The Los Angeles Valiant announced five new roster signings on Wednesday ahead of the 2020 Overwatch League Season.
The team shared the news in a parody video of a recent leak featuring support Scott "Custa" Kennedy, analyst Josh "Sideshow" Wilkinson and Valiant general manager Mike Schwartz, with the message, "We are aware of the recent leak that was published to our YouTube from @Custa's stream, and can confirm that everything said in that video is in fact true."
The moves feature a collection of players from various Overwatch Contenders regions as well as the re-signing of flex tank Caleb "McGravy" McGarvey. Along with McGravy, the new squad includes main tank Song "Dreamer" Sang-lok (previously of the Sydney Drop Bears), flex DPS Damon "Apply" Conti (previously with Revival and Florida Mayhem), support Owen "Slur" Warner (previously Samsung Morning Stars) and support Mun "Lastro" Jung-won (previously with Skyfoxes).
The video parodies a video posted a week prior to Custa's stream featuring himself, Sideshow and support Alberto "neptuNo" Gonzalez discussing potentially major roster moves.
The Valiant recently parted ways with three players -- Indy "SPACE" Halpern, Park "KariV" Young-seo and Brady "Agilities" Girardi. The three had been with the Valiant since 2017, joining from Immortals, and have all since landed with other teams.
Washington Justice re-sign ArK
The Washington Justice announced that main support player Hong "ArK" Yeonjoon of South Korea has re-signed with the team.
ArK has competed in the Overwatch League since its inaugural season. He started as a member of the New York Excelsior, where he won two stage titles and earned second place in two other stage competitions. ArK also helped lead Team South Korea to victory in last year's World Cup.
ArK confirmed the announcement Wednesday on social media, writing, "I'm staying in Washington Justice. Cheer me again for this year. I love you guys and happy to join a team again!"
ArK, who joined the Justice in March, is the sixth player signed to Justice for 2020, along with Corey "Corey" Nigra, Ethan "Stratus" Yankel and newcomers in tanks Elliot "ELLIVOTE" Vaneryd, Lukas "LullSISH" Wiklund and Gye "rOar" Chang-hoon.
Washington finished tied for 17th in the 20-team Overwatch League last season. The Justice went 1-6, 1-6 and 0-7 in the first three stages, failing to reach the playoffs each time. A 6-1 record in Stage 4 proved to be insufficient to earn qualification for the season-ending postseason.
Earlier in October, Washington parted ways with four players just a week after announcing they had let go of their coaching staff following their inaugural season in the Overwatch League.
Toronto Defiant part ways with Neko
The Toronto Defiant announced Thursday that the team has parted ways with flexs upport player Park "Neko" Se-hyeon.
The 21-year-old South Korean joined the Defiant in October 2018 as part of the expansion team's first roster after spending Season 1 of the Overwatch League with the Boston Uprising.
"The Defiant family would like to thank @ow_neko for being such a valuable and unforgettable member of our team," the Defiant tweeted. "Thank you Sehyun, we wish you nothing but the best."
The move came a day after Toronto officially acquired Tank player Adam "Beasthalo" Denton from the Philadelphia Fusion in exchange for DPS player Lee "Ivy" Seung-Hyun.
Toronto finished Season 2 tied for 17th with a 8-20 record and failed to reach the playoffs while having a minus-33 map differential (39-72-4).
The Defiant last week announced that Andreas "Logix" Berghmans will remain with the team for the upcoming season, and earlier this month they named Felix "Fefe" Munch as head coach. Fefe previously served as head coach of the Paris Eternal.
Before coming to the OWL, Neko competed for RX Foxes. He was reunited with former RX Foxes coach Park "Crusty" Dae-hee with the Uprising.
-- Field Level Media