From flying high post Season 1 Stage 2 trades, to achieving the Stage 4 title and #2 seed going into playoffs, the Los Angeles Valiant soared. They did not make grand finals, but the team definitely left its mark.
For any fan, this season has been jarring. They are currently 0–8, after a generally tough schedule. Week 2 of Stage 2 has even more challenges, making a 2 digit losing streak possible. The “Battle of LA”, once one of the most exciting matches to look forward to, has filled many Valiant fans with dread as it approaches.
With the current record, making playoffs this year is highly unlikely, but more importantly, the team needs to make changes soon or risk jeopardizing Season 3. The clock is ticking, the Valiant need to make trades, free agent signings, and offload players before the end of the mid season break, or else it may be too late.
Based on Brandon “Thibbledork” Padilla’s report on the Boston trade, there may be intent to transition to a more Western roster and staff (indicated by staffing changes, and attempt to trade Pan-seung “Fate” Koo). With that assumption in mind, its important to look at what options the team has for season 3 and factors that hinder or help that transition.
An important factors is that, according to an interview by Mike Hume of The Washington Post, there are no expansion teams next year. The abundance of players, but not roster spots, will create a “buyer’s market”. The Valiant (and other teams) will face increased competition when it comes to marketing their players to potential buyers.
A team likely to make changes is Toronto Defiant, who may look for an alternative to Yakpung. Defiant have had a good showing in their debut season, but Yakpung has not been a strong point for them. Fate has experience playing with Valiant Alumnus Envy, and is considered a stellar Main Tank, with strong leadership and a good sense of aggression when needed to push advantages or create favourable situations, Fate is a potentially good fit. If a deal is not struck between the teams, Defiant could explore other talents from Contenders Korea. Players such as: Karayan of WGS, SoWhat of MVP Space, Oberon of Gen.G, Ion of GCB Wave, and Alpha of EM, are just a few of the Korean talents available. Toronto could even acquire Hangzhou’s NoSmite as Guxue becomes more comfortable with his teammates. If the Valiant want to sell an accomplished player like Fate, they’ll have to do it while his pursuing him is still an attractive option.
Outside of Fate, the Valiant’s strengths lie with Off Tank player Indy “Space” Halpern, and Min-chul “Izayaki” Kim.
Space should be a franchise player that the Valiant build around; he is seen as one of the strongest Western players. Space was largely instrumental to the team’s Season 1 wins, and close games in the current season. Unfortunately, even if the Valiant were to put Space up for sale, teams that could use an upgrade would likely not be able to pursue that option. Houston (as their parent company is looking to sell OpTic Gaming) and Washington both lack resources, Boston buying an expensive upgrade goes against their modus operandi, Paris and full Korean teams have limited their choices to a specific region, and others aren’t lacking in Off Tank options (like San Francisco Shock). This makes a Space trade unlikely, instead the team should focus on building around him.
Izayaki has been touted as a very capable support player with impressive mechanics. While Transcendence usage and positioning is an issue at the moment, these are issues that can be eliminated with coaching. An Izayaki trade would suffer similar issues that Space would, as a lot of teams already have good options, and the teams that could utilize him may not choose to commit resources in an acquisition. The issues that come with trading Fate late would also apply as many Contenders flex supports will be eligible next season (like Fusion University’s Alarm or Runaway’s Gangnamjin). This leaves the Valiant in a tough position, with veteran player Kariv likely making the transition back to support, either they have to find a way to make both of them work, or look to trade early. Fortunately, Izayaki and Fate are more likely to have success as trades compared to the others.
Last season the Valiant had DPS rotation and utilization issues. With the dark ages of Season 1 Stage 2 (the birth of the “In N Out” meme), the Valiant had a glaring weakness they attempted to address with acquisitions of Bunny and KSF. This season, one could argue that they reverted to poor decisions like putting Kariv on a Zarya or DPS role when it was shown to not work (except for Widowmaker due to previous experience). There were often times that Kariv would waste bubbles, or focus more on charge than enabling Fate, which is especially egregious as the Valiant attempted to run the less hardy Winston against the Reinhardt Goats composition.
It appears KSF is the better of the DPS options from his performance, while Agilities has not been as dependable. Overall, the Valiant did not make significant improvements for Season 2 when it came to DPS players, and are suffering because of it.
No team will likely bid for Agilities which leads to an awkward situation. He is very popular and media facing, but if they want a competitive roster, an upgrade is necessary. Custa’s situation is similar, while his Mercy, maturity, and leadership were a boon in Season 1, his relatively weaker Lucio have made it harder to enable the team (no, the weaker Lucio is not referring to the ridiculous “big brain” excuse). The team may explore getting a main support to fill Custa’s shoes, but he could still be an integral part, by transitioning to a staff role.
The remaining players: Bunny and Kuki would likely have to be dropped. Kuki got the short end of the stick as his stint on Lucio (an off role for a Main Tank player) and previous performance on Seoul were partly due to coaching issues. If the Valiant were able to trade Fate, there could be a world where Kuki could play with them temporarily. For Bunny, he has a great tracer, a decent Widow, and passable Ashe/Zarya. Similarly, to Kuki, there could be a world where he remains on the team, but there are more suitable alternatives.
The above recommendations lead to a lot of non-Space spaces that need to be filled, fortunately the coaching changes, the intention to transform to a more western roster, and the prevalence of Korean rosters in the league lays a clear path.
Interim head coach Packing10 was the former head coach of Angry Titans, who have seen a lot of success during their time in Contenders Europe, a region full of overlooked talent. Packing10’s experience should lead to many recommendations, particularly players like: Spectr9l, Lullsish, AFoxx, Erki, Dannedd, Exorath, and Jklol21 to name a few, but there are so many more. With Paris being the real other bidders for European talent, the Valiant should use the expertise of Packing10 to make moves early.
The North American Contenders scene is also ripe with talent, with the added benefit of some eligible players being US residents (potentially simplifying the visa process). Players such as: Beasthalo, Sharyk, Luddee, and whomever SecondWind scout/develop/pull out of a hat, are a few excellent alternatives.
The final mention regards staffing changes. While its unlikely to occur this season, the Valiant should look to pick up Second Wind and European staff to refine their scouting/development process. Former Florida Mayhem, Mayhem Academy and YaB coach Promise was announced as an Assistant Coach on social media April 10th, but given his past teams’ performances, it isn’t that promising (sorry). If this results in other Non-Korean Mayhem members being picked up (such as Tviq and McGravy) the Valiant may be replacing a great Off Tank with a good one, and a struggling flex DPS with another.
This season is a wash for the Valiant, and next season will be too, without an overhaul and aggressive decision making. They should sell Fate as soon as they can, perhaps trade Izayaki as well if coaching cannot improve his play, move Custa to a staff role, keep Space as a franchise player and sell everyone else, focusing their attention on the North American and European players if choosing that route. Fortunately, the framework to cultivate players from NA/EU is there, with coach Packing10 at the helm.
I do believe that mixed rosters are great, but if the Valiant decide to pursue one, they’ll have to seriously re-evaluate the environment they create for their players.
They’ve missed a chance to strengthen the team during the off season while others improved, the question is if they will repeat their mistake. As a Los Angeles Valiant fan, I’d hope not.
Special thanks to those brave enough to look over my ramblings and give some pointers. Haven’t really written before and you guys were great help! @BenchmobDC, @LEGDAYGaming, @DismeOW, @gatamchun,@ScrubasaurusOW
Shout out to Amanda Lee for her article that made me want to write as a Valiant fan as well.
