The Los Angeles Valiant Overwatch League team has dropped the entire roster ahead of its move to China for the 2021 Overwatch League season.
The Overwatch League previously revealed that the 2021 Season would be placed under two divisions. While the East will compete in China and Korea, the West will compete in North America and Europe.
The Valiant was placed in the east division along with fellow NA teams NYXL and Philadelphia Fusion. The move came just days after rumors surfaced suggesting that the team had been sold by Immortals to an unknown Chinese organization. The rumor was debunked by Immortals and the OWL team, but they released their entire roster and staff ahead of the move.
The current Valiant playing and coaching staff have been made aware their contacts are coming to an end and are scrambling to find new teams.
New owner wants a full/majority Chinese roster.— Arran “Halo” Spake (@haloofthoughts) January 15, 2021
On Jan. 29 the Valiant took its Twitter account to post a message saying, “2021 Roster Update” along with a press release noting that some changes were taking place as the team gets ready to move. “We want to thank all the players and staff moving on today from the LA Valiant due to COVID-related visa issues, as we compare to compete in China next season,” the team said, without mentioning names of those who would be leaving.
2021 Roster Update: pic.twitter.com/wLegf51MAI
— Los Angeles Valiant (@LAValiant) January 29, 2021
Former Valiant head coach Mike ‘Packing10’ Szklanny confirmed in a twit longer just before the announcement that the entire team and coaching staff had been released.
“I want to say thank you for all of the support and love that will be/has been given to all of my staff and players through this trying time,” Packing10 wrote, before confirming the entire team had been let go. “As you all know now neither my staff, my players, or myself will be involved with the LA Valiant Overwatch team in 2021.”
Dear Overwatch
Read: https://t.co/Kd6URCV4UI
— Michael Szklanny Sr. (@Packing_10) January 29, 2021
Overwatch League fans are not surprised by this roster nuking as the Valiant aren’t the first team to drop all their players and coaches, but it is unclear how things will work out for them. Moreover, making another batch of OWL jerseys obsolete suggests every player from the team will be searching for a new home before the next season as well if they do not retire to play Valorant.
Although details about who will be on the new Valiant team for 2021 are scarce, Dexerto suggests they will be a lot of Chinese players, considering that visa issues to compete there was the reason why this happened in the first place. Stay tuned to WittyScoop for the latest e-sports news.
