She was still right. 1 team region.

NA has one import this event. And let's not act like optic didn't dominate with 0 imports before this year.

Disagree on NRG. They've only lost one game and it was too the tourney favorite. If you say it's because they have played most games close, then you clearly don't watch them lol

EG literally guaranteed to 3 lol.

Deserve it more than EMEA.

TL didn't know how to deal with the harbor/viper retakes. Emea literally doesn't play harbor. And NRG are still pretty new to playing the comp on haven.

Kinda agree, but I don't think 50% of any league should be in Champs. Top 4 in China is like top 5%. Also I think China gets too much shit. EDG is the best in China, but they have lost games to ASE, FPX, and others.

Didn't respect EG imo.
Honestly beating EG in NA playoffs probably cost them. If they lose that they probably ban either fracture or ascent to prevent EG from getting their best maps.
Overespected EDG. Didn't pick Haven because EDG is good at it, even though it's literally louds best map.

There's nothing really missing from Louds chemistry right now. If there was I'd agree with you. But loud is still as good now as they were last year.

Didn't play into their strengths, that's all. They ban Fracture and they beat EG. They pick haven and ban lotus they beat EDG.

NA isn't a region.

NA is dead to me. We're one region now. Americas #1.

Honestly. If NA wins this event and Fnatic or Liquid win Champs, I'll be satisfied.
I like fnatic (hell I like NAVI, Liquid, and FUT too). But fnatic winning is bad for the quality of games at Champs.

I actually prefer this. Champs is an even 4 per region. Each group has one rep each.

We'll have to watch bad games at groups in Champs as 4 out of the 5 teams get grouped.

No one wants to watch Giants at Champs. We're fine with NAVI because of their roster, FUT because they're likeable, Liquid because of Nats, and Fnatic because they're actually good, but none of us wants to see giants or some other random mid team from emea.

I think losing sacy was fine. Very good player, but tuyz and cuan are just as good imo. Only thing they lose is the veteran presence, which at this point Aspas, Less, and Saadhak now have.
Pancada was so good though, that was a massive loss imo

Loud got outpicked.
Didn't play a single harbor viper map despite being the kings of it.
Allowed for EG to get their 2 strongest maps, yet were scared to pick haven against EDG, despite it being Louds best map. Instead they picked lotus, a map they don't play.
LOUD's map pool isn't that great right now, and EG seems to be better at 2 of Louds regular picks.

Boaster is a top tier igl when it comes to game prep. He was always behind the likes of FNS and Saadhak in midrounding though. Looks like he's closed that gap.
However, attributing this team to boaster alone is silly. All players are top 5 in their role, so even when boaster has a bad call, they still usually win due to the shear talent of the roster.

I'm starting to think NRG does it on purpose. 5/6 events they are 4th or better starting in groups in all.

From 13-0 to 3rd place or better at Masters. Incredible.

Americas population 1.04 billion
China population 1.43 billion

Valorant hasn't even been released in China yet. So comparing player base sizes is asinine.
League is the most popular game in China though, and it's too be expected that Valorant will probably crack the top 10.

I don't think they're untouchable, but their playbook is probably incredibly deep right now since they've been coasting since mid-season. This upcoming match vs PRX basically decides the tourney imo. They're the only team in the tourney where conventional game prepping doesn't guarantee success, since players like jingg and forsaken will just disrespect it and still get 3.

Eh, I wish loud would've made it farther, but I like both EG and EDG, so I'm only slightly disappointed.

I don't even hate any of the teams that. Don't want fnatic or TL to win it not because I hate them, but because I don't want to see Giants or a similarly mediocre team at Champs. Both squads deserve a trophy, but the system in place makes me actively have to root against them.

LOUD didn't play harbor/viper once, despite being the best in the world at it. They honestly lost at picks/bans. Was scared of their Haven and their Pearl even though, which ended up getting them banned.

No, they play in San Francisco.

Pretty sure he posted a pic of Crazy Raccoon HQ on Twitter.

I said Copenhagen for a reason. Gave me vibes of the game winning play vs. PRX.

Chichoo out here looking like Suygetsu at Copenhagen.

I agree, tons of great players that got left out.

I think they just needed to get over that hurdle of winning a game.
I smell a zeta like run coming

I kinda like it, makes the pick process go by faster (or feels like it). Normally they'd talk like a minute in between each pick.

It's actually kinda fd the way they did it. EDG could win Masters and if they fail to make top 3 later on, they miss Champs lol. Won't happen, but they should've done points just like normal regions in previous seasons.

I hate rooting against fnatic (and now liquid) like I have to. Super likeable teams especially with the troubles the Gambit core had. But if I have to watch Giants or another mid EMEA play in Champs, I'm gonna gouge my eyes out.

You forgot to rank Korean NA (T1)

Liquid also picked up proven players. I just think they've needed longer to gel than fnatic.

Navi also made moves. Then they trolled comps all season and got rolled.

The rest of them I have no clue what the plan was.

The biggest game in China is League. Riot is trying to grow the scene (as well as scout orgs for franchising) so valorant can also do the same.

I love them both, I'm torn on who to root for

It's almost like those of us that actually watched all 3 regions knew that emea talent looked mid at best. (Not to mention their pathetic lockin performance for any team that wasn't fnatic or NAVI)

In fact EMEA was worse than I thought, because I believed navi was just saving stuff for Masters.

Kru might have done better than NAVI

Yes, but can they do that for 5-7 games in a row

Not sure. I think the Guard would've fared better against now traditional teams, especially with a win under their belt to build confidence. However I agree optic still would've went on a run.

I don't disagree, but not gonna clown him for having one bad event for the first time in years.

If the problem persists when he returns to Tier 1, then yeah, he probably is washed.

I think The Guard is better, but I'd say 9z has a chance. Only reason I put The Guard in underdog Tier is because M80 has their number

Imagine how different Reykjavik could've been if the Guard don't choke that.

Agree. DSG was a mess anyways, having yay or not having yay wouldn't have changed anything.

My Tier list.

Contenders :
M80, The Union
Underdogs :
The Guard, 9z
Just happy to be there :
Fusion, 00

FUT a bit too inconsistent imo. They are no where good enough to make a run yet. However I think they show a lot of promise, and could be a true force given a little more time.

Franchising buffed Americas and Pacific, while it didn't for EMEA. Emea has always been its own region, they didn't get combined like Americas and Pacific where the top teams all got stuffed into much more stacked leagues.

Edit: Also Americas and Pacific have a lot of old cores retained, while emea has only a few.

Nah, I think ZETA's the reverse. They have good ideas and are solid, but the team lacks firepower. Which is why they finished above average in pacific.

That's one long sentence you got there.