8 hours from now on stage 1 playoffs in Americas starts and honestly these first two games will tell a lot about how the playoffs will playout.
First of all, group omega teams seem stronger and they have shown more consistent and better valorant so far and we have to see how they play against Group Alpha teams to really see how good they are.
1) MIBR vs 100T
MIBR are huge favourites coming in because they play better valorant than 100T in general, 100T playstyle is heavily dependent on teamfights and individuals popping off whereas MIBR resembles old macro based 2022-2023 LOUD, with a star duelist like Aspas, aggro lurker who is eager to take fights like Less/Cortezia and good aggro igl with Artzin/Saadhak.
If 100T want an upset they must 1st ban one of Pearl and Icebox and lift their Lotus perma ban because they dont get more than 7 rounds on Pearl and Icebox in my opinion, meanwhile MIBR dont love Lotus that much so they most likely wont 1st pick it. Ideal map veto for 100T and more competetive match:
100T ban Pearl
MIBR ban Fracture
100T pick Haven
MIBR pick Icebox
100T ban Lotus
MIBR ban Ascent
Split remains.
Honestly, I favour MIBR in all 3 maps and Split and Haven might be the best chance for 100T. 65/35 for MIBR.
- SEN vs C9
This match will totally be decided by C9's ego and individuals stepping up. If zekken and n4rrate are the best two players on server today, C9 stand no chance even in Sen's worst maps like Icebox becauae of their brawly style. If C9 really want to win, they should focus on their opponents weakness, not their strength because if they pick Haven, Lotus or Pearl thinking they are just the better team on "common ground" maps, they might get 2-0d very quickly and stand up to choker allegations once again. They must pick one of Ascent or Icebox and force Sen to ban the other, also try to get Pearl or Lotus 3rd map.
Sen ban Fracture
C9 ban Split
Sen pick Pearl
C9 pick Ascent
Sen ban Icebox
C9 ban Haven
Lotus remains
From map pool wise, it should be 50/50 or slightly favoured for C9 but I dont trust C9 to pick Ascent and 2nd ban Haven, they might get too excited about their Haven after G2 game and leave it as the 3rd map which will give SEN a better chance. So 55/45 for SEN.
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