Seoul Dynasty vs Los Angeles Valiant

For our last match of the day we have an incredibly exciting clash between the Korean giants Seoul Dynasty and the Los Angeles Valiant.

The Valiant are currently incredibly hard to read mainly due to their inconsistency. They also struggled at times when they shouldn't, but on the other hand excelled when the odds were against them. Last week was also an inconsistent showing, as they demolished Philadelphia Fusion, but got the same fate just a couple of days afterwards against the Boston Uprising. On Eichenwalde they couldn't handle Boston's slow, strategic attack. They responded well when they were on the offensive but it wasn't enough against Dreamkazper and Striker. It was much of the same story on Lunar Horizon as Boston was simply better, more in-sync. They were always ready for whatever the Valiant had in store and they responded in the best possible way. Dreamkazper and Striker also had more final blows than the entire Valiant roster, which speaks volumes about just how effective this DPS duo has been. In short - the Valiant were bested on every single front and it was far from pretty and competitive. Unfortunately for the Valiant, Unkoe and Silkthread have been ill so they couldn't play, however that probably wouldn't have changed the final outcome of the match. The Valiant were simply out of sync as a five man unit. They couldn't realize any of their win conditions and even when they were close, they couldn't handle the synergy that Boston brought to the table. (a huge improvement on Boston's part in that department)

As for Seoul, they're in a quite confusing spot. They were on the very top of the standings for so long, they had everything going in their favor - upgraded DPS players, one of the best DPS players in the League in Fleta, the most renown and respected support and leader in Ryujehong along with a beasty tank lineup. However they had serious ups and downs, losing maps they shouldn't and then having to come back. They also displayed concrete weaknesses on certain types of maps and certain opponents as well.

Their level of play started fluctuating after Week 2. Soon afterwards they lost a map to Shanghai, lost to New York in a five map brawler, got clean swept by London Spitfire and lastly barely managed to get the win against a seriously weakened Houston Outlaws that played without their biggest DPS ace - LiNkzr.

They fought tooth and nail to get their 3-2 win against Houston and it wasn't a pretty sight as they were far from dominant. But again, there were these insane mechanical outplays, like the strongest Pharah showing out of any OWL player from Fleta on Ilios where he had an unheard of 60% direct-hit accuracy with his projectiles.

Fleta's picks on Widowmaker (regardless of the map) allowed Seoul to be more efficient and deadly, dealing immense damage from all angles. With such a big threat looming in the air, the Houston couldn't do much, especially without any concrete scrim time with CLOCKWORK as their substitute.

When it came time for Lijiang Tower, Zunba took out his pocket Zarya and completely wrecked Houston apart.

It's tough fully gauging the strength of Seoul right now, especially after getting demolished by New York and London not too long ago. It's also hard pinning their exact problem, perhaps it's their second DPS player and the constant rotations between Wekeed and Bunny, perhaps it's something in the way they prepare or even the coaching staff.

Whatever it is, it's incredibly ungrateful undervaluing Seoul as they have an uncanny ability to adapt mid-series. When they lost Eichenwalde to Houston, they adapted immediately for Lunar Horizon, where they bested the Outlaws and Jake's staple Junkrat impenetrable defense. It was this insane ability to improve and adapt in a matter of minutes that allowed them to emerge victorious.

So looking at this match-up specifically it's incredibly hard predicting the outcome. The Valiant could come out of the gates swinging but when the dust settles, Seoul Dynasty should emerge victorious after a five map brawler.