Ryzen_ [#6]
Delusional take to be honest, just looking at the NA and EMEA teams at the moment its clear that roster changes and other things are going on so the teams that made Iceland aren't necessarily the best, just the survivors. Gambit is clearly struggling since the whole Russia fiasco started, FPX couldn't attend after looking their best in 2 years, Acend struggled to maintain their performance with the recent meta changes, Fnatic had 2 stand-ins. 100T and Sentinels are both in the middle of significant roster shuffles and struggles with adapting to the recent meta changes too.
Other regions have definitely stepped up and become more competitive, that's undeniable. But they aren't really facing the best of EMEA or arguably of NA either. (Optic is the only team from EMEA or NA that was actually expected to qualify for Iceland imo)
Optic has been the best team in NA for almost a year, they got NA's best results in all of the international tournamnets bisdes first masters. How can you be so based? And if gambit and acend played and didn't qualify, that means that they are, right now, worse than the ones that are here. Facts.
Fnatic with 2 stand ins, if they were really that good they should at leasts be competitive, but they got trashed by the bottom 2 teams in the tournament ffs, even if they came with full roster they would still lose. Other regions just got that stronger rn.
The only acceptable excuse is the FPX one, but it's an unproven one, no one knows how well would they play, they never reached internatnional events before and have the same core, may they had a fluke run this VCT? Idk. Still don't look to me that they are capable of winning or beating teams like DRX that is the most dominating team in this tournament.