I love nAts viper, his molly lineups are insane and his aggressive plays with his orb.
The last time Nats won an international match - 0.66 on viper, worst rated player on that map and throughout the series
Last time he played an international match - 0.56 on viper, worst rated player on that map
Most recent stage Nats played (EMEA Stage 2 2024) - Not even a top 5 viper regionally
Sure he's on a bad team and he's held back blah blah blah, but he's just objectively not the best viper player ever. The same way tenz isn't the best jett ever. This isn't the jurassic era of val anymore.
I won't comment on the argument for best Viper oat since I don't think he is
but I think you're cherrypicking your stats to make him look even worse than he actually is
I'll show you, I can cherrypick all of his wins, and if you only count these (barring 1) he looks a lot better than he is.
The truth is he is somewhere in the middle
https://www.vlr.gg/353169/team-liquid-vs-karmine-corp-champions-tour-2024-emea-stage-2-w3
https://www.vlr.gg/318940/team-liquid-vs-gentle-mates-champions-tour-2024-emea-stage-1-w5
https://www.vlr.gg/318928/team-liquid-vs-giantx-champions-tour-2024-emea-stage-1-w3 (low)
https://www.vlr.gg/318913/koi-vs-team-liquid-champions-tour-2024-emea-stage-1-w1
https://www.vlr.gg/297407/team-liquid-vs-koi-champions-tour-2024-emea-kickoff-opening-b
his last international win, game, and literally most recent showing isn't cherrypicking, those are pretty relevant points in time.
anyways tho
Stage 2 2024- not a top 5 viper regionally
https://www.vlr.gg/event/stats/2094/champions-tour-2024-emea-stage-2?exclude=&min_rounds=0&agent=viper
Stage 1 2024 - 3rd regionally
https://www.vlr.gg/event/stats/1998/champions-tour-2024-emea-stage-1?exclude=&min_rounds=0&agent=viper
2024 Kickoff - 5th regionally (only 3 games tho so take that how you will)
https://www.vlr.gg/event/stats/1925/champions-tour-2024-emea-kickoff?exclude=&min_rounds=0&agent=viper
Champs 2023 - 3rd internationally (but only played 2 games and got grouped, 1st btw is Less )
https://www.vlr.gg/event/stats/1657/valorant-champions-2023?exclude=&min_rounds=0&agent=viper
Masters Tokyo - not a top 5 viper internationally (or even close, only 3 game but still)
https://www.vlr.gg/event/stats/1494/champions-tour-2023-masters-tokyo?exclude=&min_rounds=0&agent=viper
EMEA League 2023 - not a top 5 viper regionally
https://www.vlr.gg/event/stats/1190/champions-tour-2023-emea-league?exclude=&min_rounds=0&agent=viper
Thats the last 2 years
But I'm not cherrypicking or hating on the guy, he just isn't the best viper ever
Stage 2 2024- not a top 5 viper regionally
fair
Stage 1 2024
3rd
2024 Kickoff, Champs 2023, Masters Tokyo
small sample size (so will exclude both good and bad)
EMEA League 2023
trexx and mojj both have under 30 rounds played
However I agree, on the last 3 bullet points and your conclusion. I think he is at least top 5 (top 3 if im feeling generous) considering he's still a valuable player in tier 1. The main thing I just wanted to point out is that stats don't reflect that he's a pretty consistent player if you adjust for his teams performance