If SEN wins the play ins then it will either be NRG vs SEN & LOUD vs EG or NRG vs LOUD & EG vs SEN

I think all trolls aside it depends which Sentinels turn up, aswell as how Saadhak sets up this iteration of Loud.. its likely to assume that he's got some crazy comps cooked up, but it just depends on whoever is the duelist how well that player manages to adapt to the role.. I have all confidence in Loud being at minimum a top 3-4 team throughout the year, but if SEN pick up where they left off in off season I think they'll be a match for anybody

Honestly don't think there anybody currently that could replicate his performances.. remember how much older CS is and how Donk has probably more CS hours that some of the older Valo pros do in both Valo and CS, these kids are on another level.. I thought M0nesy would have been next up, then this 17 year old comes along and achieves stats that not even simple could, whilst playing the rifler role

NA meta will be either Jett Harbor Viper Gekko KJ or Jett Viper Sage Gekko KJ

EU meta will be Jett Viper Sage Sova KJ or Kayo Sage Viper Sova KJ (Navi will likely play Chamber Sage Gekko Viper KJ)

Apac meta is impossible to predict..

NA teams are currently moving over to Gekko from Skye by what people are saying, EU teams prefer the more tried and tested "meta" comps

Qck couldn't even diff RGLMeister in 2023 bud

Buzz will be duelist
Foxy will be flex player/Senti on double controller maps
Flashback will be senti/Viper on double controller
Mako will be the GOAT
Stax will be the initiator

That's kinda like going into 2023 saying FNC are going nowhere because in 2022 they made top 5 once in 3 LANs

Unless the play-ins winner is from group B or C then that will change everything and Group A will be facing group B or C winner

Imma just leak it fuck it

GROUP A - NRG, LEV, SEN, G2
GROUP B - LOUD, C9, FURIA, MIBR
GROUP C - KRU, 100T, EG

Pools are as follow
Pool 1 - Loud, NRG
Pool 2 - c9, Lev, Kru,
Pool 3 - Sen, Furia, 100T
Pool 4 - Mibr, G2

Duelist: Oxy
Flex: Zekken
Initiator: Trent
Sentinel: FNS (Igl)
Controller: Marved

Zekken on flex can play every single agent and is insane, Oxy is a highly underrated duelist who has also mastered Yoru (only NA duelist that has Raze, Jett and Yoru locked down imo) Trent is easily NAs best initiator idec. FNS best IGL in Valo IMO, Marved the iceman

For a map like Icebox I could see him playing Gekko, maybe even Bind too since the skye nerfs could make solo skye unviable

Lotus I could see Tenz playing skye/Kayo or even Chamber

Yes but by the time the first demotion comes around the format changes to ascend 2 teams a year, so the winners directly replaces the 13th slot and then the 14th slot is filled by the runners up

2024 season - 11
2025 season - 12
2026 season - 14 (2 ascended teams with G2 "relegated" down)

Honestly, Fnc is probably the only team that is as capable in any meta, Chronicles ability to play quite literally every agent to an insane high level make FNC top 2 itw no matter the meta

A controller player lurks nearly as much as the sentinel, usually teams will run a 1-3-1 default where smokes and sentinel hold extremities and/or lurk

Couple that with Pancads ineffectiveness with English comms and his tendencies for mistakes and mis-comms it's a no brainer he was benched

Jawgemos jett is insane, the only reason EG didn't lean on it was having Demon1, and Jawgemo isn't an OPer which is where Jett thrives on defense

I think the Crashies sentinel is the least of NRGS issues tbh

Crashies used to be a Cypher/Viper main during the start of Valorant and he was considered one of the best, Crashies is one of very few that can play any role very well

IMO the biggest issues come when they're midrounding and everybody has their own idea, seems like a case of too many chiefs and not enough Indians

EG get top 3, NRG flop and don't make it to any lans, SEN make it to a LAN(COPE)
C0M goes back to being another NA Sova and gets subbed for NZR by April (for real spice)

Pretty sure the teams themselves already know, Loud Saadhak was on stream reacting to who they play and said something along the lines of "can't believe we have them first"

Duelist - Zekken
Flex - Victor
Initiator - Verno
Sentinel - JohnQT
Controller - Marved
Sub - Demon1 (can cover duelist, smokes and sentinel)
Coach - Kaplan (would be Bonkar if NA team but not nationality counts)

Verno is the 2nd coming of Leo but with more flexibility, Zekken is hyper flexible and is a guaranteed 20 kills per map, Victor is by far NAs best flex player (Recency bias make people think Ethan but that's a troll) JohnQT is a high fragging IGL who can play every role, and Marved is the cracked ice cold smokes that wins every clutch

https://www.reddit.com/r/ValorantCompetitive/s/zIRGlbFF82
SEN are scrimming rn

I'm not so sure about that, both teams still have a core 3 and just 2 players to integrate.. Lev now with the current rumors might struggle in fairness, but NRG shouldnt really have issues with gelling since it's a core 3 and 2 players from the same roster

Americas also have got Loud, 100T and C9 could both be a dark horses too.. I'd say atleast 6 of Americas 11 teams could be TOP 2/3 in any other region

I also imagine Russ will command a much lower salary than the other options, which if the KOI financial issue rumors are true makes sense.. they're trying to find a team that is sustainable but can also get some results