It's always hard to stay the best, it's easier to be the challenger than the reigning champion
Plus the valorant meta is always changing, so you need to adapt quickly and you can't rest on your laurels for long
FInally, as the champion you're are going to be the single most VOD reviewed team in the world, I guarantee that every single team post Reykjavik analyzed every single strat and comp Optic used in their run, if they don't innovate you'll be hard read
the thing about VODs is so true. on CSGO, Astralis studied SK Gaming (BR roster) (when they used to win every team) VODs and neutralized them after some considerable time. first time dev1ce faced FalleN, he destroyed him.
well, then Astralis dominated CS scene winning like 3 Majors because other teams had hard time counter strating them. maybe this will happen on Valorant someday
the thing about Astralis tho was that they had innovated so much with their utility that instead of being like 1 or 2 steps ahead of everyone like Optic was after Masters 1, they were closer to like an entire canyon, and the rest of the field was just trying to slowly get across. Once they reached Astralis, they fell off
What do you expect from a game with random recoil? Riot only thinks about casual players/viewers, they wont make big skill ceiling games because it would become like csgo where the people that play have been doing so a shit ton of years and love the game, valorant its meant for casual to have a fun experience in an easier game
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