Yeah this was my main question. I thought they essentially fired their entire staff. The Guard wouldn't have been given a franchise spot initially based on questionable business/leadership decisions in my opinion so I'm curious to see what Riot will say and what will happen.

Can't say I've followed them much before but regardless I was impressed. A lot of great performances coming through in these qualifiers.

It's interesting to consider the playstyle/mentality differences between the Invited and Qualifier teams. I wonder if the Qualifier teams are more open to adapting etc. Perhaps the invited teams are a little slower or more complacent. We'll have to see once the games are all done.

I find some of the easiest ways to think about Astra utility is breaking it up into Smokes + Everything Else. Smokes are fairly simple, you know all the choke points etc. Then for your other utility think of it like flashes or any other spot utility. Get used to placing 2-3 stars at the beginning of the round and placing the other 2-3 as and when you need them. See your teammate pushing, stun a common angle etc.

Stars even have a lot of power if you don't use them for anything, just putting a star somewhere can be enough to stop someone holding an angle in case you pull/stun etc. The stars are very much their own ability in themselves due to the threat of your utility.

I'd say my biggest piece of advice is don't put all your stars down straight away in the pre-round. Make sure you've got a couple to hand to react with.