Los Angeles Valiant vs Los Angeles Gladiators

For our third match of the day we have a very exciting clash between the Los Angeles Gladiators and the Los Angeles Valiant. Now whenever two LA teams fight in the Overwatch League it almost always turns out to be an incredible series - this time around shouldn't be an exception.

This match is important for a multitude of reasons, however the biggest one and most important is the fact that it could heavily impact the standings. Both teams are currently a part of a somewhat elite club as neither lost a match so far in Stage 4. That said they had somewhat different trajectories and strengths of schedule.

The Valiant had a struggling Seoul Dynasty and the Shanghai Dragons in week one and arguably an even easier week two with the Florida Mayhem and the Boston Uprising. That's not exactly the upper echelon of the Overwatch League to be fair, in fact it's three matches against 0-4 teams and a hard fought win over the Dynasty that hasn't been performing for months. However even in some of their wins they didn't look as polished, in-sync or dominant as most people expected.

Overall they're currently ranked as the third best team, behind New York Excelsior and the London Spitfire however you wouldn't really rank them that high in general. Are they a fantastic team? Obviously they are, they've sustained a very commendable level of play over the course of the entire regular season but they're not a top tier team in the sense New York is, or London or perhaps some other teams that have a lot more potential. (but arguably fail to reach it as time goes on)

They have perhaps the best tank duo in the entire League in Fate and especially Space who gives them a ton of flexibility - a sensational D.Va player who can also play a frightening Zarya/Roadhog if the need arises. When you pair them with a fantastic couple of supports you get a very solid core that can tango with the very best. However when you go over to their DPS line-up, things get a bit complicated. Soon is a great player and he proved his worth on more than one occasion however he's very streaky in performance - ever since Stage 1. We've seen his good days and bad ones as well and it mostly meant the difference between the Valiant winning or the Valiant losing. He's highly talented and capable but when he's not on the top of his game the Valiant suffer. They lack a star DPS player, an individual that can clutch out the map when it matters the most - someone like Striker, or Carpe, Pine, Saebyeolbe, Profit, Surefour, LiNkzr, etc. The Valiant's DPS lineup is strong, but they're always telegraphing what they're going to play as every single player has a very concrete champion pool and over the last couple of weeks they haven't even been performing that well.

Overall they're good, but most teams have better line-ups. Boston was (and still is) in a big slump and yet it took the Valiant five hard fought maps to emerge victorious. Even though the Valiant secured both King's Row and Hanamura (even managing to full hold the Uprising on the latter), Boston managed to turn the tides on their staple Oasis. It wasn't easy but they managed to clutch it out through some stellar team play. Dorado was much of the same however when they got to Nepal, Agilities - who had a pretty unimpressive couple of maps - managed to become the deciding factor. His Pharah play was absolutely stunning and he finished the map with twenty three final blows, whereas the second biggest number on his team was six.

Soon also had one of his good days and performed out of his mind on both Widowmaker and Tracer but he wasn't able to carry over his level of play to the second part of the set. In short, even though they managed to impose their playstyle and take the series, it wasn't as easy as it should have been - after all they're ranked in the Top 3.

As for the Gladiators, their dominant run continued last week as they were able to best both the Florida Mayhem as well as the Houston Outlaws. While a 4-0 win over Florida doesn't really mean a lot, let's focus a bit on their clash with the Outlaws. After an abysmal start on King's Row, the Gladiators couldn't really find an answer to Houston's double sniper comp. They consistently fell pray to wombo combos which ultimately led to one of Jake's best Hanzo performances to date.

After getting outclassed on King's Row, the Gladiators immediately stepped up to an incredible degree. After full holding the Outlaws on Hanamura they went on to dominate on Oasis and finally clutch things out on Dorado. Overall, Hydration and Biggoose did a lot more work than Jake and Bani, and Surefour was more than able to handle LiNkzr who had a pretty mediocre performance outside of King's Row.

The Gladiators were more aggressive, more hungry and their synergy was too much for Houston to handle. They also proved to be very adept at the current meta as they can play a wide variety of team comps and strategies but also restructure and change course within a single map - something that is becoming increasingly more important and game changing in the current meta.

Not to mention the fact that they're so incredibly flexible, they have the entire DPS spectrum covered and it seems like they're finally being able to put out consistent performances even against the top teams. They're currently sitting at the very top of Stage 4 with good reason and by the looks of it they won't go down in the rankings any time soon.

When we take a look at the map pool, the Gladiators have a huge edge over the Valiant on Lunar Horizon Colony and Oasis whereas they're somewhat similar on Dorado.

We're going with the Gladiators on this one. While it might not be that clean or dominant, they're more than equipped to handle the Valiant at their best. It helps that they also beat their LA nemesis the last time around they fought, and with the map pool going in their favor, this should without a doubt go in Gladiators' favor.