2020 Los Angeles Valiant season

The 2020 Los Angeles Valiant season is the third season of Los Angeles Valiant's existence in the Overwatch League and their first full season under head coach Mike "Packing10" Szklanny. The team will look to improve upon their 12–16 from 2019 and qualify for the season playoffs for the second time in three seasons. The Valiant will host two homestand events in the 2020 season; both will take place at The Novo.[1]

2020 Los Angeles Valiant season
Head coachMike Szklanny
OwnerNoah Whinston
Arena(s)The Novo
Results
Record10–9 (.526)
Place

Preceding offseason

Organizational changes

After releasing head coach Moon Byung-chul the previous season, assistant coach Mike "Packing10" Szklanny was named the team's interim head coach for the remainder of the season. Packing10 was officially named the team's full-time head coach in early September 2019.[2] The following month, the Valiant added former Boston Uprising assistant coach Jordan "Gunba" Graham as an assistant coach. Gunba was an assistant coach for the Valiant in 2018.[3] On 28th May 2020, Valiant announced that Max 'Unter' Unterwurzacher would join the organization as an assistant coach after previously being the head coach of the academy team of the London Spitfire, the British Hurricane.[4]

Roster changes

The Valiant enter the new season with no free agents, three players which they have the option to retain for another year, and five players under contract.[5] The OWL's deadline to exercise a team option is November 11, after which any players not retained will become a free agent. Free agency officially began on October 7.[6]

Acquisitions

The Valiant's first acquisitions of the offseason were announced on October 31, with the signings of main tank Song "Dreamer" Sang-lok from the Sydney Drop Bears, flex DPS Damon "Apply" Conti, support Owen "Slur" Warner from Samsung Morning Stars, and support Mun "Lastro" Jung-won from Skyfoxes.[7] On January 7, the Valiant revealed two more additions in main tank Rick "GiG" Salazar and support Park "RaiN" Jae-ho in a skit video for the team's new color scheme.[8] A week later, on January 16, the team announced the signing of damage player Kai "KSP" Collins.[9]

Departures

The Valiant made their first offseason moves on October 23, releasing DPS Brady "Agilities" Girardi, trading off-tank Indy "SPACE" Halpern to the Los Angeles Gladiators, and trading flex support Park "KariV" Young-seo to the Toronto Defiant.[10] In mid-November, Los Angeles announced that they had parted ways with main tank Russell "FCTFCTN" Campbell.[11] On December 12, support player Scott "Custa" Kennedy announced that he was retiring from professional Overwatch play to join the Overwatch League as an analyst.[12] Prior to the start of the season, Owen 'Slur' Warner silently departed with the team after it was revealed that he had previously used a racial slur. He later changed his name to Provide to distance himself from his past.[13]

Roster
Los Angeles Valiant roster
PlayersCoaches
RoleNo.HandleNameNationalityPrevious team
Damage 12 Shax  Nielsen, Johannes   Denmark  Mayhem Academy 
Damage 23 KSP  Collins, Kai   United Kingdom  XL2 Academy 
Damage 27 KSF  Frandanisa, Kyle   United States  Simplicity 
Damage 19 Apply  Conti, Damon   United States  Revival 
Tank 1 Dreamer  Song Sang-lok  South Korea  Sydney Drop Bears 
Tank 13 McGravy  McGarvey, Caleb   United States  Florida Mayhem 
Tank 3 GiG  Salazar, Rick   United States  XL2 Academy 
Support 9 Lastro  Mun Jung-won  South Korea  Skyfoxes 
Support 77 RaiN  Park Jae-ho  South Korea  Florida Mayhem 
Head coach
  • Mike "Packing10" Szklanny
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (2W) Two-way player
  • (I) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injury/Illness

Latest roster transaction: January 27, 2020.

Standings
# Team Division W L PCT P MR MD STK
Conference leaders
1 Shanghai Dragons PAC 26 2 .929 28 56–15–1 +41
2 Philadelphia Fusion ATL 23 2 .920 25 56–19–0 +37
Wild cards
3 San Francisco Shock PAC 22 2 .917 24 47–12–2 +35
4 Paris Eternal ATL 17 6 .739 23 44–28–0 +16
5 Guangzhou Charge PAC 18 7 .720 25 44–39–1 +5
6 Florida Mayhem ATL 15 6 .714 21 40–25–0 +15
Play-in tournament
7 New York Excelsior ATL 15 7 .682 22 47–26–2 +21
8 Atlanta Reign ATL 10 7 .588 17 37–23–0 +14
9 Los Angeles Valiant PAC 10 9 .526 19 33–36–0 -3
10 Hangzhou Spark PAC 11 11 .500 22 33–40–2 -7
11 Los Angeles Gladiators PAC 7 9 .438 16 30–33–4 -3
12 Seoul Dynasty PAC 8 11 .421 19 21–35–2 -14
In the hunt
12 Seoul Dynasty PAC 8 11 .421 19 21–35–2 -14
13 Dallas Fuel PAC 7 10 .412 17 28–37–0 -9
14 Toronto Defiant ATL 8 12 .400 20 31–42–0 -11
15 London Spitfire ATL 6 10 .375 16 24–36–0 -12
16 Chengdu Hunters PAC 8 14 .364 22 33–47–1 -14
17 Houston Outlaws ATL 6 15 .286 21 32–50–3 -18
18 Vancouver Titans PAC 4 11 .267 15 16–38–0 -22
19 Washington Justice ATL 3 16 .158 19 21–51–1 -30
20 Boston Uprising ATL 2 17 .105 19 14–55–3 -41

Game log
2020 game log (Overall record: 2–2)
February–March: 2–2
April–May: 0–0
June–August: 0–0
2020 season schedule
gollark: Look, if I had to know about things before talking about them, then no.
gollark: And it *is* an adjective since you're not using the noun, oh bee.
gollark: I should probably relearn basic ancient greek grammar for no particular reason.
gollark: Oh no, they DO, this is worrying.
gollark: That is not what adjectives are and I don't think they have declensions.

References
  1. Hurych, Amanda (August 27, 2019). "Dates and tickets announced for 2020 Los Angeles Valiant homestand at The Novo". AXS. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  2. Richardson, Liz (September 4, 2019). "Los Angeles Valiant promote Packing10 to head coach". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 11, 2019.
  3. Scrubasaurus (October 24, 2019). "Gunba returns to the Valiant's coaching staff". Over.gg. Retrieved October 25, 2019.
  4. Wisniewski, Christian (May 28, 2020). "LA Valiant sign British Hurricane Coach Unter". TheGameHaus. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
  5. Morello, Matt (July 30, 2019). "2020 Team Needs and Player Contract Status". Overwatch League. Retrieved October 19, 2019.
  6. Richardson, Liz (October 4, 2019). "Overwatch League reveals player contract status for entire league". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 10, 2019.
  7. "Valiant, Defiant, Justice make moves in Overwatch League". ESPN. Reuters. October 31, 2019. Retrieved October 31, 2019.
  8. Samples, Rachel (January 7, 2020). "Los Angeles Valiant confirm color change, officially welcome RaiN and GiG ahead of 2020 Overwatch League season". Dot Esports. Retrieved January 7, 2020.
  9. Richardson, Liz (January 15, 2020). "Los Angeles Valiant officially adds KSP to roster". Dot Esports. Retrieved January 16, 2020.
  10. Esguerra, Tyler (October 23, 2019). "Los Angeles Valiant release SPACE, Agilities, and KariV". Dot Esports. Retrieved October 23, 2019.
  11. Peres, Pedro (November 12, 2019). "Los Angeles Valiant release FCTFCTN". Dot Esports. Retrieved November 12, 2019.
  12. "Custa retires, will join Jake on OWL talent team". ESPN. Reuters. December 12, 2019. Retrieved December 12, 2019.
  13. "Slur apologises for his past actions, confirms in his Twitter header that he is no longer with the LA Valiant and is now a free agent". Owen 'Slur' Warner. January 23, 2020. Retrieved June 30, 2020.
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