Nepotism in Valorant

What I do want people to understand though is that esports is just filled with it. This is not outragous event; if anything this is expected. Networking is realistically more important than actually being the very best.

To give a prominent example of nepotism:
Think of this like the GE situation (more specifically Polvi since its easier to focus on 1 player). While they got less of an advantage than Koala afaik (just part of the normal trials rather than getting to skip the queue entirely), they got into trials they really shouldnt have.
The coach already knows them and their personalities, and it is reasonable to assume they wouldnt have made the trials if he hadnt.

Polvi was perfectly suitable for the team - preformed decently, consistently getting the highest ACS and entrying for the team. He didnt stand out negatively at all surrounded by the rest of GE. And (very important for last year's GE based on the offseason interviews spin did) his personality matched the rest of the team. He was a great fit.

But should he have been imported? Is it fair to end up "ignoring" the entirety of pacifc t2 to go with an EMEA duelist?
From a fans perspective, definitely no. It just doesnt feel fair. And we want fairness in our esports, even if this notion is just so far removed from reality.
From an orgs perspective, Im pretty confident getting Polvi was the correct move. While still very much mediocre at best, the team surpassed last year's roster (which was filled to the brim with talent), going 4-9 (vs last years 3-8) in a more competitive league. Bad year, but acceptable given that this was a last resort of a roster with all the initial plans falling through. Could have created a decent core for the team to build on in future years if the fan reaction wasnt quite as negative.

We have to consider Polvi a nepotism import, though. Yes, he was the safe option where Spin knew the personality and skill would match the project. But he got favorable treatment due to prior experiences with Spin and BigTime even if he proved himself in trials and ended up doing fine in the context of the team.

Koala will be the same (in the context of his team. NaVi is obviously aiming way higher than GE). Im 99% confident he'll do great. However, it just isnt fair for him to bypass an entire t2 system just because Happy liked him on the old roster. It is the correct move from an orgs perspective, but it still sucks for us fans.

And this isnt the fault of coaches or players to be very clear. It just the industry being about taking the safest options, and that will naturally lead to past teammates/friends getting preferential treatment.

i mean they played years together by now and on day 1, the first thing he does is kick Click bcs he wants Koalabum in his team without trials and stuff, whereas Click has been trialing for weeks now, queuing ranked with Ange1 and Natank and one day to another all of this progress is destroyed bcs of this and imo it is nepotism, even from a game wise situation it would make more sense to bring in Click if we look at Agents pool and Skill Ceiling, imo its absolutely unfair and couldve maybe destroyed the future of germanys biggest talent and imo its also kinda weird that hes a french Coach kicking a german player, so im just saying