Los Angeles Valiant vs San Francisco Shock

Only a single day separates us from the highly anticipated Overwatch League. To start off we're looking at a clash between two teams predicted to inhabit the middle of the standings. Unlike the preseason matches, every match going forward including this one could heavily impact the standings so expect every team to come out swinging, playing as meta as possible with a very clear outcome in mind.

For one of our first matches we have a close fight between the Los Angeles Valiant and the San Francisco Shock. Now both teams showcased a lot of potential during the off-season and to make things even more interesting these teams don't even have complete rosters yet. The Valiant are waiting for Agilities to turn eighteen in order to be eligible to compete and the same goes for SF Shock's Sinaatra and Super.

Regardless, even in the absence of those key players both teams displayed the ability to reorganize and a couple of players certainly stepped up in order to fill the void. Both teams already fought during the preseason and the Valiant were able to emerge victorious after a somewhat close 3-2 series. While it was tense during a couple of moments, it's important to note that the Valiant essentially shut down SF Shock main playstyle that resolved around babybay. They knew that if they could neutralize his impact on the map that Shock couldn't find an alternative win condition. Iddqd played almost unexpectedly well on almost any pick he got his hands on but it wasn't enough. Essentially Shock need more than one playstyle, more than a single win condition as it is fairly simple to shut down a single player with just a couple of changes in strategy and approach to the game.

To their credit, San Francisco Shock managed to develop a lot of synergy over a very short period of time. They made quick work of Florida Mayhem even though the ex-Misfits squad has a ton of experience and synergy. Sadly they're not equipped to handle a team that is as experienced as the Valiant are.

While the ex-Immortals squad didn't impress at the Overwatch Contenders: Season 1 tournament they did lift the trophy in the first Contenders tournament and they're all fairly experienced and talented. Grimreality and Silkthread had some amazing stand-out moments in their victories over SF Shock and their local adversaries Los Angele Gladiators. They were more than equipped to carry this squad and with them picking up Soon and Unkoe from Rogue, the Valiant have a very solid playoff worthy roster at their hands.

Looking ahead, it's almost impossible for Shock to come up with an alternative win condition, especially in such an unforgiving meta. There is almost zero innovation in terms of team comps and they did come off as an aggressive albeit one-dimensional team. Babybay's shotcalling and overall team cohesion will surely allow them to take this series to the last map but they shouldn't be able to get the win.