Dark Horses for Toronto

NOVA - capable of qualifying and maybe pulling off an upset, GuanG can surprise a lot of people
RRQ - keeps getting better, has a solid chance at qualifying. Top-3 Pacific is a hard task but I think they can do it
KRU - should be able to make top-3 Americas imo. Very solid core
M8 - If Zyppan steps up, they can be very competitive. Minny is a crazy talented player

Thoughts?

I'd put Nongshim Redforce ngl, they have insane firepower, wonder how much mappool change would impact them

Rrq keep getting better form 5-6 in split2 to 7-8 in kickoff 🤣🤣🤣🤣

i think talon goes as third or second seed if thyy is anything close to what he's hyped to be

Furia

Dark Horse? my bet is TL. Come back to this when they win toronto or paris

GuanG is the next big thing in china

actually i still don't know which team can win cn champion from EDG.

NRG

KC DFM NOVA XLG 100T NS

2g apeks zeta darkhorse run

I think Nova will pull a win or 2 this year.

I think DFM could be good in champs

TH

Liquid is a dark horse! :)

MIBR

M8 On Champion Paris for the hometown hero

W Nova

navi

My 4 dark horses (copium horses)
FPX - freed from their coach, Life will be back surely
KRU - they will go on a run
NS - I believe in Persia supremacy
FNC - surely they can't look this bad, this roster is good on paper and I believe in them

LOUD instead of kru imo, they look very solid in kickoff and have many potential (as long as dgzin don't overhead)

NOVA WIN

KC should be here, with time they can be extremely good

rrq is good but they never win when it matters. its just how it is.

100 Thieves lowkey win toronto

GE has potential to atleast qualify ik its a little bit of cope, but they have a gud roster

Nova GuanG is the truth on senti they could take 3 rd place or even second if TE forget how to play the game again

GX

i think there’s a world where either T1 or DRX fall off and NS and TLN usurp them. Overall I think this is APACs year unless G2 can win something, maybe with time Vitality as well but I doubt it their macro just isn’t there

NOVA looks to be the next big upset machine from China, but shouts for XLG if they gel more, WOL if they get sober, and probably FPX if they decide to play the game.

I genuinely think Toronto is a lock for G2. You don’t get that close to a trophy and not become the hungriest team in the league — especially when you’re known for being grinders.

Dark Horses would be Nongshim and Loud.

Americans saying which NA team gonna win when the OP question is who is the dark horse.
They delulu and straight up deranged

fenis

Johnqt :)

From M8 i believe everyone are talented but they need to be more consistent
NOVA also looks pretty good

But isn’t RRQ nightmare is Geng ?

Kc mibr rrq drg

GuanG will win it all, thank you butterflyeffect23

Heretics. Everyone thinks they are not as good as they were in 2024 but they will probably continue to destroy all the teams

all good picks besides rrq they lost their igl and still dont have replacement. also kru is destined to qualify to champs but masters is off the table like always.

What people are missing with NOVA isn't only that they have the most upset potential internationally, but the coaching staff are focusing on laying a solid foundation for their structure. Their macro and fundamentals have improved so much compared to last season, and they've evolved past the mediocre flash-in-the-pan form that barely scraped them into stage 1 playoffs. Legit they are THE team to look out for in terms of improvement so far

nrg will make it fns turns off his dementia and drops a career high 3 kd and mada becomes the next goat of valorant with s0m coming back as the best controller in the world while s0n sits at home wondering what they did wrong for Fns to be this good while Victor and crashies are crying at home wishing they were still in goatrg

tyloo

BBL has the potential to reach Toronto

2G. I actually believe that they can no I'm just playing

Lulquid if nAts starts playing even better, would be glorious

This is actually not a bad dark horse suggestion. I like it.

NOVA has been getting better and better, especially now with a fully chinese roster. Swerl isn't a bad player by any means, but as pointed out by Ezeir, communications are much more important than just a talented player (Verno on NRG ahem)

KRU came really close to hitting top 3 for Americas, it's unfortunate that they played the goat and he absolutely mopped the floor with them.

Not really an EMEA watcher but M8 was really competitive, I still think there are better teams though, maybe Heretics and KC? KC only lost a very close series to VIT and Heretics may have had time to pick up on the Tejo meta ever since their kickoff run ended.

As for Pacific, I think this is the most difficult to tell. Pacific has tons of good teams that could make Top 3. All the korean teams look really strong right now, Nongshim probably being the weakest, but that's kind of expected when all the korean teams are pretty much champions (except for DRX). I do still want PRX to go the Toronto though.

LEV and KRU