In Stage 2 Week 2 of the Overwatch League, the “Battle for LA” took place in the Blizzard Arena. Previously, the Los Angeles Valiant took 4 out of 5 matches from the Gladiators. Since then, the Valiant are struggling to find wins, while the Gladiators are off to an undefeated start in Stage 2.

In the “Battle for LA”, the crowd was divided among Valiant and Gladiators fans. “Wings Out!” and “Shields Up!” echoed in the Blizzard Arena throughout the entire match. In this match, The Valiant fought valiantly against the Gladiators. However, it was the Gladiators that took the series.

After the game, the Los Angeles Gladiators’ tank, Chang-hoon "rOar" Gye spoke with Inven Global about what this match meant to him experiencing it for the first time, what this win means moving forward, and if he has a message to the other teams.

Congrats on the victory against the Valiant. You’ve fought in battles before while in Contenders and I know it’s your first match against the Valiant. How does the "Battle for LA" rivalry differ from your other battles?

Compared to other matches, there are so much more fans attending the "Battle for LA". They're a lot more hyped up for this match and cheering like crazy. My attitude towards the game made it more serious. I wanted to beat the Valiant no matter what.


How hyped did you feel during that entire match? Did you play harder than before?

Totally. The fans hyped me up a lot. It got me to try harder and get the win for all our Gladiators fans. I'm happy we got that win for them. Please continue to cheer hard for us in our other matches.

Moving on to the match itself, the match was sort of one-sided aside from the tie at Hanamura. Did you see anything from the Valiant that impressed you?

In Rialto, I felt like they played better than us. Both teams felt like they played the attack side very similarly. On the defending side, I felt like the Valiant knew how to use the Baptiste comp and

prepared better.


Were there any players from the Valiant that stood out to you?

I think Fate is the player that stood out. I felt like when he was on Reinhardt, he seems to have good shield management and he's playing really well right now.


Also, how did you all manage to pull off to win the "Battle for LA"?

In practice, we focus on the basics. We also try to improve our communication like ult management, how to engage fights, and calling out who has ults from the Valiant.

For yourself, did you have a lot of pressure to perform well? That crowd was, pun intended, roaring throughout the entire match.

I don't think I felt much pressure. I've played in high-pressure situations before. The crowd in this match was louder than I've experienced before. In fact, I really wanted to piggyback off the crowd's energy by playing well.


After this win against the Valiant, the Gladiators are undefeated in Stage 2 so far. What does this mean to you moving forward?

Winning games are always good for the team itself. I feel like there's a lot of points we can still improve on. I want to take it one thing at a time to improve and be a better team.


What are you going to do to make sure the Gladiators reach the Stage 2 playoffs and be the champions?

We already have 4 wins in Stage 2 so getting to playoffs in Stage 2 is very likely. I want to start thinking further to qualify for the season playoffs. By the time it rolls around, I think we can become a better team than we did at the start of the season.

Is there a message you want to send to the other teams in the Overwatch League?

We have Decay in our team. Be prepared.


Thanks for the interview after a great match. Are there any additional comments that you want to say?

Even though we are doing really well right now, I want to give the fans more entertaining matches.