What a match. The current world champions vs. a totally new team.

13-6
6-13
17-15

Insane match of both teams. GG!

Also... what people don't understand, he just got 18. First VCT major, first big stage. Like Wo0t 2024.
Of course you are nervous. But now... 2nd map and already way more comfy.

Lar0k super impressive.

Btw.: Lar0k played ranked with brawk and keiko a few days before and they are super cool with each other. No bad blood. Some people try to create hate where no hate is.

This was the match:
https://tracker.gg/valorant/match/29b46e37-b694-42d8-9e13-860da802943c
Lar0k = Jett / keiko = Viper / brawk = Sova

I think NRG 2:0 or 2:1 but no matter what, for this insanely young team of BBL it will be a great first taste of what the worlds best teams play like and so they can learn a lot. That's honestly a w/w situation for them.

Yeah, is my guess, too. Bacon9 doing a greta job coaching these guys.
I wonder why Fnatic is not building a Academy roster.

But I guess when crashies returns to NA to his family for 2027 and Boaster possibly going for a coaching role inhouse, Fnatic will rebuild around Kaajak, Alfajer and maybe Veqaj. Depends on how great this season will go for teams like BBL, M8 etc. so maybe some players there would sign a contract then is my guess (Lar0k, marteen... whoever).

Kicks VCT-Comeback will be nice. GSR, kozzy (just 16 years young), rexxtoned, Proxh also talented as hell.

BBL, too. Kaajak was a rookie last, year - mada, brawk and skuba, too.

Peak T2 is not worse talentwise - quite the opposite, in most cases the top 5 T2 players of each region will become insane VCT players in the future by a high chance.

marteen is the best Yoru on this planet. And sadly he is was let down by his team today. They felt a bit off, especially GLYPH, Minny and bipo.

But NS finally made the doubters shut up, which is awesome.

What I don't like is that starxo can't stop standing up and stuff like that... like KangKang. Bro, just concentrate on your game.

Beautiful Valorant!

GGs to FURIA, but I'm so happy for the PRX boys. Gotta love that team.

sanoj - next aspas? :P

I love BBL, but NRG are just a different level. But (!) very good experience for BBL here.
2:0 probably for NRG...

NS are insane. This match will be crazy.

Easy 2:0 G2.

So deserved. GGs

I think in the last years it was super close... and Americas, EMEA and Pacific all had crazy good and bad times between 2021 and 2025 - but every region had teams that could beat any team from all the other regions (except CN). But this year I think it's the first year where it seems to be VERY dominating by Americas when you look at teams. Pacific has PRX, EMEA has M8 and BBL - but no consistent performance internationally shown yet, Fnatic will be back for 2027 for sure and Vitality might be crazy for next season, too - but this season not so much... and Americas has NRG, G2 - 2 absolute beasts, then LEV, FURIA (similar to M8 / BBL) and then rebuilding Sentinels and KRÜ... so many insane teams.

So yeah, def. the best region on the paper. By far. But is that good for esports? No. Look at CS. Still insanely popular in NA, CN etc. and yet 95% of the success is made by EU teams. Not very cool. It was always so nice that Valorant had great athletes and orgs in every region... so many great events were carried by that fact.

I don't want an dominating region in Valorant. And when you look at Tier 2 in Americas, EMEA and Pacific I also doubt that there will be a fully dominating region for longer than a year. So many talents everywhere.

keiko 13:1 MiniBoo says it all

MiniBoo plays and thinks about it later.

NRG deserved 2:0.

kamo and wayne are the only smart players on TL with the ability to adapt. nAts is IGLing and doing a good job but Liquid never go for a proactive strat, they just lurk and try to dodge the best player on the opponent team (like they always dodging Alfajer) and nAts simply press repeat every round, that's true.

Against M8 they still tried the exact same def-push even after 7x getting destroyed - they then were going for an 8th push and getting wiped once more. Ah - and MiniBoo is just braindead pushing 24/7 and nobody can trade him, while kamo is actually trying to roam on Yoru, which is good. purp0's Sova is good, but he plays wayyyyyy to aggressive as an Ini.

G2 2:1

Keiko vs. nAts finally! :)
But this will be prob. a very clear 2-0 for NRG if Liquid plays just as they did against M8.

But Liquid also beat T1 2:0 and when they follow their ideas there and try even harder, they could have at least a chance. Nothing is impossible in this game. And MiniBoo and nAts already beat the best of the best, so... they need to forget everything they did against M8 and go for what they did against T1.

But yeah... I still think 2:0 NRG and if Liquid go for all-in maybe a 2:1 for NRG.

You can SEE that XLG are not even really calling anymore. I wonder how their comms vid would look like.

happywei def. needs a new team and Rarga, vo0kashu, stew etc. should join Americas / EMEA / Pacifica with better English speaking teams. The only team that has proper English calling ability in CN afaik is AG.

But whatever, jawgemo and trent are just such cool players. So damn smart.

*Edit: Caster: "BABYGAY" xD

So happy for him. Just like koalanoob... never stopped working hard for his dreams, loves to play Duelist but is great with other roles and never stops to learn etc. What a player.

I have a big tip for everyone betting: Use the opposite of my guess before the game. xD

GGs, nAts masterclass

No way Liquid has a chance here, right?!

I love nAts and MiniBoo and wayne look so good on their roles, but... I highly doubt they'll have a chance.

*Edit: Another absolute deaster tip from me. xD

G2 2:1 PRX

My guess... :)

This will be one of the most exciting matches.
*Edit: Yeah, I deserve downvotes. Bro, I'm so bad at guessing matches. xD

I wanted PRX to win, btw. - but after the NRG matches I thought G2 would be insane.

GGs

Keiko = monster!

GG

happywei and Rarga are crazy, WsLeo makes his name all honor and is a very smart player, but they won't have a chance. NRG are still one of the most dangerous teams at the moment - and with Keiko they're mechanically even more dangerous than before. But the new Meta won't ever allow anything like they did to Fnatic again... the map changes, the weapon changes etc. are too heavy.

I know what you mean, but I like when players are respectful towards each other but can still hype up the people and their team. His performance was great this match... not his fault, tbh. And he had only good words to say about marteen f.e.

Dunno... I like KangKang. He is a legend. But marteens clutch was crazy against Kangkangs Tour de Force.

Honestly... even though marteen is awesome, I doubt they win this and the betting rates are crazy. I think it will be EMEA's worst year and I think it could be Americas best year... they have so many strong teams.

But we will see...

I think this could be a 2:1 for EDG.

*Edit: Okay, I was absolutely wrong. GGs

kozzy is 15 or 16 and already this crazy... bro, some of these new players are insane.

Sayonara is still 17. He gets 18 in march... ;) That's when he is able to actually play VCT.

Wow. Mechanically ULF are def. better, but I feel even though s0pp looks amazing on the Neo, they maybe should put him on Yoru and play around that... like the meta. It's simply way more effective, the solo Neon needs way too much attention by the mates and trading is way harder. And I think they also won the map where s0pp was on Yoru and they played the double-duelist meta comp.

furiouss = seph1roth ?!

What a match. VIT played now the first match will their full roster where you could tell "this is crazy Valorant" and were able to suppress ULFs (especially s0pps) aggression. Sayonara played a true Viper masterclass and also on Sova... beautiful. 17 years young... it's insane.

Can't wait to see more of the full Vitality and ULF rosters. Especially Vitality cooking for Stage 1 will be interesting.

GG

Germany: G2

Bro, this match will be VCT level.

s0pp def. belongs to my fav. players at the moment... it's just so much fun to watch him play Neon.

Proxh needs to return to VCT soon... Turkish-German beast! :)
swagzor is also oen of the biggest Russian talents.

s0pp is the truth!

Bro... too many Turkish and European talents overall coming up to say that now. oroni is def. a big one when it comes to Initiators.

Kachoww is just 16 and wtex is 17 I think and these fellas are also insanely talented.

s0pp and echo completing ULF making them much stronger...

Hopefully Ruxic will get well soon. Great player.
But Kolosha is def. a nice stand-in - also he's Ukrainian which is pretty cool for NAVI.

I've seen BOARS games before (like 2-3) and they are def. good. Tier 2 in Americas, EMEA and Pacific is crazy anyways these days. I bet when it's about mechanics you will find lots of players in Tier 2 that are way better than the 2nd half of each Tier 1 league.

I watch every VCT match anyways when I have time, but why should I be a success fanboy and root for every succesful team instead?! Makes no sense to me.

Yes, Fnatic already beat Liquid. Now FNatic lost... deserved. Bro - are you guys new to Esports?
Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose.

Btw.: Fnatic also didn't qualify to the first event last year and the year before.

marteen yesterday had 103 kills after 4 maps... imagine if f0rsakeN would have broken it directly again. :D

The recent days have been crazy in terms of Valorant.

Cope? Where? Do you even know what that means? Fnatic already beat Liquid.

Honestly... GG. We have another chance tomorrow and with Kaajak so underperforming it was def. not Fnatics day.
I'm super happy for marteen and former MOUZ player bipo.

marteen just showed the greatest 48 hours performance of an individual in FPS esports.
106 kills yesterday
126 kills today

232 kills in 2 following matches is next level insanity.

Mentality. 100%. Needs to adapt for where he is staying. Keiko, MiniBoo, crashies, Kaajak all mentioned they don't like Berlin. As a German I can tell you... I feel them. There are bad cities in Europe but Berlin is def. the worst and can be insanely depressing.

They should transfer VCT EMEA to Munich and everything would be solved.

So... on day 1 he breaks the EMEA record and on day 2 he breaks the world record. Like WTF?!

Is marteen human? I mean he was a very good player 2024 and 2025 but since this season I wonder if this dude is actually real.

How can you be THAT consistent when your team is throwing so many rounds?

During Kickoff we can def. say Veqaj is currently better than Chronicle. Dude is playing crazier and crazier!

I meant that regarding starxo stating: "[...] I would beat these losers and I would be MVP [...]"

In regarding to that he got indeed humbled. M8 played great, but he was starting to insult them in October. That's also what I meant before and don't understand.

True. I just don't like that players like starxo spread hate on Twitter and then talk about being chill and relaxed in interviews. I wondered why Lar0k etc. were so pumped against M8... but then I saw starxos Twitter comments.

Glad BBL humbled him.