Fnatic bundle sadly confirms it…
I might get shit on for saying this, and I am obviously biased
but if an 8 team double elim tournament isn't mickey mouse
then a 32 team single elim where the top 5 teams (at the time) made top 5 sure isn't
(for the record, I don't think 8 team double elim is mickey mouse, I'm just using the fact to illustrate my point)
That can also be true at the same time, but it doesn't discredit the tournament (it's not the fault of the TO or the other orgs/players)
Despite FPX not attending Masters Iceland 22, no one reasonably tries to discredit OPTC or LOUD
TH weren't great at Madrid due to things (sorta) out of their control, but that doesn't mean SENs win is underserved.
Maybe I'm just biased but there's a double standard when considering NA and EU teams due to the size of the fanbase (I've seen the same for NA teams in CS, and I think both are unjustified)
Also there's an argument for 'every team was invited', which tbh I don't really get. It means the good teams were invited too, and in fact the good teams did do well (Look at the top 4 + NRG),
LOCK IN:
lowest 1st place prize pool of any event
32 teams, and the path to top 4 was 3 matches
no qualifiers
90% of the teams hadnt played any officials together
no double elim
no group stage
the top 4 teams were literally just teams that stuck together, or teams that scrimmed 3 months before everyone (besides chad loud who lost their top 2 players in offseason and only lost bc of chokezin and pooyz)
all of the promotion leading up to this event labels it as a showcasing of the new franchised league, it wasnt labeled as a elite tournament
tokyo:
top 3 teams had visa issues
madrid:
team heretics always knew wo0t wasnt going to be old enough, this isnt the case here
at champions when loud, eg, and prx were at full strength fnatic was bulldozed
problem is everyone was invited, so no one had play to qualify for lockin, and most of the teams didnt have time to prepare. The only team that was preaparing for a long time was Fnatic. LOUD for example had very little time to prepare to the event alongside with the health problems on the team, Saadhak even said that if they won the first bo3 against GENG, that was a win already
i agree with you but just because it happened that the good teams won, there was very high chances of some random underdog teams that just suddenly wake up in the right day and eliminates a good team (which didnt happen somehow).
I actually wanted riot to make a lockin event every season with everyone invited, single elimination, because watching "do or die" matches in a very simple bracket is really fun, and EVERY match mattters. LOUD vs NRG and LOUD vs Fnatic at lockin were hall of of fame peak valorant (frustrating 11-3 but its part of the game and the story)
thats just what shitnatic fans do, they know the team is talentless so they'll take their pity results and try to compare themselves to actually great teams
no other options on the table because they have some weird fascination with keeping a botfragging, stubborn, useless IGL to make the content team's life easier instead of actually fielding 5 players that are world class