Agilities Photo: Robert Paul (Blizzard Esports)

You get sat down. You are already sweating head to toe wondering what you did this time. Your Dad, Mom, maybe your principal tells you, “This is the last warning before you are out of here.” This is a situation that many of us have experienced; some on grander scales, some just in our day-to-day lives. Now imagine this being marketed to a loyal fanbase in the parking lot of a fast food chain. It has been a month since the infamous Brady “Agilities” Girardi In-N-Out burger fiasco, where Agilities was basically told publicly that if his play did not improve, he would see himself being sent down to the “Sister team” and out of the starting rotation. Luckily for us as fans and spectators, he has taken it in stride and has been tearing up the league in Stage 3.

I am in no way justifying the move by the media team of displaying what should have been kept in-house. Agilities voiced the same idea in an article by Nathan Grayson of Kotaku, “Definitely would’ve preferred that it stayed behind-the-scenes, but it says in my contract that they can use video footage like that, so I can’t really do anything about it”. It was a failed PR stunt with the video showcasing a 2:1 Dislike-to-Like ratio. In fact, it has actually been parodied by the Philadelphia Fusion, which in its own way helped relieve some of the stress it was putting on Agilities and allowed him to laugh it off. The infamous Agilities video was released on March 17th. Agilities played decently that day against the Boston Uprising performing at a 900 rating in a 3–2 loss, according to winstonlabs.com. Unfortunately, when the video picked up steam and became a distraction, he may have felt it. His next game, he recorded his lowest score in nearly 2 months, a 751, in a 5-game loss to the Philadelphia Fusion. It didn’t end there either; the team was then swept by NYXL 4–0 on the same day. This would have more than likely been a crumbling point for most athletes. Your coach has called you out, the media has gotten ahold of it and there has been no positive change performance-wise. Usually, this story ends with the athlete being benched waiting for another chance, but Agilities isn’t your normal player and this isn’t your usual story.

Stage 3 is now in full swing and my oh my, what a few weeks does to a player and a team. Agilities is currently at an 1144 rating for stage 3. This has to do, in part, with the Valiant being able to make smart roster decisions when it comes to pickups. Scott “Custa” Kennedy looks like a man who has been given a new lease on life after being traded from the currently dreadful Dallas Fuel. His first two games with the Valiant cemented his ability in the league. He is clearly still in the upper echelon of the support ranks. I would be doing the audience an injustice if I didn’t bring up Jun-Hyeok “Bunny” Chae, who I’ve mentioned as being “The Biggest Steal of the Season” for Letsbreakitdown, a small Overwatch League(OWL) podcast hosted by @Magikoflimbo. Ironically enough, the infamous In-N-Out video that shuns Agilities also shows off Bunny’s best traits. The video cuts to him trying to rally his teammates explaining that the play in that room was not worthy of the OWL and that the season was not over. The players have accepted the challenge and the results are evident. The LA Valiant are currently undefeated at 3–0 with Bunny in the starting rotation. There’s a chance it may have something to do with Bunny boasting a great average rating of 1200.

The culture change has undoubtedly had an impact on Agilities’ play. His positioning for team fights seems to be improving and the addition of “set-plays” and more direct plans by the Valiant has everyone playing a notch higher. To really see this elevated level of play, we have a set-play on Numbani where Agilities & Space use their Ultimates perfectly together. Space uses Self-Destruct high over the Bus on Numbani forcing the Soldier and the rest of his team to look for cover where Agilties is waiting capitalize with Dragonblade; a clean example of setting your team up for success and an easy way to keep confidence and trust high. This play wouldn’t have been possible without Pan-Seung “Fate” Koo who pops Primal Rage in the beginning of the clip to enter into the fight gaining the information needed to pull the trigger on this set play. As long as the Valiant continue to play like this, they are a force to be reckoned with.

It is the plays like that that directly impact one of the more important stat improvements we’ve seen from Agilities and that is First Kill. His stats for First Kill compared to First Death in a teamfight have completely swung in a positive direction. During Stage 3, there has only been one occasion where Agilities has been negative in this category, whereas he was negative in 3 out of the last 4 games before stage 3. This is a huge deal for a DPS player. The common phrase of “You can’t DPS if you are dead” is being played out in front of us. His Ultimate use is more efficient than before; here he is saving the Valiant’s undefeated Stage 3 on Temple of Anubis where he uses his Riptire from spawn to stay as safe as possible. This shows his clear understanding that, with time running out, rather than changing to a stall hero or trying to contest, his best play was to utilize Space’s stalling with a full health D.Va to get the Riptire into the enemy team. Not only does he have the right thought process, but he has the savviness to send the Riptire away from the point noticing that the Gladiators are still playing with their supports on the bridge leading to B and with a pinch of luck, he earns the Triple Kill. This play helped earn him “Player of the Day”.

Overall, the additions to the LA Valiant have allowed them to progress in the OWL. With the opportunity to keep their playoff hopes in their own hands, the Valiant are looking forward to a big upcoming match against London. You can’t understate what Bunny and Custa have brought to the Valiant, but there is a big difference between the two. Bunny left a Seoul team who is struggling to find themselves after being successful pre-OWL. The Valiant has been a soft reset on his OWL career, whereas for Custa, this has been “unplugging the PC straight from the power supply” sort of reset. Custa escaped from a dire situation in Dallas with a team that is currently bleeding out, especially after their rough performance against the Shock losing 0–4. Both Bunny and Custa’s old teams are seriously in need of a spark and ironically Bunny and Custa are providing a bit more than just sparks for their new home.

Yet, there Agilities is, shouldering the most pressure of the roster by far. He was publicly humiliated with no actions possible. He was outright told this chance would be his last, but he has stepped up to the plate since then and helped lead the Valiant to a 5–0 start to the Stage. He continues to prove the naysayers wrong… including me who thought the Valiant’s schedule to start Stage 3 was “soft”. The Valiant is currently riding a 17–3–1 map record and hold a 7-point lead over the Boston Uprising in Map Differential. Not to mention, they are the only Pacific team slated for the playoffs at this point. The other PAC contenders for a playoff spot are the Gladiators, the Shock, and the Dynasty. All 3 have suffered a loss thanks to the Agilities and the revamped Valiant. As long as the Valiant keep up their dominant performance, we could witness an entire undefeated Stage.