Los Angeles Valiant get big upset over Vancouver Titans in Stage 3

The Los Angeles Valiant, ranked only 17th in Overwatch League’s overall standings, landed an epic upset over the top-ranked Vancouver Titans.

In the inaugural season of OWL the Valiant were a team to look out for. They won the Stage 4 title over the New York Excelsior, were a contender in the playoffs, and ranked second overall, totalling $300,000 in prize money through 2018.

This season has been an upsetting contrast for fans of the team. Coming into Stage 2, the Valiant hadn’t managed to win even one single game and ranked dead last in the league standings. They seemed to improve early in the second stage and actually won games against the Atlanta Reign, the Washington Justice, and the Chengdu Hunters. 

Stage 3 didn’t seem to promise much change from this new norm. Their first match against the Shanghai Dragons resulted in a 3-1 loss. But something must have changed for the team, because since that match they’ve won every subsequent match played, including against the top-ranked Titans. 

Going into Stage 3, the Titans had not lost a single regular season match. They won the Season 1 playoffs, and their only loss to date had been attributed to the San Francisco Shock in the Stage 2 playoffs final. The Valiant, being placed so low, was not expected to best the undefeated Titans. 

The response from the Valiant was one of shock. The team tweeted a picture of a “media offline” screen with the caption “We didn’t have a contingency plan for this, but the beast has been slain.” Multiple Overwatch teams have replied with their support of the Valiant following the win.

With that loss now on the books for the Titans, they sit in second place going into week four of Stage 3. The NYXL have taken their spot back as the top scoring team with four wins and no losses. Fans are eager to see if the momentum will continue next week against the Hangzhou Spark.