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Overwatch League, Week 3: Los Angeles Valiant stage a reverse sweep to win the battle of LA

By Christine Wang Dickson

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Overwatch League’s two Los Angeles teams are deadlocked in the standings.

The first day of week 3 ended with the battle for Los Angeles. Both the Gladiators and the Valiant walked into Blizzard Arena sitting at a record of 2-2. Both of their two losses came at the hands of Korean teams. One of both of their losses was even to the same team: the New York Excelsior.

It’s pretty safe to say that the entire Overwatch League fan base — not just those actually based in LA — was excited to see how this match would go down. When two evenly matched teams, both laden with talent, face off, all signs pointed to a back-and-forth crazy time. And crazy times are when Overwatch is at its absolute best.

Map One: Eichenwalde

On attack first, the Gladiators put Surefour on Pharah and Asher on Tracer, all sped up with BigGoose on Lucio. On the side of the Valiant, it was Agilities on his own Pharah. The first Pharah battle was won by Surefour, but the Gladiators ultimately had to back off to regroup. The next Gladiators’ attack was rebuffed by Envy’s Self Destruct.

Finally, the Gladiators found their footing with the next push. With picks traded back and forth, it was the Valiant’s supports who fell first. With the first point take, Surefour switched from Pharah to Widowmaker. Even without any big headshots, the Gladiators made steady progress on the payload. Right before the payload reached the doors is when the Valiant came out for a final stall attempt. While the fighting was intense, the Valiant’s Unkoe fell early, causing the defense stance to fall apart.

As the payload bore down on the last point of the map, the previous scene played out once again. With a Transcendence triggered too late, the Valiant ended up relying on their respawns in an attempt to prevent the Gladiators to reach the last point. For a while, it looked like the Valiant would hold thanks to the closeness of their spawn point, but the Gladiators never relinquished their hold on the payload. This finally paid off the moment the Valiant found themselves out of position and away from the payload.

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Having pushed it all the way to the end just in the nick of time, the Gladiators moved over to defense. Immediately, they found their supports targeted and picked off by Envy’s D.Va. Despite some hearty stalling efforts, the Valiant were able to take the point. The Gladiators found more success as the payload moved under the archway in the next portion of the map, with iRemiix stalling the Valiant as much as possible with a Primal Rage. The Valiant was just able to win the fight and keep a toe on the payload to keep it moving forward.

As the payload neared the doors, the Gladiators focused back in on holding the payload, immediately investing an Transcendence. And while it looked like Agilities with a Dragonblade would be able to create the space needed for the Valiant to move forward, it was Surefour on Repear who denied the Valiant that opportunity. After that, it was a quick clean up of the members of Valiant diving onto the payload one by one. The Gladiators would hold on defense and get the first win.

Map Score: Gladiators 3, Valiant 1

Match Score: Gladiators 1, Valiant 0

Map Two: Horizon Lunar Colony

Gladiators started off their attack with a quad-tank composition. Instead of going the long way around, the Gladiators made a beeline for the objective going right underneath the Valiant’s high ground set up. The Valiant ended up having to take that long way route to get onto the objective, but by that point the Gladiators had already taken their place firmly on point A. The resulting battle was ferocious, but the picks all ended up going in favor of the Gladiators.

After the quick point A take, the Gladiators hustled right onto point B. Despite the immediate assault, the Valiant pushed them off quite firmly. The Gladiators used up any ultimates they wouldn’t need moving forward, and switched to a more conventional point B composition. On subsequent pushes, the Gladiators were able to take out Valiant supports but Soon badgered the Gladiator backline just enough to force the Gladiators’ supports to use their ultimates early.

With less than a minute remaining, the Gladiators flooded onto the point and took out Unkoe immediately. That disadvantage took the Valiant down a peg immediately and soon the Gladiators would start to eliminate them, forcing them to rely on respawns. Finally, the respawns were just unable to come out fast enough, and the Gladiators would cap the point.

The Valiant chose to use a Sombra on attack, but interestingly so did Surefour on defense. With the health packs already hacked, Unkoe decided to abandon the Sombra and switch to Zenyatta to finish out the Valiant’s classic dive composition. With that not working either, Agilities switched to Pharah. However, nothing the Valiant did seemed to make a difference. Hydration on Junkrat rained down destruction onto Valiant members who attempted to make their way onto the point, and also stymied their last push with a Riptire.

Map Score: Gladiators 2, Valiant 0

Match Score: Gladiators 2, Valiant 0

Map Three: Ilios

The first map of Ilios is Ruins, Widowmaker’s notorious playground. Accordingly, the Gladiators put Asher on Widow while the Valiant’s counter to that was Soon. While Asher struggled to land a crucial shot, the Valiant didn’t find themselves with the same issue, taking control of the point in commanding fashion. Soon’s Widowmaker was instrumental in fending off the Gladiators again and again. In one straight 0-to-100 shot, the Valiant took point one.

Moving to the Well, both teams switched onto Lucios and Pharahs. The Gladiators were able to take the point first this time, and almost didn’t let it go. With Hydration ruling the skies and able to manage Silkthread’s Pharah, the Valiant were zoned very effectively, unable to come out into the open to take the point. It’s not until 99 percent that the Valiant made enough of a difference to force the Gladiators to back up. After holding it for a short time, the Gladiators came right back. Both teams unleashed a veritable storm of ultimates, and the advantage went in the direct of the Gladiators, who closed out overtime and took the second point.

The Valiant started out in control of the Lighthouse, with Silkthread on Pharah attempting to get the poke damage. After taking out Valiant’s supports, it took several Gladiator ultimates before finally turning the point in their favor. Neither team was ready to concede the point, with control switching back and forth quite a few times. Just as it seemed that the Gladiators were going to take the map, control switched to the Valiant and finally ended there.

Map Score: Gladiators 1, Valiant 2

Match Score: Gladiators 2, Valiant 1

Map Four: Junkertown

The Gladiators went with a Bastion-centric composition with double snipers on attack. Just when it looked like they had made a pick into the Valiant’s backline, Soon on Widowmaker returned the favor. On the next push, Agilities on Junkrat found his own picks with his Riptire. With less than a minute remaining and the Gladiators still without a single checkpoint, the Gladiators have to completely regroup for a final push. At first, it looked like sure Valiant hold, with Soon getting big picks on Asher and BigGoose. But suddenly the kills started coming in for the Gladiators. In overtime, the Gladiators finally found the first checkpoint.

Fairly easier, the Gladiators moved through the second section of the map. The first engagement in the final section went completely the Gladiators’ way, with the Valiant’s two DPS players falling first, followed quickly by Envy. Unkoe made a hefty mistake by attempting to fly in at the last minute to resurrect his teammates. Instead he just wasted his Valkyrie, getting eliminated before resurrecting a single person. It wasn’t until the payload was nearly on top of the point that the Valiant found their footing and pushed the Gladiators back.

On the Gladiators’ final attack, Unkoe’s Valkyrie finally bore fruit. But just as it seemed like the Valiant would hold, Bischu scored a huge two-kill Self Destruct. That blew the path wide open for the Gladiators, and the payload was finally pushed home.

With the Valiant on the Bastion pirate ship attack, the Gladiators went with a dive defense that quickly gave ground after Bischu and Hydration were dropped early. In no time at all, the payload gained the first checkpoint. But as often happens, the Valiant were driven off the payload momentarily during the second section of the map. The next engagement saw both teams using ultimates liberally, but in the end it was Envy on Roadhog clearing the way with his hook.

Next: Overwatch League, Week 3: Seoul takes down Shanghai

As the Valiant moved through the second checkpoint, their quicker pace became more and more apparent. And unfortunately for the Gladiators, it was at this moment Agilities decided to Riptire right into three members of the Gladiators. With the payload already peaking over the goal line, it was once again Bischu with a D.Va Self Destruct that caught three members of the Valiant in its area of destruction. Just as it seemed that the Gladiators had gained room to breathe, the Valiant were back. Hydration loosened a Dragonblade in an attempt to push them off again, but with him flying away from the payload, the remaining members of the Valiant were able to inch the payload forward. In one final attempt to contest and revive his teammates, BigGoose soared in on Mercy but was just a second too late.

Moving into the time bank rounds, the Gladiators were at a disadvantage with less time on their side. Immediately, their attack was disastrous, with Asher accidentally walking right off the map. Picks were traded, the fighting furious, but the Valiant were able to prevent the Gladiators from making it anywhere close to the first checkpoint. This strong hold ended up serving the Valiant well on their turn at attack, as they were able to get there in no time at all and tie up the series.

Map Score: Gladiators 3, Valiant 4

Match Score: Gladiators 2, Valiant 2

Map Five: Lijiang Tower

The Gladiators swapped Surefour in for Bischu so that they would have triple-DPS compositions available for this fifth and final map. Despite Surefour on Widow and Hydration on Pharah, it was the Valiant who took the point first. Especially because the Gladiators chose not to play a Mercy, it was difficult for them to sustain an attack as soon as one player on their team went down.

With the point on overtime, iRemiix jumped onto the point and took out Shaz. Meanwhile, Agilities dashed forward and used his Dragonblade to take down multiple members of the Gladiators. However, the rest of the Valiant on the point, died so despite his Genji efforts, the Gladiators did flip the point.

Now with Hydration comfortably hovering outside their point, he had free reign to rain down rockets onto the Valiant as they attempted to make a push back onto the point. They were stalled a few times thanks to Hydration taking out Fate and Shaz catching Agilities. Even on the Valiant’s final jump onto the point, Fate went down early. But inside the point, it was Agilities getting another big Dragonblade with two kills. With all members of the Gladiators falling, the Valiant capped the point.

On Control Center, both teams came out with heavy hitting teams featuring Zarya and Roadhog. In the first engagement, the Valiant came away with the win. After securing the point, they pushed up toward the Gladiators’ spawn. By controlling that room in front of the doorway, they bottled the Gladiators up, even brushing off a Graviton Surge thanks to a quick Kariv Transcendence. With Valiant control building on the point, it was finally Hydration’s Riptire that forced the Valiant to retreat in an effort to avoid it. The Riptire did manage to catch Fate’s Reinhardt, which was the optimistic sign that the Gladiators needed to make their move, charging onto the point with a Transcendence filling their sails. Envy made a strong attempt to maintain control of the point, nabbing two eliminations, but BigGoose had his Valkyrie ready to immediately resurrect his fallen teammates. With the Valiant up 97 percent, the Gladiators gained control.

The Valiant’s next push started poorly, with Unkoe getting felled early by Hydration’s bouncy grenades. But when they actually did push onto the point, they were able to regain control with a big Agilities Riptire. Just as the map went into overtime, though, Surefour landed a huge Graviton Surge that caught up every Valiant member on the point, and the Gladiators were there to take advantage. And two incredible engagements later, the Gladiators stayed in control to take the second point.

With the map tied 1-1, it went to one last point. With a quick clean sweep of their opponent, the Valiant took control first. But on the Gladiators’ return, Surefour immediately got a pick on Unkoe, leaving the Valiant defending shorthanded. As skirmishes happened in the courtyard, the Gladiators moved enough members of their team onto the objective to flip it. Agilities, however, would not let that last for long. With his Dragonblade, he took down BigGoose and even though he was then quickly felled by Shaz, the rest of the Valiant were there to wrench back control of the point.

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With one lost engagement thanks to the efforts of Agilities and Fate, the Gladiators were suddenly facing overtime and desperation. They proceeded to stage the longest stall we’ve seen so far, with member after member of the Gladiators jumping onto the point to do their part to prevent overtime from running out. Finally, the Valiant cleared out the point to lock up their miraculous reverse-sweep win.

Map Score: Gladiators 1, Valiant 2

Final Match Score: Gladiators 2, Valiant 3

Player of the Match: Envy, Los Angeles Valiant