1-33 rankings coming into stage 2

explanations (if needed) in spoilers. i'll explain ones i don't have explanations for if u want

1. GenG

   for GenG and heretics(and 100T, but less so them bc they get furia week 1), I do think they'll stumble a little but i am 100% certain they'll regain form unlike some other teams that made playoffs this split

2. TH
3. 100T
4. SEN
5. Navi
6. Kru

   i don't think this needs an explanation, but i've always been a big heat believer and i thought they were just got really unfortunate playing G2 who hard counter them stylistically, and that loss got them off balance vs Lev

7. LOUD

   saadhak, he's always good at the start and end of the year

8. RRQ

   they were 3-1 with their full roster, including a win vs GenG in the last week of the regular season, got a huge upgrade with monyet > Flip

9. G2

   they aren't changing, other teams are just hoping them imo with the extra prep

10. PRX

    this seemed like the great collapse but for PRX instead of winterhold (skyrim reference)

11. NRG

    FNS has not missed an event since reykjavik 2021, i have no reason to doubt him now

12. Fut

    they'll be great domestically but their bigger issue is playing vs other playstyles which playing against EMEA does not help with at all

13. FNC

    another example of what looked like the great collapse, FNC could easily go 0-4 this split if they lose their first game vs BBL, i have faith in leo that he will drag them(mostly boaster) kicking and screaming to the point they are better than the rest of their group

14. Lev

    firing their coach (if lev is smart) should lead to a full restructuring of how they play, which will hamper them short term, but should yield much better results long term, so for the time being, they are 14

15. KC

    enghh makes up for magnum

16. DRX

    them losing stax means their calling should be even worse than before. if they had a caller at a similar level to stax he wouldn't be igling(even if he was slightly better at it) because he hated it

17. Talon

    i trust frost

18. C9

    vanity holds them back, drop him and pick up scream and they instantly are a better team

19. M8

    this assumes kadvara replaces wailers, which is a huge firepower upgrade, but we genuinely don't know

20. T1

    T1 have made a number of stupid decisions in their time in valorant, and from what they said, it sounded like they'd be using a 6 man roster, which NEVER WORKS

21. eg

    definitely the hardest team to rank

22. BBL
23. Secret

    idk where to put secret i could see them moving up to 19 or down to 25 with no friction

24. Vitality

    i've had them as high as 6th before, but I can't see the team changing too much from where they ended and they lost to koi

25. TL

    mistic + enzo hold the other 3 back

26. Zeta
27. GiantX

    I have less faith in redgar than i do in Paper rex not choking

28. Furia

    big xand believer

29. Koi
30. Global
31. DFM
32. Bleed

    crazyguy

33. Mibr

    no bzka

move BBL, M8, ZETA down
move EG, VIT, TL, GIANTX, Secret up

certainly a ranking

G2 below KRU and Loud is suspicious but good cooking

i should add that I think 1-19 are all extremely quality teams and that this may be the deepest Valorant has ever been 1-20

DRX is super low, no?

ButterflyEffect23 [#6]

DRX is super low, no?

#5, but no I think every team above them maybe besides Lev who have aspas will either out call or out-strat them. I don't trust their midrounding to be good if stax hated it so much to leave there clearly wasn't an alternative that was close to stax's calling because they would've used that instead in order to keep stax

sentinelmain377 [#2]

move BBL, M8, ZETA down
move EG, VIT, TL, GIANTX, Secret up

M8, EG, Vit, Secret are very fluid teams i could see moving up or down some spots
if by Zeta down GiantX up you mean switching them, that's fine, but beyond that plus moving furia above zeta i don't see either team having much movement
TL could move above Vitality and secret, but i would not have them above BBL

CanadianLegend [#4]

G2 below KRU and Loud is suspicious but good cooking

LOUD sure, but i thought KRU were a better team vs the field than G2 in americas playoffs (G2 def leveled up at shanghai but i think KRU will have as well) , and that Kru vs G2 is just an awful stylistic matchup for them (in a similar way its an awful matchup for PRX-G2)

Psion [#7]

#5, but no I think every team above them maybe besides Lev who have aspas will either out call or out-strat them. I don't trust their midrounding to be good if stax hated it so much to leave there clearly wasn't an alternative that was close to stax's calling because they would've used that instead in order to keep stax

Lowkey a decent ranking
I see that you rate KRU highly, I think they're gonna cook in Split 2

Teams from 1-21 are hard to rate for me

ButterflyEffect23 [#10]

Lowkey a decent ranking
I see that you rate KRU highly, I think they're gonna cook in Split 2

Teams from 1-21 are hard to rate for me

obviously im biased but i think "lowkey decent' is an understatment >:(
i think top 5 are easy, bottom 7 are easy, and the rest is more difficult

Pretty good list, pretty good reasoning to back it up. Do you really think Sentinels is still #2 in Americas, though?

L LIST NOOOOOOOB TEAM HERETICS IS BETTER

Jinxypoo [#13]

L LIST NOOOOOOOB TEAM HERETICS IS BETTER

YOU ARE GOING BALD IN A FEW MONTHS

cloudberry [#12]

Pretty good list, pretty good reasoning to back it up. Do you really think Sentinels is still #2 in Americas, though?

who would you put above SEN? i ask myself that and i don't think of anyone besides 100T

Psion [#15]

who would you put above SEN? i ask myself that and i don't think of anyone besides 100T

I'd put G2 and KRÜ above Sentinels right now, given G2 is coming off a top 3 finish at a Masters where they improved themselves and KRÜ looked better than Sentinels before the Split ended and have gotten almost as much rest and prep time for the rest of the season. I can't confidently put anyone else above Sentinels so I'd leave them at 4th for now, but there are some teams which are pretty big question marks right now (how's LOUD gonna look in Split 2? Have NRG kept the synergy they had least year—does it even matter 10 months later? What's Leviatán gonna play like under their new coaching staff?)

cloudberry [#16]

I'd put G2 and KRÜ above Sentinels right now, given G2 is coming off a top 3 finish at a Masters where they improved themselves and KRÜ looked better than Sentinels before the Split ended and have gotten almost as much rest and prep time for the rest of the season. I can't confidently put anyone else above Sentinels so I'd leave them at 4th for now, but there are some teams which are pretty big question marks right now (how's LOUD gonna look in Split 2? Have NRG kept the synergy they had least year—does it even matter 10 months later? What's Leviatán gonna play like under their new coaching staff?)

yeah SEN were burntout
i don't expect madrid form again, but it should be an approximation of it to 85% efficacy, which i rate above both G2 and Kru

Psion [#17]

yeah SEN were burntout
i don't expect madrid form again, but it should be an approximation of it to 85% efficacy, which i rate above both G2 and Kru

That makes sense. That's about as much as a question mark as LOUD/NRG/LEV, though, I think

cloudberry [#18]

That makes sense. That's about as much as a question mark as LOUD/NRG/LEV, though, I think

i really don't think loud and NRG are question marks going by history, especially not LOUD
Saadhak's worst 1/3 to end the year was 2021 where he almost beat gambit (vikings choked)
and FNS i've already stated hasn't missed an event since reykjavik 2021

C9 scream is crazy

badutsirkus [#20]

C9 scream is crazy

yeah it is, but its for reference how dropping him means they instantly have a better igl in runi running the show and more firepower

Psion [#7]

#5, but no I think every team above them maybe besides Lev who have aspas will either out call or out-strat them. I don't trust their midrounding to be good if stax hated it so much to leave there clearly wasn't an alternative that was close to stax's calling because they would've used that instead in order to keep stax

Stax wasn’t doing their mid rounding b4, it was BeYn. So whatever mid rounding they had in stage 1 is still there.

merciless-pity8989-89 [#22]

Stax wasn’t doing their mid rounding b4, it was BeYn. So whatever mid rounding they had in stage 1 is still there.

ah ok, I still wouldn't move them up but if moved above FNC i'd have no quarrel

Americas biased as expected. Kru is nowhere near that high when they are basically Americas DRX(did well the regular split but lose both qualification game) and where is DRX? 16 even though flashback has shown promise and stax has been under performing.

Both PRX and 100t completely failed to meet expectations and yet only one of them "collapsed" and only one of them (PRX) have a history of one stinker tournament a seasobln. And for the first time i doubt loud. It doesn't matter how good saadhak is, without less and aspas this team is not top 10. FNC still won Emea and they suddenly 13. (Granted the lost to fut was something) and even as i hype RRQ up are we seriously putting them on 8 because they beat Geng? T1 also beat Geng but they are in 20?

I think theres a unconscious bias because you want all the other top team of the other region to collapse so you look for signs of their collapse while ignoring the Americas team that are not doing well with simple "i trust this team"

LeCat [#24]

Americas biased as expected. Kru is nowhere near that high when they are basically Americas DRX(did well the regular split but lose both qualification game) and where is DRX? 16 even though flashback has shown promise and stax has been under performing.

Both PRX and 100t completely failed to meet expectations and yet only one of them "collapsed" and only one of them (PRX) have a history of one stinker tournament a seasobln. And for the first time i doubt loud. It doesn't matter how good saadhak is, without less and aspas this team is not top 10. FNC still won Emea and they suddenly 13. (Granted the lost to fut was something) and even as i hype RRQ up are we seriously putting them on 8 because they beat Geng? T1 also beat Geng but they are in 20?

I think theres a unconscious bias because you want all the other top team of the other region to collapse so you look for signs of their collapse while ignoring the Americas team that are not doing well with simple "i trust this team"

"FNC still won Emea and they suddenly 13" they were around 17th for all of stage 1 groups to me, stepped up in playoffs sure(still required liquid, TH, and KC to choke for them to win it), then lost most if not all of their progress by bombing out at shanghai. i expect them to regress back to better than stage 1 groups but not by a lot(compared to their stage 1 playoff form)
"T1 also beat Geng but they are in 20?" did u even read what i said abt T1
"RRQ up are we seriously putting them on 8 because they beat Geng?" again, did u even read what i said, i already had them very high last stage
ru is nowhere near that high when they are basically Americas DRX(did well the regular split but lose both qualification game) again did u read what i said
"And for the first time i doubt loud. It doesn't matter how good saadhak is, without less and aspas this team is not top 10" brother Less is still on the team, LOUD came out and confirmed it
"Both PRX and 100t completely failed to meet expectations and yet only one of them "collapsed" and only one of them (PRX) have a history of one stinker tournament a seasobln" its the ways they lost, as it stands 100T had a fine tournament (2-2, +6 on rounds) and PRX had a bad tournament (1-2, -5 on rounds), if PRX beat 100T, i'd more or less switch where they are
DRX is at 16 because i don't trust their igling now that stax is gone, if they had a better caller than stax i think they would've switched off given how much stax hated it. every team above them will either oustrat them (KC [enghhh]) or out igl them (FNC [boaster]) with the exception of Lev who i could see moving down but they also have aspas

good shit i like

nobody___100 [#26]

good shit i like

thank you bonody

Psion [#25]

"FNC still won Emea and they suddenly 13" they were around 17th for all of stage 1 groups to me, stepped up in playoffs sure(still required liquid, TH, and KC to choke for them to win it), then lost most if not all of their progress by bombing out at shanghai. i expect them to regress back to better than stage 1 groups but not by a lot(compared to their stage 1 playoff form)
"T1 also beat Geng but they are in 20?" did u even read what i said abt T1
"RRQ up are we seriously putting them on 8 because they beat Geng?" again, did u even read what i said, i already had them very high last stage
ru is nowhere near that high when they are basically Americas DRX(did well the regular split but lose both qualification game) again did u read what i said
"And for the first time i doubt loud. It doesn't matter how good saadhak is, without less and aspas this team is not top 10" brother Less is still on the team, LOUD came out and confirmed it
"Both PRX and 100t completely failed to meet expectations and yet only one of them "collapsed" and only one of them (PRX) have a history of one stinker tournament a seasobln" its the ways they lost, as it stands 100T had a fine tournament (2-2, +6 on rounds) and PRX had a bad tournament (1-2, -5 on rounds), if PRX beat 100T, i'd more or less switch where they are
DRX is at 16 because i don't trust their igling now that stax is gone, if they had a better caller than stax i think they would've switched off given how much stax hated it. every team above them will either oustrat them (KC [enghhh]) or out igl them (FNC [boaster]) with the exception of Lev who i could see moving down but they also have aspas

I read what you typed. It's just some if jt doesn't make sense.

I missed that Less is back in that case 6 is fair if a bit too high.

Kru is literally just you making excuses on their lost. We can say the same about DRX (they are just unlucky to run into a inform PRX and Geng) or Talon or any other team.

Also im not saying T1 should be higher, I'm saying RRQ despite me being a massive fan of them should not be in top10. RRQ have always been hyped up to be a great team in pacific since the end of last year split but they fail to deliver everytime. (A big part of it is they fail to deliver) so i wouldn't get my hopes up. They are way to unproven to be 8th. Yes they went 3-1, but they 2 of them is bleed and secret. And a top 10 team dont lose to GE even with a sub.

100t and PRX were 1 round away from switching fate. Prx just decided to troll and pick G2, thats why they have a big differential. Round differential is not really a good margin, otherwise T1 would be in the playoff not G2. Regardless the gap between the two of them is way too big.

Drx have better structures than FUT even with no Stax and with the new roster the firepower is almost equal to PRX and Geng. But doubting them makes sense.

RRQ at 8 is crazy

1UD [#29]

RRQ at 8 is crazy

Should've been 1 tbh, GENG at 2 and FPX at 3. That should be fair

move BBL up they barely missed playoffs on a formality

jamet_ff [#30]

Should've been 1 tbh, GENG at 2 and FPX at 3. That should be fair

cocaine's a hell of a drug

Vortax [#31]

move BBL up they barely missed playoffs on a formality

being fair they lost against one of the worst teams 0-2 on the last weeks but other than that they are pretty good

surprisingly an actual decent list

koromast [#33]

being fair they lost against one of the worst teams 0-2 on the last weeks but other than that they are pretty good

they impressed me so much more than team liqmid. If I were to chose playoffs teams i'd 100% have BBL

LeCat [#28]

I read what you typed. It's just some if jt doesn't make sense.

I missed that Less is back in that case 6 is fair if a bit too high.

Kru is literally just you making excuses on their lost. We can say the same about DRX (they are just unlucky to run into a inform PRX and Geng) or Talon or any other team.

Also im not saying T1 should be higher, I'm saying RRQ despite me being a massive fan of them should not be in top10. RRQ have always been hyped up to be a great team in pacific since the end of last year split but they fail to deliver everytime. (A big part of it is they fail to deliver) so i wouldn't get my hopes up. They are way to unproven to be 8th. Yes they went 3-1, but they 2 of them is bleed and secret. And a top 10 team dont lose to GE even with a sub.

100t and PRX were 1 round away from switching fate. Prx just decided to troll and pick G2, thats why they have a big differential. Round differential is not really a good margin, otherwise T1 would be in the playoff not G2. Regardless the gap between the two of them is way too big.

Drx have better structures than FUT even with no Stax and with the new roster the firepower is almost equal to PRX and Geng. But doubting them makes sense.

1. "Kru is literally just you making excuses on their lost. We can say the same about DRX (they are just unlucky to run into a inform PRX and Geng) or Talon or any other team."
   im not making excuses? i rate KRU higher vs the field, but in a h2h matchup i rate G2 higher because of the styles of teams, and then they lost a close game vs LEV who looked in their group stage form in that game, partly because they stumbled from the
   trying to compare DRX and Kru as the same when 1 had a massive roster change which i think will negatively impact the roster is crazy, especially since you have no idea how high i'd of rated DRX with Stax (i'd rate them between 6 and 10, similar to KRU)
2. RRQ were always hyped in VCT pacific i know, but that was the lmemore-flip-xffero core which is now dismantled only leaving xffero and lmemore who are both very quality players. fl1p was the 2nd worst starter last split with RRQ while monyet was a top controller player in pacific for a dysfunctional GE roster (using 2023 because thats when he played smokes not duelist) thats an immense upgrade. monyet also brings international experience with him, which is something the rest of the team lack.
   edit: xffero also has international experience, but it is only 2 games at champs 22, compared to monyet's 6 at madrid
   abt the unproven part, if a roster had a change it is unproven, so saying its unproven doesn't really mean much as for some teams i have to speculate a little bit
3. and if they did switch fate then i'd switch them, I think there's a huge perception difference between ending 4th and losing to the #1 and #2 teams than ending 6th and losing to the #3 and #4 teams. round differential means nothing on its own I agree but it means something with added context, and i think it helps show the difference in results.

Vortax [#31]

move BBL up they barely missed playoffs on a formality

compared to liquid i think they are much better
there is a tier gap between them and secret as i see it.
I can't justify putting them above any teams besides T1 and EG

koromast [#33]

being fair they lost against one of the worst teams 0-2 on the last weeks but other than that they are pretty good

koro do u haves any other comments on my list :3

FDWC- [#34]

surprisingly an actual decent list

is it surprising for me or for VLR as a whole?

Psion [#38]

koro do u haves any other comments on my list :3

imo dfm over global because they play better valorant and meiy is cracked

T1 under M8 feels wrong, how can bringing in stax be below M8 even if it is a 6 man which is unlikely

L1NK_Lover [#41]

T1 under M8 feels wrong, how can bringing in stax be below M8 even if it is a 6 man which is unlikely

thats what it sounded like though, they were gonna "play with different combinations of 5 man rosters to see what worked on different maps" or something along those lines and 6 man rosters rarely function, and i already had t1 at like 17 before shanghai (they moved up bc of shanghai but picking up stax dropped them back down)

Psion [#42]

thats what it sounded like though, they were gonna "play with different combinations of 5 man rosters to see what worked on different maps" or something along those lines and 6 man rosters rarely function, and i already had t1 at like 17 before shanghai (they moved up bc of shanghai but picking up stax dropped them back down)

Its hard to imagine they dont play stax every map tho, which is still an improvement regardless of the 6 man roster. Hes a top tier IGL which they needed. Surely they would have to be at least better than gentle mates

L1NK_Lover [#43]

Its hard to imagine they dont play stax every map tho, which is still an improvement regardless of the 6 man roster. Hes a top tier IGL which they needed. Surely they would have to be at least better than gentle mates

no no no you don't understand.
stax left DRX because he didn't want to IGL(he hated it), he wouldn't be joining T1 if he was going to be igling

sen at 4? that's too high, put them at 33

Psion [#5]

i should add that I think 1-19 are all extremely quality teams and that this may be the deepest Valorant has ever been 1-20

no way u put c9 in the category of a quality team

Other than that I can agree.

Upfragging own shit takes
Good job loser

BairyHalls [#47]

Upfragging own shit takes
Good job loser

Womp womp

Semen-1 [#46]

no way u put c9 in the category of a quality team

Other than that I can agree.

C9 and m8 are definitely borderline yeah

Damn, bro slip KRU and RRQ in thinking we wouldn't notice

Psion [#49]

C9 and m8 are definitely borderline yeah

I honestly do think M8 deserve to be up there
Ig time will tell

Semen-1 [#51]

I honestly do think M8 deserve to be up there
Ig time will tell

For m8 it entirely depends on who kadvara replaces, with time they should become good if he replaces wailers but we have nothing official yet afaik

koromast [#40]

imo dfm over global because they play better valorant and meiy is cracked

I could see it

towf [#50]

Damn, bro slip KRU and RRQ in thinking we wouldn't notice

Thank you for your input

I would put DRX higher, other than that it's a good list.

Psion [#39]

is it surprising for me or for VLR as a whole?

VLR

FDWC- [#56]

VLR

Was gonna say
Have a good day bro

Psion [#48]

Womp womp

lmfao narcissistic loser