage titles". ESPN. May 6, 2018. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  8. Lingle, Samuel (June 16, 2018). "Dallas Fuel will play in OWL stage 4 title matches after Philadelphia Fusion fail to sweep London Spitfire". Dot Esports. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  9. "Los Angeles Valiant beats New York Excelsior in Stage 4 final". ESPN. June 17, 2018. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  10. Mejia, Ozzie (June 16, 2018). "Here are the Final Standings for the First Overwatch League Regular Season". Shack News. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  11. Craffey, Liam (July 25, 2018). "London Spitfire punches ticket to Overwatch League finals". ESPN.
  12. Brathwaite, Brandon (March 31, 2019). "LA Valiant Acquire Bunny From Seoul Dynasty". DBLTAP. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  13. Choi, Soobin; Paek, Ji-Eun (April 2, 2018). "LA Valiant releases Envy and recruits Custa - Major Roster Changes". Inven Global. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  14. Carpenter, Nicole (April 2, 2018). "Dallas Fuel and Los Angeles Valiant swap support players". Dot Esports.
  15. Carpenter, Nicole (April 3, 2018). "Silkthread switches from Los Angeles' Valiant Overwatch League team to Gladiators". Dot Esports.
  16. "LA Valiant Acquires Free Agents KSF and Finnsi". The Overwatch League. April 4, 2018.
  17. "LA Valiant Acquires 12th Player Izayaki from NC Foxes". The Overwatch League. April 13, 2018.
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