London Spitfire vs Los Angeles Valiant

For our second semifinal match of the day, we have an incredibly exciting clash between the London Spitfire and the Los Angeles Valiant.

While the Valiant were heavily favored just a couple of days ago, the Spitfire we able to get on the same page and completely demolish the Los Angeles Gladiators in the quarterfinals. Even though they lost the first Best of 5, they came back with a vengeance and played out of their minds.

Sure, the fact that the Gladiators didn’t start with Fissure hurt their chances overall, but you cannot deny how well London played overall.

The thing with London is, their potential was always evident. You could see their mechanical prowess from the very get-go. Profit and Birdring were always in contention for the deadliest DPS duo in the League, and they had players like Gesture and Bdosin who belong in the very pantheon of tank and support players.

But the fact that they were painfully inconsistent meant that they could rarely compete at the highest possible level - for longer periods of time. They lost a couple, then they’d upset out of nowhere and then get back to a certain level of mediocrity. They were the absolute worst team to bet on (or against) as you never really knew what was in store. Were they coming in motivated, with a clear gameplan? Or were they just trying to survive and clinch their overall playoff spot?

Their path was a fairly strange one, but after their incredible showing against the Gladiators, it seems like they’re finally getting into their own groove. That said, this isn’t the first time they had such an uprising, we’ll just have to wait and see if this time it’s a bit more permanent.

They have only just begun switching team comps and strategies within games, and that’s a frightening fact.

Once they adapted against the Gladiators, there was no turning back. They were shooting on all cylinders.

However, they always had to fight back against the Gladiators. They had to find solutions and fixes. The Valiant are a completely different beast. While they’re not exactly NYXL level yet, they’re definitely the second best team playing in the Overwatch League.

The Spitfire were also scrimming heavily against the Valiant before their quarterfinal match and as Nus said, the Valiant know them to a tee. That resulted in some pretty one-sided scrims.

Overall, they have a chance, but not a big one. They weren’t able to replicate their stage one success for quite a while, so they’re not exactly coming in with too much hype even though they did look good against the Gladiators.

As for the Valiant, they’re one of the better success stories of the Overwatch League. The former Immortals squad entered the Overwatch League with hopes that they would be able to reach their Overwatch Contenders: Season Zero heights.

Things didn’t really go their way for a considerable amount of time, but after a couple of roster changes and some experimentation with Kariv in the DPS role, they finally came into their own.

Two key changes were in the tank and support positions. Once they started with Space - who proved to be at worst a Top 3 D.Va player, and Custa from Dallas Fuel - a fantastic shotcaller and player in his own right, they scored 18 wins and only 5 losses. That’s nothing to scoff at, especially seeing the level of competition they were facing.

Overall, they’re an incredibly solid team with a ton of potential. They’re capable, fast to adapt and change mid-game, and they also have mental resilience in spades so when push comes to shove, they have what it takes to endure and emerge victorious.

The only aspect of their play that's a bit unstable is their DPS duo - Soon and Agilities. When they come to play - they're incredible, and Agilities in particular has the clutch factor. He's been their saviour more often than not, especially in Stage 4. That said, they're not always consistent, and when they playing on a bad day, it's not a pretty sight, especially for Soon.

They have the edge in the tank department for sure, as well as fantastic well-rounded supports. They rarely make mistakes and in high-octane competitive games where every single step makes a difference, that's highly valuable.

These two teams already faced each other three times throughout the inaugural Overwatch League season, and London leads the tally 2-1, however both of their wins were close five map bralws, whereas the last time they faced, the Valiant were able to take the win in 2-1 fashion.

London has a solid chance, but it's still too early to give them any benefit of the doubt. The Valiant might be a bit rough around the edges since they didn’t play for a considerable amount of time, but when they get into their own rythm they should emerge victorious. London might be able to take a single match, but not more than that.

We’re going with the Valiant on this one. They’ve displayed an incredible level of play throughout the last two stages, especially stage four. They’re coming into the semifinal with a ton of momentum and they had ample time to prepare, so they’re favored with good reason.