TLDR: Keyd Stars are still good, but they have not fully unlocked the potential of this squad.
Here comes another casual analysis of the BR VCT teams. Here are the others that I have made so far.
Sharks not Cohesive
LOUD lack Nuance
Now that KS have played two series, it has become apparent that they have not significantly improved from Champions. I did not think that KS were the best BR team at the end of 2021, but I did think they had the highest potential. Now that other teams have been built to overcome that potential, KS needed to figure out how to get more out of this roster. They lost to a good but not yet great NIP squad that has started to gain steam to contend for the top of BR. They also had a close win over a Sharks team that has not been as cohesive as expected.. That win over Sharks will likely keep them in the playoffs, but their dreams of a first round bye are now possible but out of their control. The primary problems I see with this squad are role conflicts and an imbalanced roster.
Role Conflicts:
Their biggest problem when they brought in mwzera for Champions was roles. Heat is a great Jett, but he has never played anything else. (He did just play his first non-Jett game with Chamber on Bind). mwzera has nuts stats on duelists, but he downgrades from superstar to just a star when playing initiators. He has definitely improved on initiators which has helped KS from falling apart. murizzz is also a part of this problem, as most people remember him for his 2nd duelist pop off performance at Berlin. He is really effective in that role, but has struggled now that he is relegated to more supportive roles. He was mediocre at best on supportive agents against Sharks, and did better against NIP on duelists. Obviously this core of three players is extremely talented, but double duelist is only effective on a couple maps, and this team requires at least two aggressive agents for them to really shine. Heat looked good on Chamber, so I think they need to get him on that agent on more maps. JhoW playing hard support and v1xen playing exclusively smokes makes it difficult to build agent comps around that, so maybe JhoW could play the extra initiator.
Roster imbalance:
This team is still driven a bit too much by fragging. Their strategic game has never looked distinctive which is good because it doesn't stand out as terrible, but bad because I rarely see them doing super interesting things. They have done a better job than most at leveraging their high skill players. JhoW and v1xen (and murizzz if on supportive agents) are extremely good at playing their roles, but rarely take over a round. JhoW in particular is simply at a lower tier of individual skill. I think he brings a lot to the team besides mechanical skill, but if he isn't IGLing, it might be too much of a deficit to keep him on this roster if their goals are to dominate BR or challenge for international titles.
My player grades:
heat 8/10: His individual form has continued to be great, but he hasn't been able to carry like in previous tournaments.
mwzera 7/10: Some good stats, but his utility hasn't been amazing. He is still most effective when taking over rounds instead of methodically playing with his team.
v1xen 7/10: He has been quietly solid so far. His stats in the international tournaments were terrible, but he is still a solid role player.
murizzz 6/10: He has only done well when taking the higher priority fragging agents for himself. The two stars are so important, that figuring out how to make them work might have to come at the expense of his playstyle if they can't adapt.
Jhow 5/10: His stats are on par for his career which isn't great. From what people say, he brings a lot to his teams besides stats, but the stats are still important, and the eye test confirms that he rarely does anything outside his role.
KS should still compete for the top spot in Brazil, but they are no longer (if they ever were in the first place) running away from the pack.
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