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Diagnosing and Rebuilding the Los Angeles Valiant

Volamel 2019-03-19 05:59:14
  The Los Angeles Valiant are a team stuck in quicksand. The team that should be rock solid in this teamwork-centric ecosystem are sat at the bottom of the pack. A team that was playoff caliber last season, and even won a stage playoffs, have yet to find a win this season. The only other team to go winless in a stage has been the Shanghai Dragon’s of Season 1. With that in mind, something has to give within this team and I’ve got a solution that will, at the very least, give them a solid foundation to build upon. However, before we go full on House MD, there is a strange “happening” that has taken place both in Season 1 and now in Season 2. Is it coincidence or a pattern? You decide.  

Mirrored Moves

  In the second episode of Inside L.A. Valiant, DPS player Brady "Agilities" Girardi speaks candidly on the issue his team faces during season one of the Overwatch League and their then head coach Henry "Cuddles" Coxall. “The main roster was kind of blaming all of their problems on Henry and they thought that once Henry was out of the picture, everything would magically get better,” Agilities said. “And I think when people realized that wasn’t the case after Henry was removed for the first week, then things kind of went downhill for us because our mentality shifted from ‘Henry is the problem. Once we get this guy out of here, it’ll all be good.’ But then it came towards the realization that it wasn’t really the problem.” I believe this will become a recurring issue for the Valiant if something structurally does not change. They will fall into a slump, as teams do, and the core of the issues won’t be addressed. The new head coach will be the fall guy and we start the cycle over again. They might be able to find a coach that miraculously can bring the team together, but it does not seem reasonable to find one on such short notice. During Stage 2 of Overwatch League’s inaugural season, Los Angeles Valiant CEO Noah Winston addressed some of the troubles the team was going through during the transition from Stage 1 to Stage 2. He mentions their slump in performance, but firm confidence in the team. He cites that the team played some weird roster combinations such as KariV moving from flex support to DPS. And lastly, he hints at “issues in the team that [they] had to proactively solve, even if it made the team weaker in the short term.” If the bulk of this video was removed of specifics, you’d swear Noah was talking about their season two performance thus far. We’ve got a struggle between two stages--albeit from the offseason or the previous season to Stage 1 of season two--strange role swapping and roster rotations from Custa and Kuki, and “issues in the team that [they] had to proactively solve, even if it made the team weaker in the short term.” This could be explained by the removal of Custa from the starting lineup due to assumed in-fighting and drama behind the scenes because we all know that he was not benched due to the other five player not being able to match his level of understanding. This last part could also be explained as the mid-season change in coaches that has happened again with the departure of head coach Moon "Moon" Byung-chul. This all spells a rotten core that you can’t just continue to let fester. A fresh start is needed and the Valiant needs to attempt to return to what made them good last season, specifically during Stage 4.  

Diagnoses

  The Valiant have historically lacked a strong DPS player or consistent flex DPS to work around. Agilities has his moments but is woefully inconsistent. KSF hasn’t really shown all that much but would be a great talent to see on an academy team or as a developmental player. Bunny plays Tracer. KariV is your role player—at least, that’s what they’ve used him as. And historically speaking, he is serviceable on hitscan DPS heroes, but his hero pool still leaves much to be desired when compared to other Overwatch League rosters. Fate and KariV feel a lot of Fissure did as he departed the Gladiators. They’re talented players, but they need a specific team. They need the right team, and to be frank, they probably need a full Korean team and I’m not sure the Valiant are that team for them anymore. KariV was never used properly, swapping from flex support to DPS and just trying to be a role player. And Fate has not looked good during Stage 1. He has some of the highest first deaths on Reinhardt and Winston. His playstyle is not properly being supported and adaptation has not been found. Fate’s slump in form could be explained by resources shifting to KariV or lacking communication, either or, something isn’t clicking with them and it shows. This team has been dealing with internal struggles all the way from Season 1—some of which was broadcasted publicly on Inside Los Angeles Valiant. Pressing the reset button doesn’t mean that the team will somehow become exempt from internal conflict, but restructuring the team so that this could be easier, in my eyes, is a step in the right direction.  

Prescription

  The Valiant are in need of a strong head coach focused around management and it seems like they’ve filled this role well with former Angry Titans head coach, Mike "Packing10" Szklanny. Signing someone like Rohit "CurryShot" Nathani for the assistant coach position would be smart. I trust that with his experience in League of Legends and time spent in Overwatch, he'd be able to craft unique and intricate strategies for the team. Warsi Faraaz "Stoop" Waris brings a level of understanding when it comes to being a professional player, which should not be underrated. Also transitioning from being a player to a coach leads me to believe that he probably knows the game fairly well and should be able to help iron out strategies. Ideally, the roster could be rebuilt focusing on a select few players rather than trying to foster growth. I do think the team has a want to scout for upcoming talent, but they also want to carry a level of prestige that their fans can be proud of. They also need to return to what worked for them last season. One of their core tenants has to be guidance and coordination in-game. This gave them their “magic” style that always kept them consistent with the ability to peak given the right moment. With that in mind, if I was given full reign with a good amount of resources at my disposal, this would be your Los Angeles Valiant roster for Stage 2.   — Cameron "Fusions" Bosworth — Indy "SPACE" Halpern — Maeng "climax" Ju ho — Finley "Kyb" Adisi — Tuomo "Davin" Leppänen — Scott "Custa" Kennedy — Kim "Izayaki" Min-chul — Kristian "Kellex" Keller   It does make the most sense for them to stick with Custa. Teams need a central leadership figure within a team and Custa was sought out to bring that to the Valiant. Reinvesting into him, even though he might not be the best mechanically, will at least give you a strong baseline to improve on and could save their season. Speaking of leadership, signing main tank Fusion, from the Boston Uprising gives you the ultimate resource in terms of mid-fight calling while Custa can focus on the setup. This returns Valiant back to the “better than the sum of their parts” ideology that they’ve assumed throughout season one. These two signing can give them back the Valiant magic from Stage 4. Izayaki and SPACE are also players that should be retained for the time being. SPACE has been single-handedly hauling the Valiant across the line during Stage 1 of the 2019 season. The Valiant have finally just turned Izayaki loose and for what it’s worth he’s doing fairly well for himself. With a stronger and more coordinated team, I’d expect him to flourish more. To fill out the supports, I’d grab Kellex from the Boston Uprising as well. He and Fusions play extremely well together and has proven to be a mechanical powerhouse during the Stage 1 metagame. Even if Lucio fades out of the meta during Stage 2, he’s always a talented support player to have around. Last but certainly not least, Kyb from the Guangzhou Charge, climax from O2 Blast and Davin from Team Gigantti would slot in as my DPS lineup. Kyb and Davin cover nearly the entire roster on their own and climax would play as ace on Widowmaker and hitscan DPS maps much like Pine does for the NYXL. Kyb also carries experience playing with Fusions from their time on British Hurricane, so if we return to something that requires a DPS/Tank duo, the Valiant would also have that at their disposal as well. This gives Valiant a roster that has consistent and flexible DPS players that can shine in a variety of different ecosystems. It gives them solid in-game leadership and direction. More importantly, it gives them a base to grow from. However, in actuality, I don’t expect the Valiant to do much at all. I think they will add some members to their coaching staff and due to already locking in player contracts in the offseason, I’d imagine that rebuilding the entire roster is going to be difficult. That said, trades could be made and players shopped around, but the Valiant seems to dance around making difficult decisions that will affect the long term. A change in the support staff will give the players a scapegoat to rally behind for a time, boosting morale. Again, this move is only a bandaid and I foresee this happening again in the future unless something changes about the core of the team. They’ll probably find some measure of success during Stage 2 and Stage 3 during the shifting metagame and use that as an excuse to coast out the 2019 season and make few changes during the 2020 offseason.
Joseph “Volamel” Franco has followed esports since the MLGs of 2006. He started out primarily following Starcraft 2, Halo 3, and Super Smash Bros. Melee. He has transitioned from viewer to journalist and writes freelance primarily about Overwatch and League of Legends. If you would like to know more or follow his thoughts on esports you can follow him at @Volamel. Images courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment.
 

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