The main problem with the format is that at most two teams per group can make it, but there's three slots for masters, so if the three best teams of the region are in the same group (and tbh FUT, TH and NAVI are the best three atm), one of them will definitely miss out, even if they beat every single other team.

Since Split 1+2 combined give us a full round robin, the only choice Riot made was whether Split 1 would have the intra-group or the cross-group matchups.

If they had chosen the intra-group matchups, and then made these BO1 play-in matches cross-group (2nd of Alpha vs 3rd of Omega), we wouldn't have this problem, and nothing would change about Split 2. Imo this would have been the better choice.

BLG 4th in their group, NRG 5th, they just keep winning

Benny 1v5s sen with his eyes closed

https://www.vlr.gg/318930/team-liquid-vs-team-heretics-champions-tour-2024-emea-stage-1-w4

Have you considered simply betting on the winning team instead of losing money like some kind of idiot?

It needs to be 2-0 and they need to go +17 in rounds (so, like 13-5, 13-4)

Not trying to jinx anything, but I feel like DRX genuinely seems like the best team in the world right now.

SEN and NRG are disappointing, Lev looked very strong in the last few games, but I'm not 100% convinced yet, and EMEA is unfortunately still a joke (although TH with Woot should have the potential to be a contender).

Shanghai will probably be the best chance for APAC to win a trophy.

Which is about 150 higher than the average vlr chatter

That was one of the sickest aces I've ever seen. Jawgemo is a fucking beast

I love Cauanzin

Why is that bad for EMEA, neither of these teams are making Shanghai

That's why Vesprit said "We only destroyed old Navi"

pulling their best furia impression

Bro's spending time posting in a forum about a dead game 😂🫵

If map score is the tiebreaker, then Gen.G will be qualified, but in theory Bleed could catch up to TS still (very unlikely, but possible)

Edit: I'm stupid, yeah of course they'd both be qualified.

When you have to bring up stuff from 8 months ago you know he's really finished. Stop living in the past bro.

1-8

Not just without dropping a map. Both in the regular season, as well as in playoffs, they conceded an average of exactly 5 rounds per map.

GE vs DFM and T1 vs Zeta are the only games where I still have some hope tbh.

They conceded 70 rounds in 14 maps in the regular season. That's an average of 5 per map.

Nah, not in this league, gotta wait until ascension for the choke

The experts on vlr dot gg said he's the best duelist in the world, so it must be true

It's looking more and more likely that we see four Omega teams in the playoffs, damn

Phenomenal Raze gameplay from your goat today btw

It's not hard to make brain-dead comments on an internet forum, you're not special

So true

What about this guy: https://www.vlr.gg/112334/optic-gaming-vs-funplus-phoenix-valorant-champions-tour-stage-2-masters-copenhagen-lbf/?game=90674&tab=overview

You just can't do a segment like this for a team like FNC that attracts a lot of fake fans. So fucking hard to watch

rip

No way holy shit that's insane!!

Nobody's matchfixing bro, we just suck

Never make another prediction again

I get that they might not have the biggest budget, but surely Polvi was just a nepotism hire, he was on Tenstar (?) under coach Spin back in the day. Russ was also in at least one team coached by Spin (can't be bothered to look up what team that was), but at least he's always had great util, even when everyone pointed to him as the weakest link in Guild; plus IGLs are hard to come by and he's definitely not the problem in this team.

But if Spin can't manage to make a team with T3xture and Monyet work, then I feel like there's just no justification for keeping him. Polvi is a flop and that's 100% Spin's fault, the team as a whole just doesn't work that well, even though they have improved.

Feels like the solution should be to get a new coach and rebuild a new team around Lightningfast and maybe Russ. LF has been looking extremely solid so far, can hold his own mechanically and makes good decisions. Having an Indian player on the team is a good idea as long as he's up to the task, and LF is definitely good enough for a mid-table team that has a chance to shoot for playoffs.

It's not like they looked completely awful, there were some good signs, but it's just not enough.

Lightninfast is actually a beast man

I mean he was in tier 1 for 3 years and just couldn't prove that he can perform under pressure. We all know he had very high peaks and great aim, but that's just not good enough.

Maybe this year in Apeks gives him the confidence to come back to tier 1 and succeed, but it's not like he never had the chance.

Veto advantage lol and why is that?

My premier team in plat/diamond deserves him

Is Tex actually German though? I thought he was American.

🫵🏻😂

Damn EU carrying NA (or however you spell his name)

the correct response would have been "holy hell", i'm confused

Google "johnqt home country"

Bold statement coming from a SEN flair

True holy shit I forgot for a second how much Lev sucks. As GM I hereby fire mw from the team, sorry pal

Imagine a roster with

Mwzera
Cloud
nAts
Rb*
sScary

Could go hard (assuming sScary can IGL)

*I do want to say no disrespect to TEC, China as a whole just obviously still needs more time to develop as a region, and I wouldn't call TEC a "shit team". Rb is clearly so much better than all of his teammates though that I thought he fit this list, plus to make the team work I really needed a flex player.

This ain't even mid, literally the two worst teams in the league

They'll somehow manage to both lose, but it'll be close

Why the fuck would I, this was a month ago.

Congrats, your favourite player managed to learn a second duelist agent after like what, 15 months of getting paid to play for tier 1 Valorant teams? Aspas still clears

Don't forget about the 2022 Europa League winners

Retla twice as good as zombs on Icebox