Kru and cloud9 not doing very well in playoffs
Mibr is mostly inexperienced and aspas is starting to play worse
Loud went 0-5 and revamped their roster with Europeans and lukxo to try and recover
Furia and 2G are some of the worst teams in vct right now and are unlikely to become contenders this year (spike may give hope though)
Leviatan's roster is imploding, desperately signing a bunch of big names just to throw them away after playing below average while also not signing any players from their home to represent their country
100 thieves, evil geniuses, and nrg have been mostly mediocre despite showing some promise occasionally (yet I do believe that they have some potential and are getting better, especially considering eg's 4th place finish in stage 1, 100t's reverse sweep against mibr and qualification in the EWC, and nrg's overall performance in the EWC so far)
Sentinels are not performing well at internationals
G2 can't win an international even though they tend to be one of the favorites every time
Second lowest average placement at masters Toronto (only ahead of emea) and also marks the lowest the highest placing americas team has been at an international so far (I think) (4th)

I think that what is going to have to happen is that one of the top teams (G2, sen, etc.) start playing really well after a disappointing international for them, or a new team with some potential (ex. Nrg/evil geniuses/100t) makes a big push to win

I think he is a fine actor, but he is constantly thrust into roles he's not suited well for (ex. mario and garfield)

As someone who is not very involved with drx, what do you think is the factor that is preventing them from reaching higher placements /grand finals at internationals despite the promise they tend to show?

went 1-2 in kickoff
people call them washed, call for big changes
start 0-3 in stage 1
barely make playoffs
go on a run against precedingly big teams (t1, boom, drx)
enter masters toronto as third seed
almost makes the biggest choke in vct vs liquid
starts undefeated through playoffs, beating both americas teams who they normally struggle against
beats a strong fnatic team who plays a slow style that could easily counter them
wins their first international trophy after 5 years of struggle and disappointment

crazy story. gonna be talked about as one of the best

If paper rex is confident in their ascent, I could see them banning icebox or pearl instead, but alfajer's chamber is scary to go against and ascent is typically a weaker paper rex map

I predict that paper rex will use their double map ban to ban ascent and haven, two very strong fnatic maps.
If they can tidy up their sunset and pearl, paper rex has two very strong maps that are typically on fnatic's less comfortable side.
Icebox, lotus, and split are decent for paper rex, but it is still not going to be easy facing fnatic on those maps.

I think that for paper rex to win, they need to be prepared and sharp with their aim. Alfajer looks to be ready to win the whole tournament by himself, and paper rex needs to be on their A game to make sure fnatic's mechanically sharp players don't run them over. They also need to make sure they are ready for those tougher maps and fnatic's playstyle.

Most importantly, paper rex has to play confidently and coolly. They have been through enough to the point where they are absolutely capable of winning a grand final. But if they start tilting, the game is just going to be over before it even finishes.

Paper rex has a good chance at taking the trophy, but they have to prove in the match that they want it more than fnatic does.

lol furia got
l l I
ll l _

When the camera was on him i noticed he blinks really hard is that some kind of eye issue or does he just blink hard

sucks such a great young player is being ruined because of his own mental and work ethic

It makes so much more sense why the team is playing without him now. I totally understand why edg would bench a player like him. It's just sad that such a talented guy is wasting his talent by being problematic.

Prx have neglected to put jingg on raze even for the maps where raze is a good pick despite raze being jingg's most comfortable agent. I know their probably trying to experiment with jingg's agent pool but not allowing him to play his best agent on the maps where it is acceptable seems a bit weird.

What are your thoughts on the seemingly new style paper rex is going for? (I personally can't provide input because I didn't see the match)

I think masters Bangkok might be the worst VCT international so far.
Not because I didn't like the teams or I was mad a certain team didn't win but I feel like this was some of the worst professional tier 1 valorant play I've seen.
You could probably take any series in the tournament and find one outrageously stupid choice/play for each one. The overall gameplay from every team also did not feel like the normal level they play at.

I'll give some examples:

Team liquid vs edg on split had an atrocious gravity well fail from kamyk
Jawgemo's ult fail on the last round of the g2 vs edg Swiss stage series
Drx vs vitality split had drx mess up a 4v2 against less's stinger because they tried to dry peak out of a smoke and flashback could not hold down his site because he kept on getting revealed
Trace picked lotus against t1 even though it was probably t1's best map, and it showed that they were totally unprepared on the map when the scoreline was 13-3

This tournament had every team looking like they just came from tier 2 at some point and will probably be the worst international tournament in VCT history. Hopefully it isn't a pattern the rest of the year will follow.

My guy found out his idol got eliminated and is taking his anger out on everyone else
If they play g2 again he gonna drop 150 for eliminating nats

What combo of abilities would be the best (can only put an ability in the slot it currently is in (C, Q, E, ultimate))?

what does drx stand for

tenz catching strays he's not even a duelist player in 2024

Arguable, but although demon1 has played both astra and brimstone, tenz playing just omen works because omen is vital on almost every map except icebox and bind, which tenz plays different agents for. Demon1 not being able to play omen is a huge hit to his viability as a controller player because of how viable omen is.
Also, just because demon1 was the best controller player "at some point" does not mean they still are. Replacing tenz on sentinels would most likely not be a good idea, as they would have a disadvantage on omen maps (most maps in the game), and his duelist play is covered by zekken.
Even if astra became meta with the newer buffs, double controller would become super powerful, meaning they still would probably need an omen player, something nobody else on sentinels has shown they can do.

That's cool. Might be better than apeks

1. 2G - I think the purple and astronaut theme could be cool if they go with that

2. Apeks - I think fnatic might outclass them in terms of orange team bundles, so it will probably come down to the card or team preference

3. Xi Lai gaming - bland colors, cool logo

Pacific ascension isn't done, but sin prisa or full sense bundle would be the coolest in my opinion.

I don't know why but watching leviatan play after stage 1 was so boring even though they have multiple good players

There are some emea teams (giantx, koi) that could become contenders if they picked up one of them despite their underwhelming season on global esports

Which member joins a trophy winning team this time?

ok so does TMV make a sen video now
(TMV: How EDG DESTROYED Sentinels on Sunset! (I promise I'm not a sentinels hater))

oops

I know commend made a video on this but I think it could use an update

if a theoretical valorant world cup happened which country would win?

what's your favorite valorant team and who do you think is their weakest player

just curious :)

Time to rant I guess

So forsaken was one of paper rex's DUELIST players when they were first starting out. Chronicle has been a flex player for a long time (idk when he started).

Forsaken only switched to a flex player when something joined prx and then he played duelist a lot at Tokyo because something couldn't go and they had to use a sub. This switch when something joined was big, and was also probably a reason that paper rex played better, not just because of something.

If you look at the stats when both players were playing full flex, forsaken actually does better than chronicle (Champs 2023, Madrid)

This not only shows that forsaken was the theoretical better player at the events they both flexed, but it also shows that although chronicle may have been the better player historically, nowadays forsaken seems better, especially considering he went to Madrid and chronicle didn't. (Although fnatic does seem to be looking better after winning stage 1)

The problem isn't that NRG isn't winning, it is the fact that they have been playing bad and the expectations of them was high coming into 2024 because of the record and individual talent of each player.