Heretics won an international, and had a strong showing at champs. They also beat G2 in playoffs recently. If Heretics aren't in your top 5, then you don't know what you're talking about.

Yes, it does.

ofc Alfajer would say that, lol. You think he's going to say they're not at 100% and fuck up their mental? The best FNC looked all year was in Toronto. It's not surprising that a team that spent as much time on the international stage was fatigued by the time champs came around.

Yeah I removed both of them from my list.

You're free to think that, but I just don't agree. NRG looked irredeemably bad for most of the year. Yes, they found their form in time and went on a run, and they played the best Valorant at champs, nobody's denying that. But were they the second best team all year? I don't think so. I think making 3 Grand Finals in 1 year, even if they failed to bring it over the line, shows a level of consistency that makes FNC a better and more reliable team overall. Especially if you consider how bad FNC looked before champs; they got 2-0'd by GiantX for chrissakes, they were not in their best form. You need to understand how draining it is to play on an international stage. You can't tell m that Fnatic's astonishing performance in 3 internationals in 1 year is less of an accompolishment than 1 champs win.

You're not accounting for EWC, which your number 10 spot won, and which your number 4 spot reached the Grand Finals in. Apart from that your logic seems pretty consistent.

Sorry, but T1's peak cleared G2, and T1 also performed very well regionally; which is commendable considering APAC was by far the most competitive region this year. G2 has fundamental problems, you're not gonna like my saying this, but I think their player quality is very low. Valyn is an incredible igl (the best in the game imo), Jawgemo is a formidable duelist, but that's it. Their team's system is incredibly effective; they were even able to setup Babybay to frag, but Leaf, Jonahp, and Trent are not championship material players imo. If they want to win an international they need better players, and if their management is smart they should be looking to poach some heavy hitters in the off-season.

Pretty sure Liquid and Heretics both said EWC was more important to them than Masters Toronto.

I didn't say NRG should have lost, I said Fnatic's form in Champs didn't look as good as their form in Toronto, and Toronto FNC could have beaten NRG. Also, NRG had a massive advantage in the Grand Finals, cuz they were in the upper bracket, if their position was switched with FNC, they might have lost.

I'm not. I'm objectively and undeniably right about this. The fact that you don't know what you're talking about is your problem.

Doesn't matter what he said, EWC was a highly competitive tournament, and a couple of teams considered it the most important international of the year (likely due to the large cash prize).

What are you talking about?? Of course it counts.

Yeah, but they are behind Heretics in Champs. And again, Heretics won an international and beat Fnatic in a crazy reverse sweep. Plus Heretics 2-0 G2 when they played each other in groups recently. Heretics looked a bit less consistent than G2 across the course of the year, but their peaks were a lot more impressive. If I was judging on consistency alone, I might also go with G2.

Unique in a bad way. Even if he was effective, he's a mid player without the odin, and he plays like such a loser.

Yeah. Hurt my heart to watch and American team win an international. And I really don't f*ck with Brawk's playstyle.

It wasn't a fluke, they won cuz they were the better team. They self-destructed after Bangkok cuz the coach is incompetent and Stax and Buzz are toxic divas.

You'd be wrong.

Insanity. Your number 8 is better than your number 1.

I dunno, Sen really didn't impress me at all this year.

I think FNC's peak was in Toronto, not champs. Going into Champs they looked a lot shakier than they did in Toronto, and Alfajer's performance in Toronto was substantially better than what we saw in Champs. Also, I am still accounting for consistency to a degree, and FNC have looked insane this year.

FNC looked really shaky leading up to champs, and imo they looked way more formidable in Toronto. I don't think NRG would have beat FNC if Alfajer played like he did in the Toronto Grand FInals.

I picked Heretics over G2 because of EWC. Also, when G2 and Heretics played each other Heretics just looked like the better team.

G2 is too high on your list imo.

I'm changing my list to add Team Liquid, but GX and Sen are crazy picks for top 10

I feel like this year it's a lot less clear cut than it was last year, and I'm mostly judging the teams based on their peak forms. For me it's

1. Paper Rex: Won an international, incredible performance in regionals and on the international stage. Probably the best PRX have ever looked.
2. Fnatic: Reached 3 Grand Finals. Comparable to 2023 Fnatic.
3. NRG: They swept everyone away at champs.
4. T1
5. Heretics
6. G2
7. Liquid
8. DRX
9. EDG
10. RRQ

Kinda both but anybody can frag in G2's incredibly effective system. That's why I'm always saying Trent and leaf are good players, they're just not remarkable. The only truly exceptional players in G2 are Jawgemo, and Valyn (as an igl).

99 kills on 4 maps is unreal. Mans was on track to break the kill record for a best of 5, and he did it as a sentinel!! God's gift to valorant.

Brother, in no world is Leaf comparable to Alfajer in terms of individual play.

I think he wants to play duelist, but the team had Derke so they put him on sentinel. I think fnc should have just adopted more aggressive double duelist comps, and shifted chronicle to sentinel full-time. Maybe get Alfajer and Derke to integrate 1 or 2 non-duelists into their agent rotation.

Now that we've reached the off-season, and the dust of the three major international events has settled, who do you think are 5 best teams of the year?

For me it's:

1. Gen. G: Crazy year. They won one masters, and made the grand finals of another. Performed exceptionally well in apac.

2. EDG: They beat Heretics, Leviatan, Sentinels, PRX and Trace. They all looked crazy good in the grand finals, and they were performing so well under a crazy level of pressure.

3. Heretics: They have some insane talents on their team, and they made two grand finals in a row.

4. Sentinels: Won a masters, and performed very well at champs. Glad to see Zekken really hit his stride, dude's a demon, and easily one of my favorite players atm.

5. Leviatan: Probably the least certain pick; they've looked a bit shaky for parts of the year, but they still performed really well this year. They definitely looked like they were the 3rd best team at champs. I do think they need a few more weapons in their arsenal, but they're still an awesome team.

This is an embarrassing take. Every player will have a bad day here and there, and Sacy's support; which means his performance is more heavily dependent on teamplay then any other player. Sentinels have been looking shaky post-Madrid, and they lost a few games they should've won. There are 5 players on each team, and when your team is fragging out there are less frags for you to pick up. And when you're using your utility for your teammates, you can't use that same utility to get kills. People like you are the reason every lobby I log into, I end up with 4 instalock duelists who are somehow all incapable of playing entry. His contribution as a support and an anchor have been critical to Sen's success. You either haven't been watching their games, or you haven't been watching them closely.

Boaster is Fnatic. He's been with the team forever, he's an influencer and fans love him. Finally as igl it's difficult to quantify the impact he has on a game. He certainly does more than his stats imply, but is he more useful to have on your team than someone like Derke, who is easily one of the top 5 duelists to touch the game? Personally, I don't think so. Valyn, Saadhak, johnqt can all frag out and igl, Boaster only needs to get to the starting line and he just can't manage it lately. Maybe off-season will give him a chance to restore his form; I also think dropping him would be hasty. But if he can't step up, then maybe he should work as a coach instead.

You don't seem like a very smart person.

The fact that you guys legitimately don't seem to understand the function of a support player is crazy. Dedicated support players will make plays for the sake of the team, and the round's strategy. Not for assists or individual frags. The fact is, Sacy is a brilliant support and a reliable anchor. He might be Sentinels most consistent clutch. Y'all don't know shit.

Dropping Derke is a disaster. I assume they plan to rotate Alfajer into Derke's position, bring Leo back on initiator, shift Hiro to sentinel, and keep Chronicle and Boaster as flex and controller. But no amount of position swaps will change the fact that one of your players isn't fragging. Even when Boaster shows up, he's bottom of the leaderboard by 4-5 kills, and when he flounders it legitimately feels like we're watching a 4 v 5. I like Boaster, but strategically speaking, dropping Derke and keeping Boaster is insane.

Sacy's gold. If you plebs can't see that, then I feel sorry for you.

lol

You want them to drop the igl that just won them champs??

I though it was amazing

Mine is--

Duelist: KangKang (ZmjjKK)
Initiator: Leo
Controller: Valyn (also igl)
Sentinel: benjyfishy
Flex: s0m

Pretty happy with this. Still tempted to switch KangKang with zekken, and Valyn with Cryo.