Blog 8 - Battlefield: LA

Up next is a tradition in sports in the United States: Los Angeles get more than one team. The Overwatch League is no exception and the city boasts two teams: the LA Gladiators and the LA Valiant. Starting off will be the boys in purple, the Los Angeles Gladiators.

Los Angeles Gladiators


The Gladiators (LAG) ended the first season with a decent record of 25-15. Faced with a rocky start, they made some changes to their roster and became near unstoppable, though losing the chance to play in the season 1 Grand Finals. Much like last season, LAG appeared to be team with many problems that resulted in a less than stellar record, but by the end of the first stage, the Gladiators got  all of their ducks in a row and became the team that the fans were familiar with last season. The Gladiators do have a play on a two-way contract and will not be mentioned.

Coaching and Management

The Gladiators are owned by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment who also own several traditional sports teams such as: LA Rams (NFL), Denver Nuggets (NBA), Colorado Avalanche (NHL), and Arsenal F.C. (Premiere League Soccer), and others. the team is overseen by former Vice Chairman of Paramount Pictures and CEO of Pheonix1 Esports LLC Rob Moore and its head coach is David "dpei" Pei, a former coach for Kungarna where he saw mixed success. 

David "dpei" Pei

Players

Tank

Starting the tank line up off is Chang-hoon "rOar" Gye. ROar is newly signed main tank player for the Gladiators after trading their former player Fissure to the Seoul Dynasty. ROar was formerly on LW Red and KongDoo Panthera where he and his team placed 5th on average throughout Korean tournaments. Jun-woo "Void" Kang is the next tank player for the Gladiators. Void saw some success, coming in second through fourth in South Korean Tournaments, while playing for KongDoo Panthera and Cloud9 KongDoo. The third player in the Tank category is Hyung-seok "Bischu" Kim. Because Bischu lived in Canada and learned English while there, he acts as an on-stage translator for his Korean and English speaking teammates. Bischu was a former player of Kungarna, Ronin, and Team SoloMid where he saw initial success while playing for Kungarna and Ronin.

Hyung-seok "Bischu" Kim

Damage

The first player in this category was a big name pre-OWL Overwatch. Lane "Surefour" Roberts is a Canadian born player who originally played for Cloud9, where he saw decent success with the organization. Second on the list is João Pedro "Hydration" Goes Telles, one of the few South American players in the League. Hydration played for Counter Logic Gaming where he saw was always within the top four teams. The final player is Gui-un "Decay" Jang of KongDoo Panthera and its sister team KongDoo Uncia. 

Robert "Surefour" Lane

Support

In season 1, the LA Gladiators opted for two support players who already had prior synergy. They found this in the Finnish duo Jonas "Shaz" Suovaara and Benjamin "BigGoose" Isohanni. And because I mentioned Finland, that can only mean one thing: they played on Team Gigantti, and you'd be right in that assumption. Shaz started out early on in Overwatch's competitive scene, starting in July of 2016 for Reason Gaming before moving on to teams such as The Chavs, Hammers Esports, and finally Team Gigantti, where he saw great success before finally being signed with the Gladiators. BigGoose saw equal success on his own teams of Alfa Squad, Rest in Pyjamas, and Gigantii, where he played with Shaz. This second season of Overwatch League, however, the Gladiators wanted to expand their Finnish duo, and make it a trio with - you guessed it - another player from Team Gigantti. Riku "Ripa" Toivanen saw some consistent success with his former teams ENCE eSports and Gigantti

Jonas "Shaz" Suovaara (Front) and Benjamin "BigGoose" Isohanni (Back)

Like last season, it seems as if the Gladiators have found their rhythm and look to be a dominant team in the coming stages. Can they keep this high going or will they fall flat like their rivals?



Los Angeles Valiant


The Valiant is a team that has seen countless ups and downs, this new season is most certainly the low point in the franchise. In season 1, they started strong at 7-3 and fell to 4-6. But with some trades and players becoming eligible, they rebounded to a team to be reckoned with. With the start of Season 2 Stage 1 however, they've fallen from grace and finished the stage without a single win. Only time will tell if they can pick up the slack or stay on this train to rock bottom - if they haven't arrived already. 

Coaching and Management

Noah Whinston is the Valiant's owner and also is the CEO for Esports team Immortals. Because of his previous ownership, Noah decided to make the Valiant's core form Immortal players to boost synergy. Acting as Head Coach was Byungchul Moon. though after this less-than-ideal start to the season, Moon parted was with the organization and the Valiant has Mike "Packing10" Szklanny as interim Head Coach.
CEO and Owner Noah Whinston


Players

Tank

Starting the tank roster out is former Seoul Dynasty tank player Dae-kuk "KuKi" Kim. KuKi was traded to the Valiant  after seeing little to no playtime on the Dynasty. Prior to his Overwatch League experience, KuKi saw some success while playing for MVP Space. Indy "SPACE" Halpern is the second player under the Tank category. SPACE is an American player but has played as a stand in for Cloud9's European team, You guys get paid?, and YIKES, were he won multiple tournaments with those teams. The final tank player is Pan-seung "Fate" Koo. Fate was part of the Immortals core that Noah Whinston was after and Pan-seung saw decent success while playing for Noah.
Indy "SPACE" Halpern


Damage

Brady "Agilities" Girardi is another player that forms the Immortals core. Agilities had some issues with the Valiant and not performing to the team's standards. Because of this, he does not see much playtime in regular matches. Next is Young-seo "KariV" Park. KariV is an interesting case because last season, he was listed as a support player, but the Valiant decided to move him to the Damage category. Some are blaming this change as the source of their troubled start. KariV saw little success on Mighty AOD before being signed to Immortals. Joon-hyuk "Bunny" Chae is the third player in the Damage roster. Before coming to the Valiant, he played for BK Stars, Lunatic-Hai, and the Seoul Dynasty though did not win any large tournaments. The final player is Kyle "KSF" Frandanisa. KSF played early on in the competitive scene with EnVision eSports, You guys get paid?, and Simplicity.
Brady "Agilities" Girardi

Support

Scott "Custa" Kennedy starts the support roster off. This Australian player has been in the competitive scene since February of 2016 with Code7 before moving on to nubris, Fnatic, and Arc 6 before being picked up by an Overwatch League team. That team however was the Dallas Fuel. During their rocky start to the season, Custa was traded to the Valiant and helped the LA team to a great middle of the first season. The second and last player since KariV moved positions is newly signed Min-chul "Izayaki" Kim. Izayaki played for KNC Vmax where he initially saw great success before petering off and transfered to Foxes, another team he saw little success. 
Scott "Custa" Kennedy

Though KuKi is officially a tank player, he has been playing in a support role for some games and Custa, a dedicated support player, has yet to even see playtime this season. KariV also moved to the Damage category despite performing well as a support. This team is in such chaos that it may have been necessary to ditch the head coach and start experimenting with players. Being without a win allows that team to try new things since they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. 

Next time, I will cover three expansion in order to get all OWL teams within 10 blog posts. The teams I'll talk about next are the Guangzhou Spark, Hangzhou Spark, and Chengdu Hunters! 
The 2nd Season of the Overwatch League has started and can be watched HERE on Twitch.tv, htough Stage 2 begins April 4th. Games go from Thursday to Sunday, with four games per day. You can also watch past games HERE on YouTube. The Overwatch League has its official merchandise located HERE in the event you find a team that's worth cheering for.

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