I don't think any of them has been "that surprising".

Americas
G2 beating C9. C9 has made every match difficult. While G2 has been consistent and dominant against bad teams.
100T beating LOUD. 100T has been playing well and LOUD clearly showed they were struggling during the season

Pacific
I believe T1 beating GenG was a surprise although we all knew they were at least a top 5 team in the region.
DRX losing to GenG and PRX shouldn't be that big of a surprise.

EMEA
Heretics have been on a meteoric rise since adding woot. Unlucky for Navi
Fnatic side of the bracket all had the same record. anything goes

with that logic sentinels is counted as half NA. If we are trying to figure out the strongest sub region I would nominate CIS into the discussion. A close second would be Turkey. I feel like currently Turkey is strong but historically CIS has been very dominant.

Leaf was an elite low-sens Jett that only rifled. So my theory is that in a raze meta he's uncomfortable and also would rather have someone else op if needed. It is rare to find someone on low sens comfortable on Raze. I do agree that icy might not be the answer but I believe leaf on his current role is very good.

yea and what I'm asking for is for rifles to be good at their niche in the 30-50m range and not outside of that.

The only think i know is that I believe that Acend shouldn't even made playoffs. They lost to Heat and Keyd Stars but they made them replay the match down 7 rounds for an "illegal cypher cam". Acend was in the same group as x10c and envy. I believe they would have been eliminated after that loss. I also believe Keyd Stars were mentally checked out after needing to replay a match they rightfully won.

All ranting aside. I don't believe it was that big of an upset. Both teams were proven prior to the match.

I never said international. That's why that link says stage 2. On top of that x10c even qualified for that tourney and Envy didn't even qualify.

Prior to Valorant the fps games that I've played on PC were CSGO, R6, and Apex. Although I was only decent rank in R6 and Apex, so I wouldn't really say I was well versed in CS. I personally found this topic of gun balancing even worse in CS when compared to Valorant. A majority of weapons are practically useless in CS. I feel like the phantom and vandal are also inherently RNG as well, the future I envision is that after the hard nerf to the phantom and vandal, they should increase the price of the guardian. The guardian can be your "skill" gun. The guardian is what I could like most rifles to be. It takes forever to kill with body shots but its very accurate making it very good at the 30-50 meter range. I dislike the effectiveness of the vandal and phantom at all ranges and that's what I would like the nerf to be.

I am not a Fortnite player but I have played other BRs. After some research on Fortnite, I've concluded that although you can carry 5 guns it seems meta to hold 2-3 weapons.

but the usage rate and pick rate of the odin is so down compared to phantom and vandal

"his players" were struggling all of last year without him, while johnqt was very successful in accession last year.

I wouldnt sign anyone known and look into young tier 2 talent from challengers

What do you mean proper? It is in the VCT series and apart of the tour as a masters stage 1. Also riot established it as a masters.

Raze and Sova because ability damage

My top 4
Shopify Rebellion
G2
EG
M80

They were both masters winners at the time. I believe it was even.

it's not

https://www.vlr.gg/event/347/champions-tour-sea-stage-1-masters

I also think it's funny that nobody mentions that this same roster was able to beat them again. When both teams became optic and xerxia. I think people should meme on FNS for losing to these masters winners twice just as much as the bili bili losses.

But at the time x10c were masters winners and Envy wasnt

Less's vipers performance is equal if not better than his kj and cypher and saadhaks recent best agents are kj and cypher. I believe its the right call. The roles are not the reason for their recent struggles

wdym less literally plays 3 agents that all fulfill the same role Viper, KJ, cypher. Also you don't see a dip in performance when he plays viper

Saadhak has won everything in this game already. He won Americas, a masters, and a champions. I think he would know best. I also hope you know that in VCT viper is practically a sentinel.

wdym saya made a lot of lans including shanghai. Tomorrow Tex will make it for the guard

Id say they have a lot of weak links. They don't have a 6th men. Idk how much competitive experience the coaches have in valorant.

Jazzyk1ns and Jessievash or Jremy. Maybe one of the girls on SMG/Xipto Esports. RRQ decent too. Maybe lorri

Well EG made it a point that it's a 10-man roster so they all deserve credit unlike other teams 6th men

This is just a random theory but it seems like NA good luck charm is that every winning roster has an ethnically Vietnamese player.
2021 Masters stage 2 - TenZ
2022 Masters stage 1 - Marved
2023 Champs - Apoth
2024 Masters Madrid - TenZ

I understand that most teams 6th men are practically useless and usually not even in scrims but I feel like EG consistently practiced and scrimed with and against their 10 man roster. Fully utilizing all of them. I believe they should get the credit they deserve.

I have a lot of thoughts surrounding this topic. In 2023 EG made it a big deal when they announced their 10 man roster. They were met with heavy criticism. Overall this allowed them to add Demon1 to the starting lineup mid season and come second at Tokyo and 1st at champs. My issue with this is why didn't they make a 10 man roster for 2024 and why don't people recognize the other members of the roster as world champions. Players like icy and apoth competing in franchising this year arent recognized as world champs. Also if EG made their 10 man roster such a big deal why is their 2024 VCT capsule player card only depicting 5 players? Why does a bench player like demon1 get so much more recognition for winning champs than apoth, bcj, icy, screwface, and reformed? I feel like if the community gave their 10 man roster heavy criticism when they first announced it then we should give praise to the roster when it worked.

Icy is the reining world champion aftterall

My bad I was wrong however C9 was still able to defeat Lev which still shows my point. I believe people are overrating loud and 100t. They are in the same position as C9 and G2 for a reason

I feel like thats only because C9 which beat both loud and 100t will potentially loose to G2. Shouldn't G2 deserve it if they can beat C9.

I doubt you would be complaining if NRG and SEN made it over C9 and G2 but G2 and C9 deserve their spots in playoffs.

it would be nice where there is a balanced pick rate between lmg, SMGs, shotguns, snipers, and rifles. Pistols for ecos and secondaries

I never compared this game to fortnite I don't get the comparison

valorant has more guns than Fortnite lol

I genuinely believe the rifles should be nerfed in the 0-30 meter range and the over 50 meter range. Allow it to still be strong in the medium ranges. So that it's not so strong in every scenario. It will allow other guns to shine.

He is the reining world champ after all

I think they should buff it and other weapons as well. I'm tired of the rifle meta. It's in every game and in the majority of rounds.

im not bating

https://www.reddit.com/r/ValorantCompetitive/comments/177bl68/weapon_pickrate_over_the_past_2023_vct/

I do not see how it is balanced.

I think we shouldn't allow the rifles to be so good at every range. They should nerf them to specifically be very good at 30-50 meters. I believe the damage is too high for the rifles in the 0-30m range and the moment speed of rifles are too high.

The issue with that is that most teams would just coast through the regular season. You can't have a league where 72% of teams make playoffs. Maybe have a full round robin regular season and allow 4 teams to make playoffs and have double elim.

I agree. I feel like the rifles need a nerf. We've been in a rifle meta since the game's inception.

I just want a more balanced system where rifles aren't bought in 90 percent of rounds on every map. It should be balanced where every gun is bought and utilized to an equivalent relevance to its price.

When will the phantom and vandal be nerfed. I feel like we have been in a rifle meta since the start of the game and I feel like the phantom and vandal greatly outperforms many guns that cost more than them.

Still waiting on rifle nerfs. Been in a rifle meta since the beginning of the game kinda of boring.

The world champ icy will 2-1 C9

Sen is literally carried by EMEA talent.

I believe in the world champ Icy

We still have the world champions Icy and C0m

Riot gave him one extra on accident. You only get one per win. He got an extra one and even admits to getting an extra one by accident.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5Zka6Qj3eg&ab_channel=ShortsValorant

you see zellsis here only has one.

https://www.tiktok.com/@zellsis/video/7351861410290224430

So TenZ is even using a masters buddy for a 4th masters that he hasnt even won

My real question is that I hope all 10 players of EGs 2023 10 man roster got the buddy and title. Do yall know if they get them?

but TenZ uses his regional masters buddy. Should he only be allowed to equip 2 masters buddies out his 3 masters wins then?