I dont understand how this year has debate on the best team of 2024. I believe EDG has the strongest case for 3 facts.
-
They won the most titles of any team this year
-
They won the most important title this year
-
Most champs points of any team
When we decide which team should be represented as the best, we look at international placements more than regionals and at the end of the day, international placements are the major stats that matter the most. You can't be choking in masters, bombing out with 1 win or no win but wanting to be called the BEST team in 2024 because you won champs.
Champs is the biggest major, for sure. But 2024? EDG's international tournaments leading up to champions was VERY disappointing so its a HUGEEE no for me.
Yea so EDG has the best international placement because they compete in the VCT valorant CHAMPIONS tour and they won champions so they became the most successful team internationally and leading up to champions they were technically the most successful team having the most CHAMPIONS points as well as being the most successful team regionally
regardless of the money champs is still way more important than master. Riot themselves say EDG are the world champions when they won while when GenG and Sen won masters they just say masters winners. so we refer to how 3 regionals < 2 masters < 1 champs. We are comparing a team with all 3 regionals and 1 champs to a team with 1 masters and 2 regionals. You are arguing the placement of EDG and GENG at the other international tournaments so i use prize awarded by riot to determine the worth of each placement. EDG placed at all 3 international tournaments totaling a grand total prize pool winnings over any other team
well throughout the whole year their are 6 tournaments. obviously they didnt win all 6 tournaments thoughout the year so at some points they weren't the best. If we look at the overall year they've definitely achieved the most by winning the most titles. just remember 3 regionals < 2 masters < 1 champs. im taking the 2024 team that won 3 regionals and 1 champs over a 1 masters 2 regionals team
how can you say "regardless of money" and then go back to using the total prize pool argument?? also edg "placing" at all 3 internationals means missing playoffs in madrid and not winning a game in shanghai. thats 2 out of 3 international tournaments in the year that they didnt do well in, which means they are not the best for the whole year
“Best year”:
1st place kickoff, split 1+2 in Cn (means nothing bc most of these teams play worse than teams from 2021) all the while losing to some of the worst teams imaginable (Drg, Wolves, etc)
Bombed out of both Shanghai and Madrid with abysmal (to say the least) performances.
Played really well at champs
Ok so they had 1 good international lan
if China were a more competitive region, I'd understand the case you're making. but let's be realistic - FPX and Trace were the closest to EDG, and the deepest run either of them made were quarters in internationals. they both upset some good teams, but weren't good enough to do it consistently.
that's to say - the argument that their 3 regional wins in VCT CN make them objectively the best is not as big of a win in the international circuit as it may seem
kangkang literally said after winning champs that why couldnt a chinese team win. okay so what youre saying is that edgs 3 regional wins arent as impactful as wins on the international circuit however technically everything is just a lead up to champs. basically what im saying is that edg was the most successful team regionally and internationally (by winning the most important tournament) in 2024
the argument that champs is a more important tournament because Riot allocated more points toward it as part of their circuit is bullshit. it is just another tournament.
it has more teams than Masters tournaments, but EDG was absent in comparison to other top teams at every other international event other than Champions
So you are basically telling me that you still believe that champs is equal to a masters when the VCT is basically just a tour leading up to champs. And youre telling me that the best team in 2024 isnt the team that had the most champs points, most titles, won the most money. champs having a 1st prize equal to 4x madrid 1st places and almost 3x shanghai 1st places.
Players play to win to prove that they are the best in the world at that given moment, not for any amount of money. Simple as that. Money is there so there is an objective reward for winning. If I were to have a race at an elementary school for $500,000 prize money but host an Olympics race with $25,000 prize money that doesn’t mean the elementary school race is more important, does it? There can be multiple prizes for winning, but the biggest is the claim for being the best in the world at that given moment, not whatever bs argument that you’re presenting “oh more money won equals team better duhhhhh”
So since you bring up the olympics. What makes the 100m in the olympics any different from the 100m at the world athletics championship. They are the same race right with the same athletes competing just like champions vs masters. The difference is the prestige that we set to it also the frequency. Valorant champions is 100% more prestige and has only happened 4 times vs the 17 masters tournaments. Olympics happen every 4 years and the world athletic championships happen every 2 years
Most champs points cause they play in cn and that why they have all three regional trophies as well, cn has some good talent teams but let's be real , they are just two three and none of them can actually beat edg when they play serious , also bro edg heavily underperformed in first two internationals and so having a trophy in the third one doesn't just compensate for the other two,
Look man be honest and tell me straight to my face that GenG in Shnaghai form would have lost to Edg. Only reason TH list is because they are a team of rookies that always choke BO5s. Edg might have won some regional titles, but they looked like an absolute clusterfuck of a team through 80% of the year, and they only turned up for champs. Also China would be a bum region with 0 good teams without Edg, so regional titles mean jackshit for them. Pissific is shit but at least they have some decent teams like Drx and PRX. Chinas #2 seed shit the bed big time after 1 close series against TH. Edg played very well, I can’t deny that, but if fnatic, g2, lev, sen, geng, and th didn’t kill each other first, one of them would have lifted the trophy. Run this tourney back rn and edg are out round 2. Genuinely look into your soul and ask yourself if you actually think that Edg are even in consideration for best team of the year, let alone actually the best.
Also to answer the question it really depends if we are playing in this current map pool or the Shanghai map pool
It also depends if it’s bo5
They played in Madrid we know GenG got a little better by Shanghai and we know EDG got a lot better later on
EDG destroyed them on icebox
Geng destroyed EDG on split and breeze but breeze and split are out of map pool
I don’t give a shit about map pools or their performance a million months ago.
The fact is this:
Gen G won kickoff fair and square. I’m not going to argue that it was dominant, because they were given tough matches by teams like RRQ and PRX, but nonetheless they won kickoff.
Gen G looked extremely dominant in Madrid, but got barely edged out by Sen, who were also a serious force
They cooled down in split 1, but still were dominant over 90% of pissific, getting 2nd place.
They shit on everyone in Shanghai, havinng a performance rivaling Fnc at Tokyo, despite the fact that they had almost no supporters, barely any teams wanted to scrim with them, and on top of that the team was sick.
Cooled down again split 2, although still looking dominant especially towards the end, getting 1st seed champs
Got grouped in champs to a fully rejuvenated sen roster and an eventual 2nd place TH (Although I will admit their second game against sen didn’t make them look too hot)
Compare this to EDG:
1st place in Kickoff, split 1, and split 2. Sounds insane on paper, and even though it does show that they are clearly the best in the region, their only competition was FPX, which were obviously not a force to be reckoned with. EVEN THOUGH they placed first in split 1+2, they still lost to literal bottom of the barrel teams like DRG and wolves, but hey, it’s league play so I won’t hold it against them.
Grouped in Madrid, initially beating a new PRX, where they did play pretty well, only to get fucking bodied by Loud, in one of the most embarrassing matters in VCT history.
Bombed out in Shanghai, I don’t really remember much of them in that tournament, mostly because they only played 2 games lol, but hey, it happens and I can’t hold 1 bad tournament against them too much
Played out of their minds during champs. I will admit, Edg deserved the trophy. But to be fair, they were riding a hot wave. If during any point Chichoo, smoggy, or kk didn’t go crazy, they would have been eliminated by Sen, Lev, or th. Not to mention they got an extremely easy placement, being drawn into trace r1. Th on the other hand had to go against Fnc, Lev, Drx, and Sen to get to GF. If we were to compare these teams objective skill in champs, and not just Edg players feeling it, teams like Th, lev, or sen played objectively better valorant, they just didn’t have Lady Luck on their sides and had to play much harder teams to get to were they were.
In conclusion: Yes, edg deserved to win champs, part of winning a tournament involves showing up performance wise for the day, and getting good draws, and I can’t hold that against edg. On the other hand, though, other teams were dealt with much worse circumstances and provided better results than edg for most of the tournament (the only time edg played like the best team in the world was in UF and GF) and if we were to run these matches again, or even compare average skill, peak skill, or any metric, edg at most gets to top 3 teams throughout the entire year, and that too is a stretch. Learn the difference between whether a team wins a tournament vs their individual prowess and skill throughout a season.
"teams like Th, lev, or sen played objectively better valorant" eh that's just not entirely true. Zmjjkk and S1mon's teamplay was arguably the best of the tournament. That was objectively excellent valorant. You really were not seeing flash initiators and duelists THAT coordinated and that successful with their plays and timings. Also Nobody outcalled every igl in the tournament except valyn. He definitely called some rough maps (Haven against TH) but for a new igl he called objectively great site executes. EDG definitely played good valorant with actual teamwork. If they were playing 'chinese valorant' like FPX does they wouldn't have won shit.
1) I don’t give a fuck about prize money, that doesn’t determine which team is good or not (players play to win, not for prize money)
2) Again, 3/4 of their grand finals were against FPX, a team that literally has no business being considered a good team
3) again, they get champs points from farming shitty Chinese teams that can barely play the game
4) explain to me how a champions win is better than a masters win. Idfc about the money or venue or hype, just explain how it takes more skill and effort to win a champs trophy. “oH iT hAs FoUr MoRe TeAmS” yeah bs teams like kru blg and talon just embarrass themselves by shitting the bed in groups
if the question is asking best team of the entire year, then the fact that EDG bombed out of the first 2 international LANS should automatically disqualify them as the absolute #1. regional accomplishments hold far less weight because we have to include all other regions to answer this question, and international results are the biggest factor to this. sure champs was the most important tournament, but it doesn't make up for showing 0 success in 2 out of the 3 global tournaments in the year
I would put EDG around 3rd best team this year. Some don't believe they were better than SEN but I think they were considering they made it to all 3 internationals and beat SEN to win champs. But GENG were the better team. Not just looking at stats, but just use your eyes. GENG played unbelievably good valorant. Like out of this world good and their Shanghai form was unmatched.
Look man, explain one thing to me and I will understand your argument completely without question: How does winning a champions mean you are a better team than winning a masters? Don’t give me any bs about titles, prize money, or whatever riot says. Answer the question fair and square without dodging anything.
If we talk about consistency in international.
EDG only amazing in Champs, but really flop in Master Madrid and Shanghai, also lose to G2 and ofter lose map 1
SEN, great in Madrid, show how their mentality win the game, lose fundamental in stage 1 and stage 2 and regain it in Champs
Gen.G, 2nd best in Madrid, win Shanghai, lose to TH (banger match) and SEN (mentality and map pool)
TH, didn't win any international but 2 twice as runner up, never lose to bad team
We have top 4 but no absolute #1 Team