Most of the Overwatch League’s offseason drama unfolds on Twitter, where teams post critical announcements, player send-offs, and contract status updates. Western fans should clearly be paying more attention to the Weibo circuit, though, if only to keep track of whatever the Los Angeles Valiant is doing today.
The team has released all of its Korean players into this offseason’s free agent pool, according to a post on Weibo from the Valiant, flagged by an eagle-eyed community member. This has yet to be announced on the Valiant’s Twitter account, which mostly caters to Western fans and posts sporadic updates.
Damage dealers Oh “Innovation” Seok-hyeon, Kim “Becky” Il-ha, and Lee “Ezhan” Ji-han were given farewells in the post along with tanks “Song “SASIN” Sang-hyun and Hwang “Marve1” Min-seo.
Former head coach Wang “NoHill” Fuxing, who left in September to resume his studies and claimed he was put into debt running the Los Angeles Valiant, said on Weibo that all of the team’s players are free agents.
“We suffered to the end,” the coach wrote, before answering a fan who inquired about the status of the team’s remaining four Chinese players.
While unconfirmed, this information would put supports Chen “Lengsa” Jingyi and Chengzhi “Molly” He as well as DPS Zhong “Haker” Haotian and star player Weida “Diya” Lu into the offseason’s extensive free agent pool.
Operated by LinGan e-Sports in China, the Los Angeles Valiant has faced a variety of criticism throughout the year, especially from NoHill himself. The coach posted a picture of his bedroom and claimed it served as both a resting place and a meeting room for the team.
In 2022, the Los Angeles Valiant managed to barely stay afloat in the East Region, ending the year with a 7-17 regular season record.
Update Nov. 16, 4:30pm CT: The Los Angeles Valiant confirmed on Weibo that Lengsa, Molly, Haker, and Diya have also been released from the team.
