RA's Lotus has improved a lot, which I really like. I think their postplant is great and with a mechanically gifted player like MarT1n on the Killjoy, EDG face a lot of difficulties defusing.

Yeah they have a good chance of doing just what you want lol

Thank you for your kind words.

Yeah but FPX's clearly stepped up their Ascent game since their last meeting with TE.

What an absolute banger. The biggest question in my mind is "will they play Ascent?" FPX absolutely dominated ASE on Ascent, beating them 13-1, and I'm sure many of us are aware of just how strong Trace Esports can be on that map. It's definitely going to be a close match regardless of the maps played. I believe that it will go all three maps, but I can't pinpoint a winner this time. Going off my gut and intuition, I think TE will come out on top of a 2-1 hard fought win. I just feel like TE's individual players are just better than the FPX players; but that's just my opinion.

2-1 TE win.

Yeah this wasn't a great prediction.

To be honest, if I was TEC, I wouldn't want to be facing Trace Esports any day of the year. Although Abo played super well the past two series he played, we don't know how well he's going to do this series, and personally, knowing his TYLOO history, I am skeptical towards his ability to pop off three times in a row, although he is on duelist. As for TE, if they play YOU, and not that dynamite guy, I'm sure they can team diff TEC. After all, Valorant is at its core a team game, and in a matchup between a team like TE with superior mechanical skill and gamesense and a less experienced newly put together team like TEC who might now know how to play against a top team, I'd lean towards Trace Esports winning this series 2-0.

2-0 TE win.

Tough match to predict haha. Both teams have just been challenged by the other two teams that got top 4 in Act 2, and I'm very excited to see what this matchup between two teams that have met each other often can bring to the table once again. But to be honest, some of what I saw from RA in the TE match almost made me lose my marbles just from watching it, and I really hope we get to see a close and well fought series by both sides this series. If RA plays like how they should, then they're definitely going to mount a fairly strong challenge against objectively speaking the best Chinese Valorant team in history so far. Of course, if EDG plays the way they should be playing, then I can see this ending in a 2-0 win for EDG but with overtime given that RA plays well.

2-0 EDG win.

I don't have a lot of time, but I'll go over what I do know. DRG gave FPX a run for their money. EDG was given a run for their money by ASE but got away in the end. Do you know what that tells me? It tells me that ASE has upped their game to the point where they can challenge EDG, and I haven't seen anything from FPX that'd make me say the same. In fact, having a close run in with OT in both the 17G and the DRG series tell me that chances are that ASE wins this series.

2-0 ASE win.

Of course my wonderful Poge.

Haha! There's my favorite Poge always there to talk to me.

Yeah, I was just being a whiny bitch and there's absolutely no reason to care about my problems. And I get it! Like you said, I'm literally just another face in the crowd, and there's no point thinking hard about anything I say.

But my life status word vomit was mainly for me to just get it out somewhere. Perhaps vlr isn't the place, but it was just convenient at the moment.

I'm really happy that you're doing just fine, and I hope you have a happy Thanksgiving. On that note, I'd like to thank you dearly for our many interactions on this platform, and I wish you good health and success in the future.

Got both predictions wrong today, oops. that brings my accuracy rate this stage of the tournament to 69%
(lol 11/16)

I mean, tough matches, especially when the teams involved are either so inconsistent or just so new (like this TES vs TEC series) There really isn't a lot to go off of.

It was a hard fought match.

Honestly ik it's to be expected that ppl bet and stuff but the things they say just takes away all my motivation to interact with other people in chat...

You got it buddy!

Okay. Here's the thing. I could probably squeeze in space for the Semifinals and maybe the grand finals, but once again, I am at the mercy of my schedule.

Life's been challenging. But it's going to get much more challenging very soon. I've been trying out for my school's musical, it'll probably be the last if not second to last chance I get. I sucked in the auditions today, so that's a bummer. My grades are fine for the moment, but the curriculum is killing me and class presentations make me want to disappear. All the extra work and commitees I signed up for are really coming back to bite me in the arse from all the extra workload I get. My social life is whatever, my friend who I debate with often isn't here anymore, and my parents are eagerly awaiting positive results from me. vlr is one of the only places where I feel like I can just sit back and take a break however short it is. I get to make a prediction or two, be it right or wrong. I don't get a lot of time to play Valorant anymore, which I still do love, and when I do I am faced with smurfs and toxic teammates, which tbh makes my experience pretty mid as much as I try to enjoy it.
But despite all that, I'm pretty hopeful for the future.

And I know, I shouldn't give away too much personal details, but at the end of the day, we're all human beings, and I feel better after writing that.

I hope you are doing well Poge😊

But then Pancada wouldn't be laughing. I think you missed the point.

You go tell 'em!

Most rational sentinels fan*

Touche.

Yeah! Good reference catch :)
I'm just going to keep believing and hoping for the best because they aren't a bad team at all.

I don't know about the new T1 roster, but we shall see how they perform against a jubilant EDG high on the aftereffects of winning two domestic cups and on the verge of winning a third. Only time can tell what T1 will bring to the table and whether it will be enough to challenge the team that they beat only to get demolished by in Masters Tokyo.
I smell a 2-0 EDG coming but I'm interested to see how xccurate, Rossy, and k1ng perform

Did I ever tell you what the definition of insanity is? Insanity is doing the exact... same damn thing... over and over again expecting... the result to change... That's crazy no? The first time somebody told me that, I don't know, I thought they were joking with me.
But now I know! Team Liquid is going to achieve great things and there will only be success moving forwards with the Apeks core.

Did I ever tell you what the definition of insanity is? Insanity is doing the exact...

I think there's a high chance that the tides flow Top Esports' way this series. While TEC did upset BLG, in my opinion, TES's dominating performance outshines TEC's narrower wins by quite a bit. Additionally, if anyone saw the staggering 43 kills Abo got, perhaps they'd have forgotten that jkuro bagged 50 frags! Now, I'm not going to say that TEC doesn't stand a chance at winning, but I just saw so much more confidence in the way TES played, that I'm sure if they go down this road then they'll only be seeing bright days ahead.
TES 2-1 win

I feel you man...

We're getting it!

https://www.vlr.gg/pickem/d11722b0
Once again, as always, open to discussion.

I’m happy I’ve found something I enjoy doing. But like other people mentioned, I’m not here for betting, and I couldn’t care less about odds or whatever. Just clarifying, because it seems like you see me as some sort of big factor in how people bet. If you listen to me to make financial decisions, then sorry, but you should probably ignore my predictions. Ultimately, they are but a product of my own interpretation and it shouldn’t be surprising that upsets happen in a new region.

They just didn’t show up today. I’d still go with a 2-0 BLG any day of the year

Not just Gods but I think almost all the LoL musical productions are just simply amazing. Even the OPPO ad for this year's Worlds was fire lol

No, it's on me that I didn't take consideration of how bad rain could actually get for others haha. Don't worry about it, and I hope Brazil (I'm assuming) will be able to develop well in the future.

I've never had McDonald cookies and I still haven't had any Subway. However, I will consider your recommendation next time I choose to go to one of those eateries.

I sincerely apologize for my lack of awareness. I understand that I live in a region with good infrastructure and I guess it just got to my head. I apologize again for my insolence, and I agree with you. It sounds very annoying and I haven't even experienced it before.

Unfortunately that seems to be the case.

Oh yes, for sure. If your location of residency does not have great filtration of rainwater, then it is definitely undesirable to go outside when it's raining.

I mean, if the ground is all dusty and stuff, yeah the mud can get annoying, but generally speaking I think a walk in a nice drizzle/shower is pretty nice. Obviously, don't go out when the sky looks like Thor is about to summon a thunder dragon (I have experienced nights here where it looked like the sun was still out at 1:00AM but it was just continuous lightning).

From my perspective, it really is such a shame... I would've loved to see them defending their Champions title and proving their strength again next year, but now I know that it's all just a fantasy.

I actually really like rain. Sometimes I go outside with an umbrella to experience the rain. I recommend going to the center of a park or smth and just standing there for a bit. Maybe reflect on life for a bit, meditate or smth... I think the ambiance when it rains is just splendid.

SR win 2-1 I think EDGS could still put up a fight without Lizhi.

Thanks! It was a tough one, but I'm glad it was right :D

But if you guys really are good friends, I'd assume that he'd be understanding and know that playing video games over choosing him doesn't sour the relationship between the two of you... I think transparency is the most important thing here and if it really is a super big relationship-affecting deal, then perhaps it'd be best that you two have a talk and understand what each other really want.

I'll see if I can catch some matches on twitch or smth... but that depends on how much mercy my schedule wants to give lol

Hmmmmmmmmmm I didn't know that, but ig now I do haha! Thank you for telling me :D

I mean, what can I say! From what I've seen EDGS looks very strong, but I didn't take into account that Lizhi won't be playing, so I'll change it lol...

It definitely won't be a one-sided EDG clap is what I'm sure of.

I don't watch a lot of gamechangers, and I barely know anything about them.
But here's my attempt at making a reasonable pick'ems, feel free to judge or give suggestions I'm happy to talk.
https://www.vlr.gg/pickem/0553a9ad

Let's be respectful of other languages, okay?

Thank you so much! i'm getting pretty busy with school/life and stuff but I do hope to keep this going.

Dude you're so right! Being one of the only 7 games I've played for more than 5 hours, I think it's one of the best open world games ever!