might?!

yea itll be the first one
they're always gonna put the game with the u18's first, to make sure they finish early enough

vlr is probably just auto assigning the time slots based on how it would normally be scheduled

nope, rabbit
just like my grandma used to make em

Tastes like lead and is surprisingly solid in some places
Lost like 5 teeth last time I had one

You aren't getting hezacoil if you want a shooter ngl
He is intelligent af in his play, but he barely ever even finishes a t2 event above 200 acs

Id look for a duelist to slap on Smokes if youre looking for a firepower first team

https://www.vlr.gg/680278/fokus-vs-reborn-challengers-2026-emea-stage-2-b
well that aint a real loss with double OT (and fks dominating map 1)

(though Reborn has gotten way better than fokus has since, so it'd be a slaughter nowadays)

yes, insanely
but the question with them is more if Riot is tired of their (org level) drama

based on Elevated's analysis of his dataset https://youtu.be/_gs19HGNdf8?si=q_m9otxozN60vJxL&t=430
not really
winrate stayed basically the same - its just that they dont close out the games this stage atm

(but do watch the segment if youre interested, its got some primmie agent facts in there that go against vlr narratives + some fr0st criticism)

be realistic with your scenarios
no team would even consider something like that

After the game vs BST its more shocking that they managed to get 4-0, than the fact that theyre getting demolished now

He's gonna get himself fired, but dang this is good content
Fut games are peak this year

you aint losing to KRU
theres levels between those 2

keep playing and get experience

Sharper 100%

If their last game is anything to go off, they're gonna do the EMEA special

please rewatch the TH pre and post comeback games
It was just a mismatch between what comeback is inane at and what TH needed (+ reportedly language issues on top)

kosh was just in insane form at the time of the signing (and they needed an immediate fix)
his last ACS before TH: 239 vs Ucam, 238 vs RBT (maybe ignore this since RBT is a bit mid), 197 vs FKS, 258 vs SGE, 272 vs CGN
(All 4 of these teams were genuine contenders to make it to playins, with SGE making it)

basically right form at the exact right time for when TH needed someone fast

Teams are cheap
Pa1ze was signed to Fokus at the time so youd have to actually spend money for their best player

(would have been worth it though)

I doubt he'd be going to turkey ngl
He's gonna be FA in the next offseason with basically every org chasing him

The NA money calls

idk, against JL Id like way more rounds
A team as (theoretically) competent as fnatic should be (and was.... at times) able to punish their ultra proactive and reactionary play

Only tilted frost is allowed!
He cant be happy with what he saw!

WTF
thats a throw

Contract is over at the end of 2026 so let's hope a better team is interested in him

well wasnt clouds contract gonna run out at the end of the year anyways?
getting a buyout for a player youll lose in a couple months anyways seems like a great play, regardless of if you make it

(cause you know for sure cloud aint sticking around)

going from fokus, where the system felt a bit too restrictive, to JL who just want to fight is fun af to watch

Does it record 1v1s when you win a 1v2?
Never paid enough attention to that stat ngl

Well comparing Pcfic and the best t2 team isnt fair

Both are playing with the exact same cards (full t2 roster)
So youre comparing the 2 best teams, filtered from literal hundreds of teams (ok realistically like 10 contenders), to a team that only had 1 shot

Pcfic is quite frankly a quite successful t2 projects, considering 3 of the 4 t2 teams rely on intelligible players to hard carry them on duelist

Now there is a question why a t1 team would build a full t2 team and hope for it to work, but thats a whole different can of worms ngl
Also they changed their roster

you dont need toxic in stall in natdex atm (too many good steel and poison types everywhere)
this ones more about wearing shit down via hazards (and blocking spin via Sinistcha) and having every game go for what feels like 40 minutes

(Assuming natdex only, idk about legends stuff in singles)
I wouldnt play this normally, but given that its specifically winning the champ league id go with
But that shit if for high level tourneys only, cause you'd die of old age before you make it past your first route

Team:

Im sorry for being a bad person

I dont think Riot wants to do long term planning like that
You could still have the Apeks situation, where theyre clearly the best t2 team and look to be genuinely competitive with t1 teams, only for the team to lose its 2 players and... well... be a bit shite.

So they rather guarantee one good event than gamble that the good team will actually be good next year.
(That being said I dont disagree that having better teams in t1 would be MUCH better entertainment)

Best game of playins
EP 2-1

yea it is/was rough (m80 got it hard out there)
but its ultimately entertainment first for Riot

having it via points would be much more competitive, but less hype since most people dont wanna watch t2
this way you can condense the entire year into a single event that everyone should watch

ye, but theyre admittedly an outlier given that they peaked at JUST the right moment
they were mid (for an ascension contender) during the entire year including the ascension groups - just played out of their mind during their lower bracket playoffs run

Going from https://www.vlr.gg/237649/acend-vs-gentle-mates-champions-tour-2023-emea-ascension-ubsf to this https://www.vlr.gg/237655/acend-vs-gentle-mates-champions-tour-2023-emea-ascension-lbf isnt a form you can expect a team to maintain

he has had 4 good and 1 bad map, how is that mid
all of the good maps were over 230 acs too

Its the Fundamental Theorem of Arithmetic

and yea it was 1/4th of our students homework after the second lecture in Ana1 while I was tutor (or a variation of it -> e.g. all even numbers, just so they cant google it... AI probs makes those efforts useless though)
its great for understanding how induction proofs work, but also then having them think about the problem after the induction (since that doesnt prove the order yet)

(that being said I wouldnt call it easy for Ana1 students at that point, cause those homework sheets were rough to grade)

:(

Screw factorizing specific numbers; do some introductory Analysis 1 homework:
Proof that every integer > 1 can be factored into primes, and that its unique (ignoring order)

(since its ana1 do it via induction please^^)

a bit high on the cope
they couldnt adapt to the current meta pre engh either - thats the entire reason for the change in the first place

and look where he's at atm

thats just hype
It'd be shocking if they make it out of playoffs with how hard Riot rigged the thing against the Round 1 teams

just hard to cheer for him individually when you know he wont be in t1 next year, regardless of how well he does
no space for intelligent, but low fragging IGLs with Riots vision of the game x.x

LETS GO
ggs EP

Nah, fnatic actually signed Serial and theyre just using Crashies as a spare account

they are still favorites
but it'd be funny to see a full crumble

so no

I dont think thats that big of a problem
Duelist -> other roles seems to be a pretty successful pipline

I wouldnt expect Pa1ze to drop the kind of numbers he was on FKS though
since that team was focused on him, whereas he's "just" the sub for JL

nah thats just what you call the attached answers (spawned from the original reply -> children) in IT

everyones a random dude if ya dont watch t2

not knowing H1ber is just outing yourself ngl

H1ber has never been t1
His only t1 exposure was an emergency sub for FNC (2 games in an international event, on a team with 2 subs)

Hot dang people are underrating GX
Pretty sure they should win this 9 out of 10 times, given that they actually looked decent (unlike some other t1 teams playing round 1)

Anyways SGE 2-0
Jamelinho gonna run em down

not wrong that changes are risky
but I just cant see them making champs rn, so Id rather see them try to capitalize on marteen's form than accepting their current mediocrity

1. Youre thinking of a longterm player. This roster has 1-2 tourneys before them. Potential doesnt matter compared to getting a player that doesnt drag the team down. Someone like h1ber is a much safer option than say (just cause he's the most obvious choice imo and I would have loved if they got him) 77even.
   Aint gonna carry you through games, but he's gonna be much less of a burden during the inital months.

2. He flexes to anything. Idk if they want senti or duelist, but he's the kind of player whos gonna fill anything to make the team work. Roles are the least of my worries with him ngl.

if they replace starxo its game over, but that'd be a catastrophic fumble even if they got a star like LewN to run it down for them on duelist