With wings out, the Los Angeles Valiant found themselves finishing Season One of the Overwatch League near the top of the leaderboards, second only to the New York Excelsior when looking at win/loss record and map differential. The team has perhaps flown to close to the sun, however, in Season Two; only just recently securing their first win of the Season against the Atlanta Reign.

What could cause such a significant fall from grace is hard to put a finger on. Some fault former coach Moon "Moon" Byung-chul’s decision to keep Scott "Custa" Kennedy on the bench. Some just don’t believe that Valiant can handle the three-tank, three-support meta. To set the record straight, we sat down with the Valiant’s star D.Va player, Indy “Space” Halpern. “I say our main strength used to be trust and communication,” said Space. “But after Stage \One that kind of fell off because, you know, we went 0-7 and it’s really hard to bring that back.”

(Photo Credit: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment)

Halpern’s honesty here shows maturity from the tank player and an understanding of the Valiant’s current situation.

“Right now, we’re kind of mixed around,” continued Space. “We have some new players on the team and there’s a small language barrier, but that’s not a big issue. Right now, it’s just about getting back that trust and communication we had in Season One.”

The current meta strongly relies on team synergy. With half of the team having larger health pools, and the other half able to refill those health pools quickly, it is essential to think and act unified and without hesitation. These are no longer the days where a single, ungodly Widowmaker can flip an unwinnable situation to be “winnable.” To address their communication woes, the Valiant have encouraged everyone to become more vocal.

“Mainly, in practice, we have to make sure everyone is communicating and everybody gets the opportunity to call,” said Space. “If you have players like me, Custa, and Fate—who have played on stage before and know how to call and aren’t nervous or anything—if you let them call the whole time, then nothing’s going to change. So our main goal is to make sure that Izayaki, KSF, and Agilities talk more so that if there are mistakes, we go over it in practice. Then we’re good on stage.”

Stopping the hemorrhaging is essential if the Valiant want to have any chance at the Season Playoffs. Currently sitting at 18th out of 20, they need to figure out their communication issues as soon as possible. That said, Halpern believes in his team and his teammates, however, and doesn’t want fans to think that the Los Angeles players are taking it lightly.

“Even we’re really worried right now, with how the season’s going,” said Space. "But I don’t want fans to look at Stage One and think, ‘Oh, Valiant is in the gutter forever. These guys are trash. They’ll never be good.’ I want them to forget about that, and focus on Stage Two, Stage Three, Stage Four, because we’re definitely going to improve and we’re going to go back to what we were in Season One; the second-best team in the league. We’re going to go for taking the whole thing and have that underdog story. So, don’t give up hope on us yet.”

Currently, the Valiant's only win has been against the Atlanta Reign, followed by a loss to the Los Angeles Gladiators. The team looks to start its winning streak Friday, April 19th at 7:30pm PT against the Washington Justice (currently 1W-10L), which you can watch below.



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