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Overwatch League moves: Valiant shake up team, Fusion extend Carpe

Park "KariV" Young-seo, left, will be joining the Toronto Defiant after spending the past two seasons with the Los Angeles Valiant, and his former teammate Brady "agilities" Girardi is also leaving the Valiant. Photo: Robert Paul for Blizzard Entertainment

The Los Angeles Valiant parted ways with three players -- Indy "Space" Halpern, Park "KariV" Young-seo and Brady "agilities" Girardi -- on Wednesday, with two of them quickly landing with new organizations.

The three had been with the Valiant since 2017, joining from Immortals.

The Los Angeles Gladiators announced Wednesday that Space had joined the franchise, and the player confirmed the move.

"I'm going to miss all my brothers on Valiant more than anything and I'm super grateful n blessed to still be able to represent the city of Los Angeles. Thank you everyone for the support," Space tweeted.

The Toronto Defiant welcomed KariV on social media, too.

"We're so incredibly excited to have him on our roster and can't wait to see him in red and black. Thanks @LAValiant, we'll take good care of him," the team posted on Twitter.

The rumor mill on Wednesday pegged agilities to join KariV in Toronto, though neither the team nor player made an announcement.

"it's been a wild ride from sodipop to IMT to valiant but it was amazing being able to meet all the fans and represent LA, thank you to everyone that supported us through all the ups and downs :) will never forget u all," agilities wrote on Twitter.

These were just a few of the moves that happened across the Overwatch League on Wednesday.

The Philadelphia Fusion announced they have parted ways with Elijah "Elk" Gallagher and Finley "Kyb" Adisi, but they will sign Jae-hyeok "Carpe" Lee to a three-year contract extension.

Carpe, 21, was an MVP finalist in Overwatch League Season 1 in 2018, when the Fusion reached the grand final before losing to the London Spitfire.

The three-year extension, through the 2022 season, is pending league approval.

The Fusion posted the news about Elk and Kyb on social media.

"We thank them for their hard work and for being incredible teammates during our 2019 Season, and we wish them luck and success in their future careers!" the team wrote.

The 20-year-old Elk wrote on Twitter:

"I've been with fusion since 2017, they've been an amazing org and incredibly supportive to their players. I'm sad I couldn't show what I'm capable of in the 2019 season but a lot of good lessons learned going into 2020."

Kyb, 21, had been with the team since July, when he was acquired in a trade with the Guangzhou Charge.

Wednesday's announcement came a day after the Fusion said they were parting ways with Josh "Eqo" Corona.

The team made the announcement on social media, writing of Eqo: "As a member of our team for the past two seasons, we cannot thank him enough for his hard work, dedication, and in-game leadership."

The 20-year-old Israeli tweeted of his time with the team: "Thank you for taking care of me for the last 2 years !, i'll miss everyone a lot."

Eqo had been with the Fusion since their beginning in 2017.

The Paris Eternal continued their offseason overhaul by parting with off-tank Finnbjorn "Finnsi" Jonasson, flex DPS Karol "Danye" Szczesniak, main tank Roni "LhCloudy" Tiihonen and flex DPS George "ShaDowBurn" Gushcha on Wednesday.

"Their contributions to the first season of the Paris Eternal will forever be appreciated, and we wish them all the best going forward," the team said in the announcement.

The departure of four players comes after the Eternal parted ways with head coach Felix "Fefe" Munch, assistant coach Kyle "KyKy" Souder and manager Alban "Albless" de la Grange earlier this month.

The Eternal finished in 14th place in their debut Overwatch League season in 2019.

Finnsi has played for Paris and the Los Angeles Valiant through the first two seasons of the Overwatch League. All four players confirmed their free agency on their Twitter pages and said they are seeking new opportunities in the OWL or elsewhere.

"I'll consider any and all offers and I'm extremely motivated," Danye tweeted.

"Thank you @ParisEternal fans for supporting us this season!," ShaDowBurn tweeted. "Really enjoyed playing with my mates. Now I would be looking for new opportunities."

Young-jin "Youngjin" Jin has left the Shanghai Dragons and is a free agent.

"YOUNGJIN was an excellent flex player who stepped up to fill any role the team needed him to," the Dragons tweeted Wednesday. "Thank you, and we'll be cheering for you wherever you go."

Youngjin, who turns 22 next month, joined the Dragons on Oct. 22, 2018. He helped the team win the Overwatch League 2019 Stage 3 playoffs in July, a remarkable turnaround for a group that went 0-40 in 2018.