top franchising teams analysis

1. FNATIC: They made the perfect moves this offseason by keeping their superstar duelists Derke and a young rising Alfajer, Boaster will continue to be FNATIC's IGL and they couldn't have gotten a better one. FNATIC also signed one of the best info-initiators in the world, Leo, which is a role that FNATIC lacked at, prior to this offseason. To be honest, at this point, if FNATIC had signed any random 5th player, they would still be a high S tier team, as Derke and Alfajer are by far the best duo that EMEA has to offer, with Boaster and Leo both being world class at their roles. However, FNATIC went one step further by bringing in Chronicle, from the old legendary Gambit roster. Chronicle has proved himself multiple times to be the best flex player in the world. FNATIC's existing strategies were already elite, now with the immense firepower improvement, I expect them to be the best team in the world. FNATIC did NOT disappoint, they are my favorites going into the Sao Paulo kickoff tournament.

2. DRX VS: DRX are coming off a hot finish at the recent VALORANT CHAMPIONS tournament, with them finishing third, and a few rounds short of beating OPTIC GAMING, the most consistent top team of 2022. With the addition of a young Foxy9, I expect DRX to finish top 5 at Brazil.

3. SENTINELS: Many people may disagree with me, but SENTINELS have made perfect signings this offseason. While some may think Dapr should have been kept instead of TenZ, but considering that the players that SENTINELS have recently signed, TenZ was a better fit for them. And lets not forget that TenZ is still a player with one of the highest ceilings in all of VALORANT, with a more structured team, TenZ's future with SENTINELS is as bright as ever. The recent signing of Zekken was a perfect move by SENTINELS, as Zekken is exactly what SENTINELS need - a star flex player. Zekken is also one of the youngest players in today's franchising league, giving him infinite rooms to grow as a player. Zekken is also coming of a hot finish at VALORANT CHAMPIONS, where he proved himself to be a world-class player. SENTINELS's other new signings, Sacy and pancada are two world champions that are exceptional at their roles. Dephh is a top NA IGL, with great chemistry, SENTINELS can be a serious title contender.

4. LEVIATAN: LEVIATAN had two strong international tournaments this year, with them only losing to the CHAMPIONS winner LOUD, and previous MASTERS winner FPX, at CHAMPIONS. They are a very talented team, that excelled at clutch situations. This offseason, LEVIATAN has signed nzr, a great flex player; Mazino, one of the most talented player that LATAM offers, and of course, the superstar from Chile, keznitdeuS. Meanwhile, LEVIATAN also kept Tacollila, kiNgg, and shy from their previous roster, with kiNgg averaging the highest ACS out of any players at VALORANT CHAMPIONS. Together as a team, they are going to be scary.

5. NATUS VINCERE: NAVI are signing the FPX roster, excluding ardiis, and replacing him with Turkish superstar cNed. The individual talent on this NAVI team is through the roof. SUYGETSU is the best sentinel in the world; Zyppan is an insane fragger; Shao is a world class info-initiator that put up some of the best clutches VALORANT has ever seen; ANGE1 is a top 3 IGL in the world; and despite the recent ACEND struggles, cNed is still a top tier player. The expectation for NAVI are very high. We will have to see how they play out as a team.

6. TEAM LIQUID: As much as I hate to say this, but the current TL looks much better than the old one (with ScreaM and Nivera still on the team). TL's individual talent was never an issue. However, they always lacked a top tier IGL/Caller. As of now, with the addition of Redgar, the TL issue is finally solved. Redgar is a top 5 IGL in the world, and led the og GAMBIT roster to a MASTERS win, and a CHAMPIONS second place. TL is also signing Sayf from GUILD, who put up the highest ACS at MASTERS COPENHAGEN, and proved himself to be one of the best fraggers in EMEA alongside Derke and Alfajer. And of course, TL is bringing nAts to complete the roster. nAts was the MASTERS BERLIN MVP, and is still one of the best Viper/Sentinel players on the planet. With nAts anchoring, other teams will have absolute "NO ACCESS TO SITE", and for this reason, TL are a S tier team.

Just my opinion

reason why I don't have C9:

1. C9 kept their core, which always seem to struggle this year. Since xeta left, C9 hasn't been the same.
2. C9 lacked a good info-initiator, but they brought in Zellsis, who is a great player, but he is not what C9 exactly need.
3. Yay is obviously the goat, but I feel like FNS and chet were also huge reasons of why he did so well.
4. You cannot just sign the best free agents available and expect them to win everything. How well each player fit into the system is more important.

We will see how well they do next year.

Agree