he can do astra on every map. Oxy is statistically better on raze than jett. so oxy would probably shift to a jawgemo/or asuna type role needing to learn omen or other initiators. while demon1 can play his same agent pool of jett/astra/ brim but hopefully being able to add gekko

i personally dont think its split between flash and info. main initiator is the initiator that will help take space. Every map is different. skye and breach can be main initiator on some maps over fade and sova. I generally dont think gekko and kayo are ever the main initiators.

since we are in a double controller meta we often see a single initiator

on double initiator maps we often see the flash initiator sometimes swapped for yoru who can also gather info

also due to strength of kj and cypher info gathering its not really that black and white.

not every map runs 2 initiator

not every map even runs flashes

usually main initiator is info

#60

https://www.vlr.gg/event/stats/2004/champions-tour-2024-americas-stage-1

Johnqt is from emea and is ranked about the same in the region as N4rrate

Johnqt is ranked higher by 1

https://www.vlr.gg/event/stats/2002/champions-tour-2024-pacific-stage-1

also something and jemkin are from emea and ranked 1 and 4

also
vo0kashu is one of the best player in china from emea

He did on Nuturn getting second at stage 1 masters and third in stage 2 masters. Being able to beat Visions strikers back then was crazy to qualify for stage 2 masters. Also i would also say munchkin from winning masters stage 1 then now getting second at madrid

Lakia

Deal

He would if he was actually on the roster. S1mple was listed as inactive

They made it a big deal that it was a 10 man roster and people gave them shit for it. I think when it succeeds we have to give them credit. Also demon1 was a good scrim partner.

ended with the same record as EG. They lost out but you cant say they were terrible.

They are though. They won it last year on EG

They were not terrible. Does anyone else remember when they were like 4-0 last year. People had them top 2 in the region early that season

Bob successfully being able to compete in NA challengers from game changers

Icy and Screwface going from world champions to a disappointing duelist and a tier 2 player

Id say its sinatraa having to step down or its FPX not being able to attend 2022 masters 1 or champs 2021 acend having to replay keyd stars

Allowed TenZ to get out of retirement

Optic won this tourney without beating an emea team while the strongest emea team couldn't attend

Acend won this tourney but they would of likely not make it out of groups if the loss to keyd stars counted

I'd say it's any player that failed to adapt to the meta and those who are practically one tricks. I would say before this year it would've been TenZ but he was able to play omen this year. So right now it would be yay. My favorite player is jinggg however I am very worried for him if raze would ever get nerfed, idk if sage and reyna would cut it in the future.

I dont think KC, SEN, or LOUD should be on the list. Flopping should be defined as not living up to expectations.

Sen brought home a trophy and will likely attend champs

Loud attended a Lan this year typical behaviour

KC made a Lan when we had no expectations of them

I am a woohoojin hater however in defense of him. Coaches don't need to be good at the game. For example when vod reviewing your own games its really easy to see mistakes in the vod review rather than identifying them while playing. Also I feel like at the radiant level if he was ever close to that level it is also very hard to maintain that form as the overall player base gets better and better season by season. As you can see from a player such as averagejonas which hit radiatn in episode 1 but really hasn't came that close at all getting back to radiant. I do think Woohoojins current level is around immortal 2/ low immortal 3 at best right now.

On a side note this has become one of my favorite videos recently

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDycXK1FKEk&t=876s&ab_channel=royalG

Kru usually beats Lev. Kru has only missed 2 international tourneys beating Lev to qualify for them usually.

Kru has missed only 2 international tourneys in the entire history of Valorant. They are very consistent in making these tourneys, we shouldn't be surprised.

They've only missed 2 international tournaments in the entire history of Valorant. How are they lucky?????????????

How are they lucky, they have the highest success rate in making Internationals plus they always beat Lev when making these international tourneys

I would say Kru also looked good all season and I wouldn't say G2 was at all a disasterclass. G2 was very consistent destroying bad teams all season and not being able to get over the hump of the top teams during the season. They peaked during playoffs as all good teams do. Such as sentinels last split when they struggled to make playoffs but they peaked during the playoffs.

Why are we surprised that Kru will potentially make Shanghai. Kru has been to almost every Lan since the start of the game. Also almost every time they qualified they would beat Lev to make it. Even the most recent 2023 champs. Kru beat lev in the finals of lcq to make it. Why are we surprised at this point. The same goes for G2 and 100T why are we surprised they made it, they've both made Lans before. Why are we acting like Americas have brand new teams making it. These are the same teams that had made it before.

Why are we surprised though G2, 100t, and Kru/Lev have all made a LAN before it's not like it's new???????????????????

I disagree, teams, can turn things around quick in VCT. For example heretics, KC, EG last year. People were saying the same thing about these teams until they turned it around.

johnqt is an import from emea what about Klaus

So with DRG qualifying, China has half of its ascension participants qualifying for an international event lol.

Okay if they are supposed to all-rounders then they should nerf it at the 30-50 meter range because right now its the most dominant at that range. I say nerf the move speed too, its one of the most dominant guns to peek with. Ands nerf the accuracy, most accurate weapon class when hipfired. My point is if the gun is supposed to be an all rounder, why is it so dominant in every aspect of the game, shouldn't it be average or slightly above average in these categories.

That's the thing though. Why does the vandal and phantom have medium penetration? Also since vandal doesn't have damage drop off it does the same wall bang damage at all ranges. You move very fast with rifles compared to the rest of the guns at 5.4 m/s. What I'm saying is that the rifles specifically the phantom and vandal has too much positives are seen in like 90% of rounds.

I'd say the old era is back. Since its basically 2022 guard and 2022 100t

Okay but how are these teams new. Both teams have made a lan before

if you say that N4rrate carried KC then Leaf carried G2 and Aspas carried Tex

so why does it specifically have to be from the 2 teams that made it to ascension? If players are making lans from just he vcl shouldn't that indicate a stronger t2 scene

Johnqt is from EMEA. Y0y is from T2 NA and ruined a T2 pacific team. China played an entire year of T2 just like NA I don't see how they don't count

id say heretics and kc will exceed NAs also chinas entire assension team potentially making it with Life and autumn on fpx already making it. don't forget lakia and izu.

Its a stupid argument to make because 99 percent of any rookie from any region will be from T2. So brand new teams like Heretics and KC will be full of T2 talent. Theres few exceptions like former CS players like xccurate that are given a chance without having to play T2 bc of their experience.

KC, heretics, DRG. Something of prx was from T2 until joining PRX. Izu from T1. Autumn from FPX. Also lakia. Life

i feel like its only because you don't know T2 from any other region. You can look at team heretics for example. Also DRG in china

How are any of these teams random. These are the same teams that were making it in 2022.

Americas
G2- made masters in 2022 (leaf has made a lan before)
100T made champions in 2022 (cryo made it with Xset)
Kru or Lev - made champs in 2022 and multiple lans

Pacific
T1- made multiple Lans
PRX made multiple Lans
GenG - 2 time Lan. players have made multiple lans (lakia, munchkin(masters winner))

EMEA
fnatic - multi time winner
heretics - 2x lan
KC or FUT - both made lan before

China
EDG - multiple lans
FPX - won masters and made multiple lans

The only team that hasn't made lan before is the 3rd Chinese team

seems like we are still in the 2022 era. With G2 and 100T qualifying just like in 2022. With Lev or Kru making it its just like 2022

I don't get why people find it such a surprise that T1 and G2 made Shanghai. The teams have been to these international tournaments before. The G2 core made a Lan and won Americas challengers in the process. The same goes for Kru who can still qualify for shanghai. Kru have made almost every international tourneys before such as their champions 2021 run where they finished top 4 and their champions 2023 lcq win. I find it way more surprising when a team comes out of nowhere and qualifies such as heretics and kc when they made Madrid. Also GenG beating DRX to make Madrid not so much a surprise the second time around for shanghai. Anyone else agree that Heretics and KC making Madrid was way more surprising than G2 and T1 making Shanghai? I feel like people are more surprised that certain teams didn't make it rather than the teams that made it such as DRX and LOUD.

Yea but the only reason why G2 made lan 2 years ago is because they chose to compete in tier 2 for an entire year and proceeded to win it. I would also say that after what Johnqt and N4rrate were able to do for their teams, it showed that tier 2 wasn't a joke. Also Yay struggled in tier 2 and proceeding to struggle in tier 1 on a challenger team that was better without him.

I would say pacific is still top heavy.

I don't get why people find it such a surprise that T1 and G2 made Shanghai. The teams have been to these international tournaments before. The G2 core made a Lan and won Americas challengers in the process. The same goes for Kru who can still qualify for shanghai. Kru have made almost every international tourneys before such as their champions 2021 run where they finished top 4 and their champions 2023 lcq win. I find it way more surprising when a team comes out of nowhere and qualifies such as heretics and kc when they made Madrid. Also GenG beating DRX to make Madrid not so much a surprise the second time around for shanghai. Anyone else agree that Heretics and KC making Madrid was way more surprising than G2 and T1 making Shanghai? I feel like people are more surprised that certain teams didn't make it rather than the teams that made it such as DRX and LOUD.

I get they were slight underdogs but both teams have made LANs before. It shouldn't be that surprising.

I don't see how it's that surprising. The core has made internationals before and won Americas before. They won ascension. They beat Sentinels right before they won Masters Madrid. They beat the world champs 2-0 in their rematch. I feel like people just forgot about them when they spent a year in tier 2

Well too be fair. Those players that won masters Madrid were lost last season until adding an EMEA player this season. Something is in consideration for best duelist and is also EMEA

I don't think any of them has been "that surprising".

Americas
G2 beating C9. C9 has made every match difficult. While G2 has been consistent and dominant against bad teams.
100T beating LOUD. 100T has been playing well and LOUD clearly showed they were struggling during the season

Pacific
I believe T1 beating GenG was a surprise although we all knew they were at least a top 5 team in the region.
DRX losing to GenG and PRX shouldn't be that big of a surprise.

EMEA
Heretics have been on a meteoric rise since adding woot. Unlucky for Navi
Fnatic side of the bracket all had the same record. anything goes

with that logic sentinels is counted as half NA. If we are trying to figure out the strongest sub region I would nominate CIS into the discussion. A close second would be Turkey. I feel like currently Turkey is strong but historically CIS has been very dominant.