I think NRG not making 1st masters wouldnt be a surprise for me. Even tho they won champs, they still played a lot of close games so they could just miss out on internationals.

I dont wanna comment on MIBR just yet because I dont want them to sign tex, so I am just still hoping they find a better sentinel

G2 should be at least top 3. Valyn is too good of an igl to not be top 3

Yeah thats the point, NA roster is gonna make playoffs at most, they are never qualifying to lans with the competetion in Americas, so they shouldve gone for Brazilian talent instead

I wanted them to develop some Brazilian talent since there are still lot of talent in tier as we saw lukxo, cortezia, xenom pop off last year. They need to sign the roster earlier and avoid Visa issues for once to save their lives

Surely this strat isnt gonna work to stay in franchising right?

Riot will renew contracts with teams in 2027 and we are likely gonna see only 8 franchising teams in each league. That means most likely only 2 spots for Brazilian orgs and LOUD and MIBR are gonna take that spot as it stands. Even if there are 10 Franchise spots, I dont think they are getting it.

Only reason orgs like Furia, GE and DFM are gonna get franchising spots is representation since they dont have any results. With Furia going full english speaking roster, I dont think they are saving their spot unless the roster pops off and somehow outperforms teams like G2, NRG and MIBR

Even with that they might still be out already because of so many weird roster decisions, lack of developing new talent, failure of solving VISA issues (other Brazilian orgs didnt have that much issues) and 3 years of being bottom feader team.

Idk anything about LOUD and Furia rosters, thats why I wasnt that confident.

I doubt FNC signs john when there is already low fraggers like crashies and boaster are on the roster. I think FNC will sign some sort of upcoming aimer to replace Chron. NAVI could be a thing.
I really think KC is still more likely tho, especially considering john being close with zeish

With Kyu being pretty much confirmed to join SEN, it automatically means johnqt isnt in the roster anymore. But where is he going actually?
In Americas, there is no any free igl spot for NA teams as far as rumored rosters go, idk much about Brazilian teams but I doubt John goes to Brazilian team. Maybe LOUD johnqt could be a thing, idk

In EMEA, all the expected top teams have igls: FNC, TH, TL, VIT. Idk much about other mid to bottomtable team's rosters but I doubt john will join a team like M8.

Is it really KC? I am struggling to come up with suitable teams

How are people so high up on Kru roster? Is it just because of name value of saadhak and Less? None of the players on KRU looked like they could be a part of championship winning team last year: Dante didnt show up, saadhak peoject was a complete failure, mw got cut from FURIA of all orgs for not using single util, silentzz was an average player on bottomfeader team, Less had an average season.

Acend and Optic didnt get into partnership even tho they won champions and masters events. EG are not safe

There are so many good free agents running around and even with that many good players these teams fail to make a competetive roster they deserve to be kicked out right after 2026 Kickoff. Just to name a few:

• Mindfreak
• Yay
• Demon1
• cned
• eeiu
• johnqt (?)
• mitch
• dgzin
• urangoat
• some TSM, Winthrop and QoR players
  and so many more tier2 and importable free agents are available.

Wth is reduxx doing then? I think SEN should sign Kyu, Narrate, Reduxx and cortezia(smokes) and play satelite(senti) until nightz turns 18. After nightz joins the roster he plays smokes and cortezia moves to senti. Nightz birthday date is really inportant, if its before stage 2 they should plan to play with him next year

I think narrate is better than eeiu. Kyu is also more of initator flex player. As much as I think eeiu is a good player I dont think there is a space for him in this rosfer

NRG won champs with 3 tier 2 players and SEN is basically doing the same thing. 3 players SEN promoting had pretty much the same performanc ein tier 2 as NRG's 3 rookies

New SEN is basically Cubert Academy team from stage 2 but just a bit better. Only supposed changes are NARRATE instead of NISMO and cortezia instead of nightz.

I think cortezia and nightz have very similar firepower but I think nightz is a bit better aimer than cortezia. I would love to know nightz's birthday date because he turns 18 next year and I think he has the potential to be the best player in the world and one to one fill the space tenz has left in smokes position. NARRATE is better player than NISMO so the final roster is bit better than last years Cubert.

Overall, I am happy with the changes, I really believed they needed to change johnqt and zellsis because team was lacking firepower in big games. Only roster move I am not agreeing with is Zekken leaving but I guess it was out of their control if zekken really wanted to play with Aspas. I think SEN fans should be excited for the roster if the roster is:

NARRATE
Kyu
Reduxx
Cortezia
Nightz (satelite)

If you compare the firepower of the roster 1 to 1 to last year, Kyu is similar fragger to john, Cortezia is much better fragger than zellsis, Reduxx is bit worse than zekken for now, Nightz is much better than bang. (Satelite is similar maybe bit better than bang, but not worse)

So overall, team has more firepower and more hunger to win than last years roster.

So according to rumors we are fully rebuilding around just N4RRATE? Honestly I am kinda down keeping him cuz he was our best player alongside zekken.
Zellsis is rumored to C9, zekken to MIBR, bang is already gone and johnqt is also likely to leave.

I think at this point with this many players leaving we could be certain that reduxx is gonna be on the main roster for sure and satelite is like 70-80% confirmed. Cortezia rumor pretty much confirms one of johnqt/zellsis leaving.

So the likely roster for next year would be:

N4RRATE
Reduxx
Cortezia
Satelite
+1(Kyu rumour?)

Such a young roster with no established big names. I am bit excited they are rebuilding with upcoming talent but did the team who made 3 internationals need this many changes?

So Vitality's roster for VCT 2026 is gonna be

Derke
Sayonara
Jamppi
Profek
+1
Pal (HC)

They are pretty much just a bit better BBL but nothing more. Is this gonna be enough tho for securing top 3 this year? Because I think both FNC and TH have better rosters than VIT;
Navi (with Miniboo and Ruxic), BBL PCIFIC, ULF and GX are all gonna be fighting for that 3rd spot

We still dont know much about KC, M8 and TL rosters they might also be good

Idk if this roster matches the expectations Vitality as an org have on themselves. They need to have a year at least like this year's Liquid for the to not disappoint

Yeah I know tex had a good 2024 but this year he looked compeletely out of form to the point I think he was the worst player on last years LEV cuz com had a lot of impact with hsi util.
I just dont agree with picking tex over cortezia after the year we had. Cortezia is much better on every aspect : brazilian representation, firepower, vibes, passion etc. He was in good terms with zekken as well, they were playing ranked games on stream even before the VCT kickoff started

Honestly I am so fine with them picking up Mazino, he might be the bext flex player from South America in last couple of players. He had a great 2024, especially in stage 2 and he had average 2025 with KRU but he was never the problem. SEN fans might remember his insanse game against us so he willbhave pop off games even in this super team.

I am bit disappointed with tex pick tho, he had such a horrible 2025 I didnt even think he was gonna get offers from tier1 teams. Brazilian sentinel players looked and played much better throughout the 2025 compared to tex, lukxo, cortezia and less all look like superteam material. I think they shouldve gone for another star like Chron, leaf or less or just shouldve stuck with cortezia. This team now feels like 2024 LEV all over again but bit better.

You know damn well about greatest of some times huh as a FNC fan

Imagine being Rob Moore and seeing Aspas, zekken, Verno and Less (idk who would MIBR sign for senti role but I imagine some star player since they dropped cortezia for it) walk into office every day and prac meanwhile zellsis is out here twerking around.

Who is the smokes player when zekken is playing duelist then? I think you will need a dedicated smokes player still. I am all for getting Chron and Aspas in the same team but you need all of these stars on comfort roles

Who is playing smokes on double duelist maps? Chron? I would rather have dedicated smokes player than having both Chron and leaf.

Are you getting chronicle senti? Zekken is gonna play smokes on solo duelist maps so you still need a player who can play smokes on double duelist maps. Thats why I chose Keiko import over Chronicle because MIBR have so many good senti players to choose from: Shyy, Cortezia, less and maybe even lukxo

Getting leaf might be possible but I doubt valyn is ever leaving G2. He is basically boaster of G2

Whats the best possible Americas team that could be created?

Imagine you are MIBR org owner and you currently have zekken, aspas and Verno signed to the team, which two other players would make MIBR best team possible in every role? Because you currently have

Possibly the best 2 duelists
Possibly best inititator (top 3 at least)
You just need best smokes and senti player.

Which two players are best smokes + senti combo? I think Keiko import + Less are best possible free agents you can get but idk.

HOLY Americas looks stacked af dor 2026. Just imagien potential trophy winning teams next year:
G2
NRG
SEN with Narrate + reduxx
Kru with Less, Saadhak and dante at least
MIBR with Aspas + zekken
LEV with Sato + spike
C9 with Oxy + vic + (demon1 ?)

Ah and 100T are there as well

Yeah that is the way to go, only worry I have is zekken on flash initiators, thats it. I think zekken is gonna be comfortable on everything else.

I am all down to zekken teaming up with Aspas and Verno, it will be a fun team to follow. But how exactly are the roles situation gonna work out or are they playing double duelist literally every map? Dont get me wrong zekken could play everything if he wants to but he is most comfortable on dive duelists and scan initiator (which he might never get his hands on cuz of Verno). We really need to hope double ini meta never comes back for this team to succeed i guess cuz zekken on flash ini is gonna be a such a waste

I dont think SEN are gonna drop zekken by a choice but zekken himself might wanna leave cuz his contract expires at the end of this year. Thats why I am saying they might need a replacement instead of zekken. For the matter of fact I am also a big zekken fan and might change the flair if zekken chooses likeable org

Who? Bang? Yeah him and narrates contract is set to expire in 2026

I think bang got dropped from the roster a bit while ago cuz we wouldve seen restricted F/A post from bang 1st before the announcement, thats why I think bang has already found a new team cuz his contract is till 2026
I think SEN are making another change as well because all the rumours around Zellsis, johnqt and zekken seem too suspicios for all 3 of them remaining for another year and narrate is too quiet but I think they are keeping him.
My prediction for the 2nd change is they pick up another duelist player who can flex to senti in place of zellsis or just replace zekken straight up.

I mentioned adverso as a player who came back from tier 2 LATAM this year thats why I put (?) next to him. We dont really see that many talent come up from LATAM to tier 1 anyway, I couldnt remember any off the top of my head apart from Virtyy and Dante at the time thats why I put adverso as well. Even now I can only remember mta, any other player doesnt come to mind

Yeah I didnt really follow LEV academy that closely I am just questioning the validity of their results. There should be some concerns at least that they didnt get properly tested yet no? This is really similar case to GC regions, everyone farms their region without losing any matches and comes to GC looking promising but they all get farmed by SR every year.

I mean I will admit I am ragebaiting a bit but my concern has some legs considering LEV roster at the end of the year looked promising

Apparently LEV is rebuilding their team around Sato by promoting their academy players who just farmed the weakest region in tier 2 Americas who are just about to get fully grouped in Ascencion. Its not the case only this year btw, LATAM has always been worst region.
We also saw LATAM talent flop or not living up to expectations in tier 1, e.g Dante, Virtyy, adverso(?) when most of the brazilian and NA talent become instant rookie of the year candidates when they get promoted.
So idk about LEV's full faith in their academy players when their team looked like they finally found a good team with good chemistry.

I feel like eeiu plays very similarly to Hiko, always playing for clutches, never taking too many risks, always taking smart fights etc. I am just confused on how much hate Asuna (sometimes even Cryo) gets from 100T fans because Tenz didnt get that much hate from SEN fans, people who were flaming Tenz were all either recency biased analysts or other teams' fans.

Which players keeps you fan of the org? Because you guys are always calling for complete roster shuffle and even asking to drop players like eeiu, Cryo and Asuna. For me, for example I was a fan of Tenz and zekken as players thats why I am still a sen fan and I would never ask to drop those players even when their results are terrible.
I think Asuna situation is really similar to Tenz before 2024, long-time member, has some pop-off games here and there but never consistently good as 2020-2021. He is not the reason why team is struggling usually but because he is in the roster for such a long period of time he gets blamed for the lack of success. (I think its same with Xeppa on C9 but its another topic)

I could understand him taking a time off just to reset buy he is till playing ranked quite regularly on his main account: https://tracker.gg/valorant/profile/riot/sen%20z%235193/overview?platform=pc&playlist=competitive&season=5adc33fa-4f30-2899-f131-6fba64c5dd3a

Also If he is taking a break to reset whole team should take like month off to reset, not scrim without their best player for 3 years. Everything seems weird, scrim and leaks timing, john and zellsis's tweets

According to Scrim leaks yesterday SEN is trialing players to replace Zekken and johnqt. (https://x.com/VCTScrims/status/1975307577656590744)
I could kinda see why johnqt is getting leaving because after all he is Moroccan and he talks about missing his home a lot so I wont be surprised if he joins EMEA team. But zekken? Zekken's contract is set to expire this year and he signed only 1 year contract last year when players usually sign at least 2 year contracts. Does he want to leave SEN himself? Cuz I dont think Rob wants to lose another star player after Tenz. If its zekkens choice which other team he is joining? Only teams I could think of are like 100T or LOUD.
Man I really hope SEN keep zekken, otherwise there is no one left in SEN that keeps me as a fan

Pls tell me Ascension is gonna be in champs match and we dont see VETO agent in the tournamnets. Americas Ascencion is starting after 10 days, i dont wanna see another team fluke running into VCT. I can see VETO appearing in GC champs but pls not in Ascencion at least

I want to see every FNC fans face who spammed "COPEEE" when we complained about odin when SEN lost to NRG in Americas. After that whole SEN teams mental was gone and SEN didnt recover after that
So FNC fans just get better lmao, NA on top

If you had bet against Shanks' team everytime this year (apart from G2's domestic games) you wouldve had 65% winrate this year in VCT. His record this year is truly amazing: Wins/Total

NRG: 3/9 (There is a 1 Furia win here as well xd)
G2: 2/5
PRX: 1/3

How is that gonna work? Are they giving 4 teams at champs bye again? Even with that I still cant figure out how the bracket looks for triple elim format. Can someone hwlp me out

Aspas went 41-15 in opening duels in playoffs matches over 8 maps. He has the highest FKPR in playoffs tied with Kaajak and he topfragged and basically played 1v9 in the games they barely lost while he was sick. People should never doubt him ever again. GOAT for a reason

[Long thread]

I think good awp players are one of the most needed part of a championship winning rosters. Because they can hold down whole sites alone, even half of a map most of the times by holding an awp line. Even when other team invests util to try to push them off from the line they are holding they could just go back ont the line 5-6s later. I wanted to make this thread because I saw NRG som's interview earlier when Mimi asked about how they dealt with aspas, he basically said:
"It is really tough to play against a player such as aspas when he is in a hot form, especially when he is also good awper. Because we didnt know what to do on our Haven attack because he was in our head the whole time, we couldnt default against him so we just rushed sites"

If you look back at VCT since 2022, almost every team had a good awper and they usually played around their sniper player: Optic 2022, LOUD 2022, FNC 2023, GENG 2024, EDG 2024, T1 2025, PRX 2025.
Even the teams I didnt mention tried to cover up for lacking awp player presence, Boostio would awp every so often on a senti because demon1 didnt like awping that much, SEN 2024 had Tenz holding awp lines or tiny crack angles on weak sites with a rifle or even sometimes with an awp because zekken didnt like awping that much.

Lmaooo chill bruh

My goat might break his own kill record again if he gets 27+kills on the 3rd map. He very well might get it considering he had 23 kills in 13-4 win and Corrode might be closer map.

I am actually rooting for G2 btw, its just I am getting annoyed everytime jawgemo jumps and dies for no reason

I am sorry but "Jawgemo turns up on big games" narrative isnt standing up. He played really bad when they lost to FNC in Toronto, he played really bad again against TH this champs now he is playing bad again. Only good game he played I can remember is the grand finals of Bangkok, thats it.

Probably. I would say trash talk in valorant is still not enough, we only see it from NA players, TH and Boaster, no other people dont really trash talk that much. It makes for great viewing experience tbh