i can’t lie, these 2 teams actually clear the rest. it’s not even close
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NRG and G2
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Having a very good IGL who can't shoot seemed to make NRG a lot better tbh. And now they have someone who can play all duelists but better, a potential super star initiator player, a good coach and actual time to prep (instead of having to grind 24/7 in the span of 2 weeks before the stage started). On paper, NRG should perform way better next year (at least relative to their old roster).
https://x.com/anonimotum/status/1840797551143837915
i would trust this guy, hes been very reliable in the past
Sen still look better than NRG tbh.
They don’t have a fragging weak link with minor firepower upgrades in each roles except for consistency issues in Flash/Flex and Smokes. I think Bang can match s0m in the right environment and Zellsis while less consistent than Ethan has some maps where he takes over.
It doesn’t matter that they made top 4 in 2023 when the competition in 2025 will be much greater. Keep in mind they got eliminated by BLG as well that year. They’ve got two rookies to integrate and a massive firepower deficit — saying FNS will compensate with his igling ignores the fact that every other teams’ IGLs have been improving as well.
Let me list some contenders that could absolutely keep NRG out of the conversation this year. NRG might not even make top 10, even if they manage to qualify for an international.
- G2
- SEN
- LEV
- TH
- VIT
- FNC
- GENG
- PRX
- EDG
- FPX
Saying the competition has improved is nullified by two things, 1: the team around FNS is better, everyone on that team is a strong fragger which makes up for the lack of fragging they had from victor and ardiis in 2023, 2: since the beginning of the game, people have been criticising FNS for his lack of fragging, yet every year hes played, his team has been good, so when will you learn?
its also important to remember that until the latter part of 2024 where he had very little time to try and implement his system to a team that had frankly been dogshit all year, his fragging had always been good enough (not great, but good enough). I think you are heavily recency bias if you think his fragging throughout his career is a "massive firepower deficit"
Every world class team has a strong sentinel to secure their defense sides — something that NRG lacks in every iteration without Yay and Chamber Meta. Sure they might secure themselves in the upper half of the region with great attack side calling but I don’t see them breaking top 3, much less contending in internationals against teams that don’t have any firepower deficits and just as complex strategy.
Bro I get it, FNS is a weak fragger, but is it a coincidence that his team was good in 2021, 2022 and 2023, like I get it you’re gonna make excuses for all of those years
2021: the competition wasn’t as good, 2022: he had the best player in the world, 2023: idk what real excuse you could give, I guess he didn’t make it out of groups at champs..
That being said, at one point you gotta start thinking maybe just maybe FNS had something to do with it, but what do i know…
Oh FNS is a great IGL. But it’s not like he’s significantly better than Valyn, Boo, JohnQT, nobody, Saadhak, or Munchkin. There are just going to be more rounds that he loses for NRG than ones that his IGLing will win because rounds ultimately end with duels. That clip with Starxo burning Rolling Thunder on C after a fake with Ardiis entry just isn’t going to happen against the very best teams.
Against teams with 3+ star fraggers who regularly get multifrags, you’re putting a ton of pressure on your other players to make up for the guy who can’t even trade in high pressure scenarios.
2024: 4 Matches | -47 | -11.75 Avg
2023: 26 Matches | -185 | -7.12 Avg
2022: 40 Matches | -307 | -7.68 Avg
2021: 60 Matches | -112 | -1.87 Avg
2021 includes a number of challenger open qualifiers for each of the three splits that inflated FNS’s stats because of weaker competition. Either way, he’s always been a fragging deficit and I’d wager it’ll only be more apparent next year with every competitor having consolidated top talent. What I noticed while recording the data was that whether he won or loss, he was almost always negative; the variance was whether it was by single or double digits. Think Lakia during Champs — it’ll practically be a 4v5 for NRG against teams who have a firepower surplus against them.
Listen I am not arguing whether he is a good fragger or not, he obviously isn’t, BUT, I need you to understand that having good results is what matters, and FNS has been getting good results for longer and more consistently than anyone other than Boaster and Sadhaak.
The point that I am making is that it’s unfair for anyone to say that NRG will struggle because of FNS when he has proven himself many times. FNS has played against johnqt, valyn, and a bunch of other great fragging IGLs in the pas and you know what? He’s beat them all. You’re argument is flawed because you think all these fragging IGLs are somehow new from this year, they are not, they’ve been competing for a long time and FNS has always been able to beat them, until he can’t beat them, he deserves the benefit of the doubt
You’re missing a crucial part as to why him being a fragging deficit will be highly detrimental to their success.
NRG has a mediocre Defense relative to their Attack. FNS has world class midrounding but is a bad site anchor, resulting in unstable defaults. Yay made up for this with his Chamber during the Optic Era but it’s been a glaring hole in their system since.
FNS hasn’t gotten worse though. The teams around have just gotten better. Let me give you a foil to illustrate this: JohnQT.
Johnqt is obviously a better fragger but he’s also got a higher KAST on the same role. Averaging ~77% on sentinels compared to FNS’s ~67%. That’s 2-3 rounds where he’s contributing impact that FNS is not. Keep in mind that the impact he’s contributing is also more damage than utility — shouldering some of the burden away from his teammates and being self sufficient as an anchor.
These margins seem small but are massive when even the slightly mistake will cost you the round. FNS has beaten some of the other top IGLs in the past but he was heavily relying on his teammates to convert duels that he could not. Strategy means nothing if you can’t convert your 50s — that’s just an ironclad rule of the game.
Beating someone in the past also means very little when you’ve stagnated and they’ve improved alongside a more modern meta. It’s completely fair to say NRG will struggle because they always have, even during Optic — FNS’s fragging was always a sore spot and it cost them rounds all the time. The difference is that competition is more cutthroat now and the best teams will eviscerate you for even the smallest hint of a whiff.
your point is good but again doesnt look at the full picture. although its true that as a sole anchor, FNS lack of firepower would be a glaring issue, BUT its important to remember that yay didnt fully make up for it, he wasnt a typical site anchor, he was setup on most rounds, he was use like a jett on defence on Ascent. He was setup aggressively to take shots and TP away, the same as a jett would. it also then resulted in having your smokes player as an anchor, hence, s0m. s0m on smokes can be just as good of an anchor as any sentinel, just think of s0m around yellow on icebox. Multiple setups on many maps dont require the sentinel player to be the anchor, icebox is one example, but on abyss and pearl, a lot of the sentinel setups can be on mid to watch to lurk spots.
ALSO, you are missing the biggest part of the current meta, as well as the direction the game is heading towards. The game is heavily retake heavy. How many times do you see cyphers playing of the site on Sunset or split or lotus. it is not that difficult for them to adjust their setups to have their smokes player be the anchor like many others do, and keep their sentinel players more passive and info gathering heavy
I will also keep saying this, you are certainly not the first to say that his fragging was gonna be a problem, for the past 4 years, people have said this exact thing, for the past 4 years people like you have also said that the competition was going to get too much for FNS to handle. For the pas 4 years, people saying this have been wrong, the last full year of competition FNS had was very good. He qualified to every international events as well as getting top 4 in one of them.
ive said this before, ill say it again, one day the doubters, like you, will be right, but until that happens, FNS deserves the respect he built over the years. Maybe this year will be the year where you are right, but just tell yourself that it will have taken 4 YEARS for people like you to FINALLY be right
Just because FNS has "decent firepower" doesn't mean he's out-IGLing the IGLs of numerous better teams (who ALSO have fragging IGLs).
"FNS didn't have time in stage 2" but they had the same Coach/Assistant coach as kickoff and Stage 1 and kept 3/5 of the same players Viktor, Ethan (ex stage 1 IGL), Crashies. Next year the other IGLs will have been in their team even longer than FNS in NRG.
edit: Also SEN G2 LEV 100T are all keeping their head coach, NRG will also have to adjust to Bonkar
Bro what are your exemples of better IGLs with better firepower? Johnqt? Valyn? Munchkin? FNS HAS BEAT THEM ALL
Let’s not sit here and act like these people came out of nowhere in the last year, he’s beat them all, he at the very least deserves the benefit of the doubt, and if this team ends up being shit, then I guess you will have been right, but until then, FNS is still should be considered better.
Also, yes last year he didn’t have enough time, do you think it a coincidence that he left the Victor/crashies duo at the beginning of the year? He knew that core had reached its peak and that he needed a different team to succeed
Apparently Jingg has been learning sentinels so their roles are fixed for default heavy maps. Something has also been practicing Recon so that helps with their information deficit leading to more flexible playstyles instead of just W gaming. It should be a good year since 2024 served as a good wake up call.
G2 just got an upgrade and you're saying SEN with Tenz's replacement Bang will beat them lol?
SEN with Tenz/Sacy in 2024 met the worse G2 with neT/Icy twice and lost to them both times even on SEN's best map Split.
100T after losing 0-2 to G2 in Stage 2 Playoffs (with Bang top fragging and Asuna bottom fragging btw) said on their podcast that if they were to face G2 again they would still lose. Apparently you're saying replacing Bang with Zander will help 100T "clear" an upgrade G2 with Jawgemo?
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