LA Valiant Announce Roster Changes Heading Into Season Two of the Overwatch League
Robert Paul for Blizzard EntertainmentThe Los Angeles Valiant have announced which players they are releasing ahead of Overwatch League Season Two.
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With September 8 being the deadline for extending player contracts for another year, the Valiant have announced that they wont be re-signing Sebastian ‘Numlocked’ Barton, Stefano ‘Verbo’ DiSalvo, or Finnbjörn ‘Finnsi’ Jónasson.
In addition, Christopher ‘GrimReality’ Schaefer will not be returning for the second season. GrimReality began Season One as a player for the team before transitioning into a position as an Assistant Coach.
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Noah Winston, CEO of Los Angeles Valiant, said:
“We thank Numlocked, Verbo, Finnsi, and Grimreality for their contributions to the LA Valiant during Overwatch League’s inaugural season and wish them well in future endeavors.”
The Valiant were one of the strictest teams when it came to the consistency of their starting squad during Season One, using limited substitutions in key roles but otherwise rarely pulling from their bench. It comes as little surprise, then, that they have released a few of the players who saw among the least stage time in the league.
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With eight brand-new teams joining the league for season two, it seems likely that players with experience in the Overwatch League environment – even those who rarely participated in official matches – will have a good chance of finding a new home for Season Two.
With unsigned players automatically going into free agency on September 9, the Los Angeles Valiant will likely be the last team to announce the release of players from their roster. Only London Spitfire have not released any players into free agency, and with the seven players on their roster having won the Season One trophy they seem very unlikely to do so.
The eight expansion teams will have an exclusive window from September 9 to October 7 to sign free agents. After that, all Overwatch League teams may sign free agents, and all teams must have a minimum eight-man roster by December 8.
