If you're FNC, and you've had a month to prep pearl, and you feel comfortable playing it (at least from scrims, which for an experienced team isn't just 'useless' experience), and you're playing EG - would you rather ban fracture, their best map, and play pearl, a map you've spent a month prepping - or ban pearl and play a team on their best map (and probably the best team at that map itw rn) just to keep your prep hidden?

It just doesn't make sense for them to have not prepped it. They can ban it in matches where they think they can have the upper hand in vetos without it, but I guarantee they'll float it against teams where they feel the need to ban another unfavourable matchup. They will almost certainly be holding on to their pearl strats for as long as possible to minimise antistratting potential, and honestly probably weren't really expecting to have to pull it out somewhere in the lower bracket run.

you can keep a map prepped for a game and still act like its a perma ban. For example, if they play EG they can choose to ban fracture, knowing EG will pick pearl against them, and have some stuff prepped for it. They will have scrimmed it extensively but ofc won't have match experience, but for a tried and tested team like FNC I don't think that 'match experience' means as much as you think it does.

issue is the gap between the current play and the top 4 matches, or finals weekend or whatever it is. could be the same issue for them.

Doesn't make the tournament much shorter. Currently we can play 2 bo3s in the same time it takes to play 1 bo5 (at least as far as match scheduling is concerned) so the tournament would actually take 7 days of 1 bo5 every day, compared to 8 days of what we have currently (with lowers and grand being bo5). I'm inclined to let the double elim format run so that we have a better chance of saying 'the best team won'. Think of all the BS surrounding the LOCK//IN format - it was fun to watch but not really a measure of true performance/competition, which is kinda what champs is all about.

actually think this is kinda their issue currently. Haven't watched the FUT game yet but watching LOUD, they looked so scared compared to their usual selves that I had a funny feeling they would lose the series once we were most of the way through map one. They do need to get back their confidence from Tokyo otherwise I think teams have had enough time and vods to prep for them that they won't be able to make it into the finals.

Having said that, I think that they're the best team in the world at winning a BO5, even with the disadvantage of lower bracket no map veto. FNC is without a doubt the most difficult opponent in a long match and if they recover form well enough to make it to the lower finals I'd actually argue its their tournament to lose.

ye but he also plays initiator on some maps and when he does he's a top 5 initiator itw. kinda undisputed at this point.

would agree except for the fact that fnatic, a prep heavy team, have had a solid month and a half to cook up some shit for pearl. you seriously think a team like FNC who prep for literally everything would just 'assume' they have upper bracket advantage, and won't have to play pearl the entire tournament?

They defo have some shit cooked for that map. whether it works, only time will tell, but don't expect a free win from playing them on that map.

man casually forgot chronicle

istg anyone who quotes map score as a metric of whether a game is close is a crayon eater

good meme but we got to get past the 'soulcas is a bot' joke, he's the only one left from original TL for a reason and he's massively stepped up the past year

oh I think they're favoured, I just think its better long term for both teams if liquid wins

imo it's better for both teams if liquid wins:

liquid are currently on a momentum streak and need to keep building that to excel. I don't think they'll flop by any means if they lose again to FNC but a win would be massive for them

fnatic are prone to cruising through regional playoffs and then choking lan, a loss here would definitely kick them into gear for masters prep. If they win easily here again I could see them losing in semis to a juiced up loud, drx or nrg

Well sentinels finally managed to buy just zekken, only took them a little bit of extra time but they got rid of the rest

Go say this to every American Tenz fan then and we'll talk after

technically they posess one champion, cned

It was part of NAVI (or then FPX) main tactic when they won masters last year. It basically means the 2 pistol players can die on round 2 and they don't lose value ( if guns die then the pistol players pick them up). Then they have full guns to fight the bonus round rather than having tons of SMGs Vs rifles. Not many other teams do it as well as they do but people have copied it, fnatic do a similar thing with marshalls as juiced ghosts

Mini leaking the goods on sliggy stream, KC are back XD

SPLATTERED EGG MOMENT

Karmine Corp took the trolling stick, split it into 5, and each player shoved one piece of it up their ass like a suppository. That way, the trolling extract gets absorbed by the lower third of the large intestine, where blood flow bypasses the liver and goes straight to the brain.

Karmine Corp took the trolling stick, split it into 5, and each player shoved one piece of it up their ass like a suppository. That way, the trolling extract gets absorbed by the lower third of the large intestine, where blood flow bypasses the liver and goes straight to the brain.

'a man is not a tier 2 player just because he chose to play in tier 2' ok

navi changed 1 for another player who won a title, if they won then all their players would be 2x champs - more or less as legit as it gets

champs 2021

definitely navi though fnc can definitely make it close, navi really haven't shown any faults but fnc still look like they aren't flawless, almost choking the 100t icebox etc. Navi really just look perfect rn

ah fair. not that it makes any difference really but would have loved to see it as a draw done live or something, so we don't have to have NAVI vs FNC :(

do we even know if it will be navi vs fnc? or will it be matches from across the bracket, so navi vs loud or drx

people really see 1 game in a single elim bracket and decide whole teams are dogshit. KOI looked decent vs NRG, Liquid honestly hard flopped and the calibre of players really needs to show the next time they play, vitality went up against what people are considering the best team of SA. Lets wait until regional play and multiple matches to see if anyone is actually garbage.

man listed his top 20 games ICANT

GC trophy better than the champs one imo, that shit look clean af

I will concede we should phase out miles from the roads and move to km but basically everything else is in metric apart from getting pints of drink, and since there is no reason to ever have to convert a pint of beer to a weight or another volume I am perfectly happy to keep drinking them in such a quantity

Other than that your take is about as accurate as the average American claiming to speak the 'American' language

yes but how much is a pint in relation to anything you can quantify in order to find your starting point, and how do your distances relate to your volumes and weights? How many inches cubed is a pint? how much does a gallon of water weigh? Once you've remembed the 10 different conversions listed above (forgetting the ones between stones and pounds etc) how do they relate to each other? Same issue with Fahrenheit v Celsius.

Imperial seems easier to use because every distance/weight was completely arbitrary and so we picked things that were on a similar scale to humans, feet being the prime example. Once you start using it for anything complex it completely falls apart and that's why metric will always be superior

unless will can pick up the role of the player getting dropped then no, it doesn't make sense. Will might be better than some of 100T in general but for the roles they're playing he probably isn't as good as anyone else on the team in their position

With the finalists decided, thought this would be a fun topic. Top 3 GF matches and why. Mine:

1: Champs 2021 - 5 map series, GMB coming off Berlin win and insane OT Vs Kru in semis, Acend as underdogs still after beating liquid who hadn't lost a series til that semi final and were tournament favourites, also first ever champs final

2: Copenhagen 2022 - First crowd finals, all 5 maps, PRX with insane UB run and FPX with insane LB run, whole SUYGETSU coming just in time storyline, redemption from not making M1 for FPX

3: either Reykjavik 2021 - first LAN, 3 close maps, SEN rise to being seen as best in the world - or EMEA M1 2021 Acend Vs Heretics - Acend rise to fame, all 5 maps and very competitive series

apart from beating the previous champs?

Shao and it isn't even close

I'm sorry WHAT

I know they should get some form of advantage but that seems insanely strong

nah fpx got this ez, suygetsu owns floptic

Although I am large Koldamenta fan I want FPX to win today. Guild showed they were a top tier team and beat optic. No-one will look at their performance and call them a fluke team now, but I want FPX with SUYGETSU to make a lowers run cause they absolutely deserve it after their struggles

that they beat domestically

ppl still sleeping on this guy after he took G2 from mixwell + friends to their first lan and took down an undefeated SEN, now taking a perma 4/5/6th place guild team to their first lan and taking down the reigning champs

2/2 times he takes team to its first lan and beats prev masters champs. Man is a menace

ahhh I see

Chamber appears to be in the wrong group tho LMAO

What's with some agents next to each other and others separated by dashes? Does anyone know what this means/shows?

Do we know yet who's made it to Iceland?

Zyppan tweeting from the hotel room, but him and Ardiis were never in question. Suygetsu tweeting that he's gonna enjoy watching the event so looks unlikely for him, and probably the same for shao as seems unlikely they've managed to get one Russian player but not both. Anything on ANGE1 yet?

285

Derke channeling his rage from missing iceland

idk man who in VRLs/qualis would have done significantly better than them vs what looks to be the team to beat in EMEA? clearly they deserve to be there having played their way in, perhaps we should be talking about how fkn insane new FNC are rather than chatting shit about their opponents.

can't believe nobody here has mentioned nukkye yet, actual slander

even just derke getting to play, sadge

Don't worry guys, riot is just following the 2021 script again. NA now thinks they're the best in the world so will stream more and pracc less, meanwhile Ukraine war will end, FPX will qualify for next lan and ANGE1 Jett will drop 40 against floptic. All Good.

Iceland otherwise known as "North America 2"was founded by Joe Biden in 2021 and expanded into a 51st state in early 2022. Notable politicians would include Tyson "Tenz" Ngo and Jaccob "yay" Whiteaker