Sen just released a video of Jonahp basically explaining his though process and trials etc. (If you wanna watch it its 5 min video on youtube, its cool you can find a lot of info: https://youtu.be/raXM3NhFQ3A?si=r6SBrmL3vX4X3rlk)

They show a lot of footage from trial process and you can see they were trialing in office and 5th seat is empty. Idk whether that means 5th player is trialing online or Tenz stepped out for the footage sake but it looks like 5th is not gonna be Tenz at this rate. But they also show Reduxx's PC and he has tenz's anime style photo sticker on his monitor so idk what allat about. Weird. Really weird. I guess we just have to wait and see.

For me tbh I would love them to join a young upcoming player like nightz or smoke instead of Tenz but who knows

4 - 1 on first bloods as well, wth

How is dambi got only 0.93 with 19/17 scoreline? I felt like he had so much impact but he is one of the lowest rated players on his team. So strange

I dont think 1st seeds are going 0/4 this time even tho from the outside looking in it looks like the best chance for them to go 0/4. Every swiss stage team look decent, 1st seeda are inexperienced, most of them are playing their 1st international game etc. But I dont think its gonna happen this time.

Weirdly enough I think everyone got their desired matchup. NS picked 1st and got M8, AG got little bit shaky looking G2, Furia and BBL openly said they wanted to pick their eventual opponents even if they were 1st.

I have a weird feeling Furia is gonna beat PRX idk. It just screams upset because of how Furia's playstyle is so similar to RRQ. I just think similar game to 1st PRX vs RRQ BO3 might happen again and Furia just win all the pistols, snowball with the good execs and outlaw buys and PRX keep tilt forcing.

2nd 1st seed win is probably gonna be NS. They 1st picmes M8 after they scrimmed them heavily during swiss, there is gotta be something in there. BBL vs NRG seems like 50/50.

Oh and I almost forgot, god help AG.

They might redo it you never know. Tournament outcome would be so different if they switch the matches.
Harder brackets are tough not only because you might lose but also games will be very close and long so you might have to expose a lot of yout setups and setplays.

*I put additional notes for possibility of Americas teams reaching that stage not the PRX chances vs those teams.

PRX's run could be only Americas teams in this event.

• G2 and NRG in Swiss
• Furia in 1/8 confirmed
• NRG in quarters (50/50)
• G2 in semis (little unlikely with how G2 looking)
• Any Americas team again in Finals

Scheduling isnt final but the bracket is

Check the Masters Tokyo draw, they did in my suggested way

The craziest part about this is they used my suggested version of the draw in Masters Tokyo but they did it incorrextly this time around

Its a little thing but they made the draw format in a way that creates the tough bracket and easy bracket by nature.
Let me explain:
So if you look at the bracket they put 1st drawn and 2nd drawn team into one bracket. So that automatically means 3rd and 4th picked teams are in the same bracket as well. As you can see, usually 3rd and 4th picked teams are little stronger than 1st and 2nd picked teams so they automatically will have harder beacket. Bracket shouldve been 1st matchup vs 4th matchup in one side and 2nd 3rd matchup in other.
This time it worked out that pretty much all the Swiss teams are similar in strength but still NRG and PRX side of the bracket is really stacked compared to other side. If they keep this format for Masters London we might have even more lopsided brackets.

SEN fans are losing their minds just because Tenz was spotted scrimming with SEN but how would his return actually look like?

Since 2024, meta has changed, its much faster now, more awps and more double duelists. Also Astra is more relevant compared to Omen. This shift might suit him very well since he used to dominate in 2021 in a very similar meta, especially if he is given a freedom.

Current day yoru is bit similar to 2021 Jett in terms of prevelance in the meta so they might just put him perma Yoru. I dont think Tenz would be willing to return if he has to play Astra and hold sites against waylay neon.
So then:

Reduxx - dive
Tenz - yoru
Cortezia - senti
John smokes + Jonah ini
or John ini + smokes player

China has won 4 maps out of 30 they played in the last two internationals.
This includes 0-8 humiliation at Santiago and 4/22 disaster at Champs. During this period only XLG won a series (vs SEN lmao) and Chinese teams have lost every other series.

I dont think he even thought about counterplaying Harbor ult, he was going to backhall anyway and Harbor ult did nothing to attempt to clear him. Any Ult should at least help to reclear backhall for gods sake

Bro his ult is so horrible its essentially same as omen paranoia but its an ult. Even Reyna ult might be more useful than this. Fcking hell it did nothing to starxo he just killed kamo anyway

VCT China teams have won 4/26 maps they played in the last 2 events.
That includes 4 map wins in Champs Paris out of 22 and 0/4 start in Santiago.
During this period only XLG won a match (vs SEN lmao) out of all the 11 matches Chinese teams have played.

Yeam man, its looking rough out there

https://www.valorantfantasyleague.net/team/5147

I think some randoms could get into top 100 with some luck but top 10 is where the next talent is. If you dont believe just go on tracker and see top 10s for acts up until the end of 2024. Everyone on those lists were either current pro or the pro at that time.

If you think about it Radiant Ranked Leaderboard is one of the best scouting tools for VCT. Every upcoming big talent before joining any tier 2 org is almost always starts off with being consistent top 10 in Radiant Leaderboard.
I remember when Oxy dominated ranked before joining G2 and everyone called him a cheater then they eventually realised he is the next big thing and got picked up. Similar things happened with nightz, timotino, vora, smoke, notexdd (just won NA challengers), even all of Rankers.

I am only talking about NA in last 2-3 years btw, its so common in oyher regions as well. As much as everyone hates ranked its actually the best tool to go Pro.

They dont need recon initiator, john is gonna be ini igl. They need a duelist and a smokes player

How does ion feel after getting 3-0d by fucking MOOSE

He turned 18 this month from what I know

I saw that podcast as well and I think they are talking about Jonahp but I dont think he is ths right fit for this squad in this meta. They really need another duelist player.

I dont think Jonahp ahould join this team when John is in this roster. Sen need another duelsit player not the role player.

I dont think they shouldve dropped Narrate no matter the problems he had in this Kickoff but here we are

But Nightz is the perfect guy to replace him. He used to be part of the og Rankers rosters and even used to outperform cane but he joined Cubert Academy last year and ion replaced him. I dont think I am wrong in saying that he is been the highest rated prospect for 2 years in NA.

He is the most comfortable on smokes but can play duelist. His playstyle is similar to the players like Aspas and yay so I dont expect him to be the main duelist.

So the SEN roster right now looks like:

Johnqt igl initiator
Reduxx duelist
Cortezia senti
Nightz smokes
+1

There is 2 options to fill +1. Either they pick up another cracked duelist player and put Reduxx on perma yoru or they put Nightz on duelist and pick up smokes player instead. I think picking up another duelist player is better option.

Yeah but coach has changed so I expect the identity change as well.
Even if they dont go double duelist they need to sign a cracked aimer if john is gonna igl. I dont think bringing in role players like Jonah and inspire is gonna work, we already saw this last year with Zellsis, in the most important games john and zellsis couldnt get more than 5 kills. So they need someone who can just shoot especially in this meta

From tariks stream we for sure know:

• Ewok coach and John igl guaranteed
• Kyu dropped
• Reduxx is locked for the roster
• Cortezia is likely to stay
• Narrate's spot is in question

I dont think they should drop Narrate. Narrate should stay and be scan initiator, he is too good of a talent to just let go. Remember last year after kickoff, narrate was always the 2nd guy after zekken by performance and even carrying in some matches. He should definitely stay.

My roster suggestion is :

• Reduxx yoru
• Narrate scan
• Cortezia senti/viper
• John smokes
• +1 cracked duelist. Idk who that should be right now but thats what the trials are for.

For everyone who is saying Jonahp, I dont think this roster has a spot for him, john and jonah play basically the same roles.

Thats just the gamble I am doing because of the last few matches.
I believe G2 will play more double duelist and we will see more Jawg neon and Jawg is being allowed to do whatever he wants on these comps now and he is at his best when he has freedom and he has a crazy good neon on him. Also Jawg turns up in the most important matches so I am just gambling on this one

390. I gambled on 2 FUT players thinking they will go back to being consistent top 4 after their coach came back. Oh boy I was wrong. Everybody else on my team had 35+ tho

1. Marteen
2. Forsaken
3. Jawgemo
4. Nats
5. Happywei
6. Brawk
7. Valyn
8. Izu
9. Something
10. Zmijkk

Every single team who came from Lower bracket won in Lower Finals in every region. 4/4

I have to admit format is good but they have to change the scheduling a bit to give at least 1 day before Lower Finals. You could visually see players from FNC, MIBR, RRQ and BLG (who all lost middle and Lower finals btw) get physically exhausted after 10-15 maps of Valorant without any breaks.

They needed the reality check that their comps dont work and they need to deepen their map pool. After these losses they need to give a rest to their players maybe till the end of February and start praccing hard after that.

Nobody remembers 1st event winners anyways. Just look at every award thats presented by VCT itself and Tenz awards, Champs and 2nd masters are always way more important.

For example instead of having a year like Vitality did last year where they just go thru regional just by pure individual talent, do fine at Masters then crush and burn, its much better to peak at the 2nd half of the year after learning lessons at the start. I bet nobody even mentions Vitality had a great start last year, everybody remembers them as a failure.

Ngl I didnt hate NRG before this match, I actually wanted NRG to qualify to better represent Americas and loss wouldve been good lesson for MIBR to run more double duelist but after that Haven and how much they are enjoying this unholy shit they are doing they have to get hard karmad after this.

I am hoping they will get decimated by someone in Santiago either by Neon/waylay stuff or just spamming thru smokes stuff. Idk man you cant be enjoying this cringshe shit

What does this mean for C9?

They are both playing the game while genuinely hating each other and swinging wide every time they see each other. You just love to see it

Surely he wont have 4 bad games in a row right? Right? Apart from the NV game, only map Aspas looked like himself was Breeze against Furia and that was almost a 13-0. He is letting the team down a little bit.
I think this 3-0 will be a blessing in disguise for MIBR in along run, they will realize their style is not working out, they will change their comps even if they scrape out a win against NRG tomorrow.
This team needs time, a lot of time to come up with more strats and defaults. They have only 1-2 defaults every map rn.

I ve also seen most prx players do that. Especially forsaken and jingg. D4v4i and something have more tappy style but jingg and forsaken win so many duels by just crouch spraying. If you can tag and slow your opponent with your 1st bullet (which almost every pro is capable of) crouching is just insane

Dont get me wrong he is playing insane right now but if you pay attention he is winning every 1v1 duel with just crouch spraying with a vandal almost everytime. Most impressive thing is he is always tagging his opponents with the 1st bullet so his spray is killing them faster.
This "superteam" cant adjust their aim fast enough to someone crouching everytime. Maybe MIBR are bit nervous idk

Its weird isnt it? Every roster thats been called superteam has slow playstyle whether its on their attack or their retakes. Every time. Whether its FNC 23, Vit 25, MIBR 26 and even LOUD 22 or LEV 24 if you count them. Only exception might be T1 but not everyone calls them supeeteam.

If you look at it from another POV, every superteam so far in Valorant has been built around either Aspas or Chronicle. Maybe they are the reason idk

M8 played the longest BO5 in EMEA history yesterday against BBL with 133 rounds total and today they played 2nd longest BO5 with 131 rounds total.
Now just imagine what wouldve happened to their energy tomorrow if they lost today, just crazy.
Anyway congrats on the win, very well deserved

I think this match is going to map 5 if M8 close out Split because their bind looked way too good against NAVI and I think M8 will take it after the momentum they gained with winning split.

But I doubt Alfajer in this form will get reverse swept so I expect FNC will take close map 5 with Alfa carry

Why is there 20 min break between maps instead of usual 10? Are we trying to make the gameday longer than it already is? For gods sake just start already everybody is waiting for MIBR game nobody gives a shit about this mid teams

Couldnt agree more. Just hate them for the love of it

I am gonna be the biggest NRG fan tomorrow

Yeah ig

I dont why but I hate this 100T team so much. I didnt have that muvh hatred when boostio and eeiu was on this roster but I dont know why I hate this lineup so much. Maybe its because cringe waylay shit and the fact that SEN tried to copy then and failed completeley and wasted their kickoff. I dont know bro even this sage shit is so annoying

He had really great kickoff so far but I feel like he lost at least 6-8 rounds by himself this match so far. C9 wouldve won Pearl 13-9 and wouldve been up 8-1 or something like that if penny played like a normal player even if he just went even

Usually Americas crowd is much more alive compared to EMEA especially but this C9 vs 100T game crowd feels like a library after that BO5. Maybe I am bit biased because I mostly watch SEN games and there crowd is usually loud.

You say thay but which operator lines are you talking about on Breeze? On B ledge and back A on top of the yellow are the only ones I could think of. If you are going to put your awp this passive you might as well not awp at all, awp should in the hands of yoru taking aggro lines imo.

Is Neon just much better version of Jett for pro play?
If you compare Neons kit pound for pound to Jett, Neon has very similar type of kit but just much better:

Neon slide equal or better than Jett Dash. Both are get out of jail for free cards/ entry tools and I would argue slide is better because you can kill someone while sliding. Even Oping with Neon has been proven so strong, just remember texture in Toronto

Wall=smokes. Wall is still slightly better because it is also more useful for team floods.

Stun>updraft.
Neon passive > Jett passive.

And now you must question every team who is playing Jett instead of Neon in any map especially if their player is comfortable on both.