The Toronto Defiant have signed Young-seo “KariV” Park from the Los Angeles Valiant via free agency. This gives the Defiant a new refreshing core of star players.
While playing for the Los Angeles Valiant in the first two seasons, Kariv was the only player in the league (besides DPS playing Brigitte) who truly played both flex DPS and flex support. When he rejoined the roster after they tested out a rookie in his position early on in season two, the Valiant recovered from their tough start and became an underrated team. Not only that, but Kariv was key in their wins against top teams like the Shanghai Dragons and the Vancouver Titans, making him a valuable addition to the Valiant.
Kariv not the only one coming from the Valiant?
A video recently came out from one of the Overwatch League casters’ streams where multiple players talked about trades. These players included former Philadelphia Fusion player Alberto “neptuNo” González and current Valiant player Scott “Custa” Kennedy. Most of the trades discussed weren’t finalized yet, but every single one so far has come true. This includes this acquisition, but it wasn’t just supposed to be Kariv coming over from the Valiant. Apparently, Canadian player Brady “Agilities” Girardi, who also was on the Valiant, was rumored to join the Defiant as well. So far, it has just been Kariv announced to move.
Please join us in welcoming @KariVOW to the Defiant! 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. Stay tuned for more excitement during googly eyes season! #RiseTogether pic.twitter.com/2R627zZssZ
— Toronto Defiant 🖤 #RiseTogether (@TorontoDefiant) October 23, 2019
First of many for the Toronto Defiant
This signing clearly isn’t the only one for the Defiant this off-season. Whether it be signing Agilities or others, the Defiant still need a tank line for their roster. Nobody knows for sure what the Defiant are going for this off-season, as many people suspected them wanting to go for a Canadian core. With having English speaking players, it would make sense. However, adding Kariv might make the Defiant the same as last year: a mixed-roster team. Does this mean the tanks they’ll acquire will be Korean, American, or Canadian? We won’t truly know for at least a couple weeks, but it does put the Defiant in the running for all the star free agents this off-season.
But will this truly help the Defiant? All I can say confidently is that having a support duo of Se-hyeon “Neko” Park and Kariv is nasty and one of the most flexible in the league. Having the DPS duo of Andreas “Logix” Berghmans and Liam “Mangachu” Campbell is also nasty. Now it is a matter of getting a nasty tank duo to make the Toronto Defiant a scary team for 2020.
