2018 Los Angeles Gladiators season

The 2018 Los Angeles Gladiators was the first season of the Los Angeles Gladiators's existence in the Overwatch League. The team finished with a regular season record of 25–15 – the fourth best in the Overwatch League.

2018 Los Angeles Gladiators season
Head coachDavid Pei
OwnerKroenke Sports &
Entertainment
DivisionPacific
Results
Record25–15 (.625)
Place
Stage 1 PlayoffsDid not qualify
Stage 2 PlayoffsDid not qualify
Stage 3 PlayoffsSemifinals
Stage 4 PlayoffsSemifinals
Season PlayoffsQuarterfinals
Total Earnings$200,000

Los Angeles qualified for the Stage 3 and Stage 4 Playoffs. The team lost in the Stage 3 semifinals to the Boston Uprising.[1] In the Stage 4 semifinals, the Gladiators lost to the Los Angeles Valiant.[2] The team also qualified for the Season Playoffs, but lost to the London Spitfire in the quarterfinals.[3]

Preceding offseason

On November 2, Gladiators unveiled their initial 7-player inaugural season roster, consisting of the following players:[4][5]

  • Lane "Surefour" Roberts
  • João Pedro "Hydration" Goes Telles
  • Kim "Bischu" Hyung-seok
  • Jonas "Shaz" Suovaara
  • Benjamin "BigGoose" Isohanni
  • Choi "Asher" Jun-sung
  • Luis "iRemiix" Galarza Figueroa

The team revealed that the players were picked from a conglomeration of professional Overwatch esports teams to suit an "aggressive and fun" playstyle the team hoped to emulate as a reflection of their personality.[4]

Review

Regular season

Their debut match was a 4–0 victory over the Shanghai Dragons.[6] They finished Stage 1 with a 4–6 record in 8th place.

Heading into Stage 2, the team announced the transfer of tank player Baek "Fissure" Chan-hyung from the London Spitfire.[7] Following the acquisition of Fissure, the team finished the stage in fifth place with a 6–4 record, including a 4–0 sweep over the Valiant.[8]

Between Stages 2 and 3, the Gladiators acquired Ted "silkthread" Wang from the Valiant and Kang "Void" Jun-woo from Kongdoo Panthera.[9][10] However, visa issues would cause Void to completely miss out on Stage 3.[11] The Gladiators finished Stage 3 with a 6–4 record in fourth place, which, beginning with the third stage, was the final stage playoff spot.[12] The top-seeded Boston Uprising, undefeated in Stage 3, selected the Gladiators as their first round opponent. On May 6, the Uprising swept the Gladiators 3–0.[13]

The Gladiators, now regularly using Void in their lineup following his visa being approved,[11] finished with a league-best 9–1 record in Stage 4, including a reverse sweep over back-to-back stage champions New York Excelsior.[14] However, the team would unexpectedly choose the second-seeded Valiant as their semi-final opposition.[15] The Valiant would subsequently defeat the Gladiators in the Stage Playoffs by a score of 3–2.[16] They would end the season with a 25–15 record, good for 4th place and a spot in the postseason where they would face against the London Spitfire.

Season playoffs

On July 11, the first day of the season's playoffs, the fourth-seeded Gladiators took a 1–0 series lead after defeating the fifth-seeded Spitfire 3–0 in their first ever playoffs match. The Gladiators made headlines by surprisingly announcing on the day of the first match that main tank Fissure would be benched in favor of Luis "iRemiix" Galarza Figueroa.[17][18] Later on the same day, Fissure was revealed by Blizzard as the runner-up in the inaugural Overwatch League season MVP vote.[19] Two days later, the Gladiators would be eliminated from the playoffs after the Spitfire shut out the Gladiators in back-to-back matches to win the series 2–1.[20]

Final roster
2018 Los Angeles Gladiators roster
PlayersCoaches
RoleNo.HandleNameNationality
Damage 1 Asher  Choi Jun-sung  South Korea 
Damage 4 Surefour  Roberts, Lane   Canada 
Damage 9 silkthread  Wang, Ted   United States 
Damage 99 Hydration  Goes Telles, João Pedro   Brazil 
Tank 22 Fissure  Baek Chan-hyung  South Korea 
Tank 24 iRemiix  Galarza Figueroa, Luis   Puerto Rico 
Support 0 BigGoose  Ville, Benjamin   Finland 
Support 10 Shaz  Suovaara, Jonas   Finland 
Flex 31 Bischu  Kim Hyung-seok  South Korea 
Flex 57 Void  Kang Jun-woo  South Korea 
Head coach
  • David Pei
Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (2W) Two-way player
  • (I) Inactive
  • (S) Suspended
  • Injury/Illness

Latest roster transaction: April 3, 2018.

Transactions

Transactions of/for players on the roster during the 2018 regular season:

Standings

Record by stage
StagePldWLPctMWMLMTMDPos
11046.40016260-108
21064.60025161+95
31064.60025191+64
41091.90030111+191
Overall402515.62596723+244
  Qualified for playoffs

League
2018 Overwatch League standings
# Team Division W L PCT P MR MD STK
Division leaders
1 New York Excelsior ATL 34 6 .850 40 126–43–4 +83 W1
2 Los Angeles Valiant PAC 27 13 .675 40 100–64–7 +36 L1
Wild cards
3 Boston Uprising ATL 26 14 .650 40 99–71–3 +28 W4
4 Los Angeles Gladiators PAC 25 15 .625 40 96–72–3 +24 W5
5[lower-alpha 1] London Spitfire ATL 24 16 .600 40 102–69–3 +33 L1
6[lower-alpha 1] Philadelphia Fusion ATL 24 16 .600 40 93–80–2 +13 W1
Did not qualify for playoffs
7[lower-alpha 2] Houston Outlaws ATL 22 18 .550 40 94–77–2 +17 L1
8[lower-alpha 2] Seoul Dynasty PAC 22 18 .550 40 91–78–3 +13 L1
9 San Francisco Shock PAC 17 23 .425 40 77–84–5 -7 W1
10 Dallas Fuel PAC 12 28 .300 40 58–100–7 -42 W1
11 Florida Mayhem ATL 7 33 .175 40 42–120–5 -78 L3
12 Shanghai Dragons PAC 0 40 .000 40 21–141–2 -120 L40
Tiebreakers

  1. London placed ahead of Philadelphia based on map differential.

  2. Houston placed ahead of Seoul based on map differential.

Game log

Preseason
2018 preseason game log
Preseason (1–1)

Regular season
2018 game log (Regular season record: 25–15)
Stage 1 (4–6)
Stage 2 (6–4)
Stage 3 (6–4)
Stage 4 (9–1)

Playoffs
2018 playoff game log
Stage 3 Playoffs (0–1)
Stage 4 Playoffs (0–1)
Season Playoffs (1–2)

References
  1. Lingle, Samuel (March 24, 2018). "Boston Uprising crush Los Angeles Gladiators to end their OWL stage 2 playoff hopes". Dot Esports.
  2. "Los Angeles Valiant beats New York Excelsior in Stage 4 final". ESPN. June 17, 2018.
  3. "Spitfire shuts down LA Gladiators, advances to OWL semis". ESPN. July 14, 2018.
  4. Newman, Heather (2 November 2017). "L.A. Gladiators To Feature 'Aggressive, Fun' Playstyle In Overwatch League". Forbes. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
  5. Carpenter, Nicole (2 November 2017). "Players from Cloud9, Kungarna, and Team Gigantti make up the LA Gladiators roster". Dot Esports. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  6. Donigan, Wyatt (15 January 2018). "Dynasty survives Fuel, Valiant tops Shock, Gladiators squashes Dragons as OWL regular season begins". ESPN. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  7. D'Orazio, Nick (20 February 2018). "Fissure transfers from London Spitfire to LA Gladiators". Inven Global. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  8. Waltzer, Noah (8 March 2018). "Seoul Dynasty keeps unbeaten Stage 2 going with win over Shanghai Dragons". ESPN. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  9. Lingle, Samuel (26 March 2018). "Los Angeles Gladiators add Void, reuniting KongDoo tank pair". Dot Esports. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
  10. Carpenter, Nicole (3 April 2018). "Silkthread switches from Los Angeles' Valiant Overwatch League team to Gladiators". Dot Esports. Retrieved 23 June 2018.
  11. Tahan, Chelsey (23 May 2018). "Void is ready to play for the Los Angeles Gladiators". Overwatch Wire. Archived from the original on 21 October 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  12. Tahan, Chelsey (6 May 2018). "Here is everything you need to know about the Stage Three playoffs". Overwatch Wire. Archived from the original on 21 October 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  13. Waltzer, Noah (7 May 2018). "New York Excelsior earns back-to-back stage titles". ESPN. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  14. Nash, Anthony (8 June 2018). "Good, bad, and ugly from the Gladiators' reverse sweep of New York". Overwatch Wire. Archived from the original on 21 October 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  15. Baker, Harry (16 June 2018). "The Gladiators have picked the Valiant as their Stage Playoff opponent". Overwatch Wire. Archived from the original on 21 October 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  16. Donigan, Wyatt (18 June 2018). "Los Angeles Valiant beats New York Excelsior in Stage 4 final". ESPN. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  17. Baker, Harry (12 July 2018). "L.A. Gladiators dominate London Spitfire in their first quarterfinals series". Overwatch Wire. Archived from the original on 21 October 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  18. Nguyen, Steven (12 July 2018). "Gladiators dominant in opening playoff match vs. Spitfire". ESPN. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  19. Mejia, Ozzie (11 July 2018). "New York Excelsior's JJoNak Named First Overwatch League Regular Season MVP". Shacknews. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
  20. Baker, Harry (14 July 2018). "London reverse sweep two back-to-back series against Gladiators, head to semifinals". Overwatch Wire. Archived from the original on 21 October 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  21. Wolf, Jacob (February 13, 2018). "Sources: LA Gladiators to acquire Fissure". ESPN.
  22. Lingle, Samuel (March 26, 2018). "Los Angeles Gladiators add Void, reuniting KongDoo tank pair". Dot Esports. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  23. Carpenter, Nicole (April 3, 2018). "Silkthread switches from Los Angeles' Valiant Overwatch League team to Gladiators". Dot Esports.
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