RESULTS: Los Angeles Valiant Ends Week With Victory over Dallas Fuel

The Dallas Fuel were coming off of a 1-3 loss to the Seoul Dynasty earlier in the week. The much improved team came into the match with a record of 5-8 and were in 9th place in the Overwatch League. The Los Angeles Valiant were coming off a 3-1 victory over the San Francisco Shock earlier in the week. They came into the match with a 9-4 record and in 5th place in the league. Dallas was looking for a win over a strong Los Angeles Valiant team to propel them into the path to a winning record, while the Valiant were looking for Dallas to get them into double digits in the win column. Here is a short breakdown of how the match went. 

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Both teams would travel to Hanamura for the first map of the match. Dallas would push through Los Angeles' defense very quickly on Point A to grab a 1-0 lead. Their aggressive offensive push would falter on Point B, as the Valiant would prevent the Fuel from picking up even one tick on the point. This opened up a great opportunity for Los Angeles to take the map win in their attack round. The players of the Valiant would accomplish this, as Terence "Soon" Tarlier (29 eliminations, a kill streak of 12 and only four deaths as Tracer) and Pan-Seung "Fate" Koo (34 eliminations, 12 jump packs kills and only four deaths as Winston) would lead the way for Los Angeles to capture both control points. This would give them the 2-1 map victory and a 1-0 lead in the match. 

Nepal would follow Hanamura and saw the Dallas Fuel capture the first hill to take a 1-0 lead. Soon would help the Valiant rebound by continuing his dominant Tracer play on the second hill. Showing off his talent with the DPS character, Soon would collect an impressive 10 kill streak that left caster Robert "hexagrams" Kirkbride speechless. This would lead to a 1-1 tie going into the final hill. Looking to go into halftime with a commanding 2-0 lead, the Los Angeles Valiant were able to stage an all out offensive assault to collect the 2-1 map win and the 2-0 match lead. Soon would once again show fans why he is one of the very best Tracer players in the world with his 33 eliminations, 12 kill streak and only six deaths as Tracer. Support and DPS hybrid player Young-Seo "Kariv" Park would show that his role as Mercy in Stage 1 did not diminish his DPS skills, as he would secure 16 eliminations and only one death with Soldier: 76. Kariv would also give the Dallas Fuel plenty of trouble with his play as Widowmaker. 

Hollywood would be the third map of the match. The Dallas Fuel would be able to capture the payload and take a 1-0 lead. That would be all that the Los Angeles Valiant would allow Dallas to get, as a solid defensive effort would prevent the Fuel from getting the payload to the second checkpoint. Los Angeles would continue their impressive play into their attack round, as they would execute a strong push onto the payload to quickly capture it. Another well executed attack from the Valiant would see them deliver the payload to the second checkpoint to collect the 2-1 map victory and the guaranteed match victory with the scoreline at 3-0. The tank duo of Kang-Jae "Envy" Lee (35 eliminations and only one death as D.Va) and Pan-Seung "Fate" Koo (25 eliminations and only three deaths as Winston) were the driving force for the Los Angeles Valiant's victory on Hollywood. 

Our final map of the match would be Watchpoint: Gibraltar. Leading the way for the Dallas Fuel to deliver the payload to the end of the map was some excellent shooting from Dylan "aKm" Bignet on Widowmaker. Securing a multitude of final blows, the Los Angeles Valiant were not able to keep the aKm led Dallas from taking a 3-0 lead. Looking to not let the Los Angeles Valiant sweep them, the Dallas Fuel secured a final hold on the final checkpoint of Watchpoint: Gibraltar to secure the 3-2 map victory and take one map off of the Valiant. 

Soon was named player of the match for the dominance he showed throughout each map with his signature hero Tracer. A statline of 109 eliminations, 52 final blows and only 24 deaths proved how valuable the talented DPS player was for his team in this match. 

With the win, the Los Angeles Valiant improved to a record of 10-4. The loss dropped the Dallas Fuel to a record of 5-9 and put out any momentum that the Fuel had coming into this match. The Valiant will be looking towards their match against their cross town rival in the Los Angeles Gladiators, while the Dallas Fuel will be looking to rebound from this loss against the San Francisco Shock. 

Interested in more Overwatch League coverage? Check out our recap of the Seoul Dynasty and Los Angeles Gladiators match from earlier today.

(cover photo courtesy of Robert Paul via Blizzard Entertainment)