ok nvm lol, heretics are ass

Surprised i didnt think about Sacy, good shout

yay is really good, however i think his comeback on EG is gonna be what will define him, cause love him or hate him but his fall off was HARD

APAC is hard cause there are alot of people I'd consider, but its really hard to specifically pick one out as THE BEST. I cant i believe i forgot meteor though, definately one that would be close to making my list

If you have to induct 5 players into the games hall of fame RN, who and why?

• Tenz (Kinda obvious why, dude literally has been the face of the game until he retired and for good reason)
• Aspas (GOAT status and able to make any team he plays for look good)
• Boaster (most iconic IGL in the game, longevity in the scene and great results to back it up, led multiple rosters to success)
• Zmjjkk (the founding father of the CN scene)
• Chronicle (the most winning player of all time)

some players i considered as well

• Leo, Mako, Stax, Jawgemo, FNS, Cned, Nats, Forsaken, Texture,

honestly apart from heretics, i wouldnt say any team is a high guarantee to make it.

• GENG and SEN are good and probs great contenders but have shown alot of choke potential
• Liquid unless they get a miracle and Nats comes back, is really the only team I see as like a very likely elimination
• CN teams this time do look pretty weak however I have always been wrong when I've counted them out and quite frankly these teams do have the firepower to do an upset
• MIBR have aspas but im unsure about the rest of the team and how they will stack up
• If the train is still running PRX will blitz, if not they will crumble

Because no one invests in the oce scene and because there is no oce team in tier 1, no one pays any attention to us. The only chance we get is in the CN scene

you know what, the hopium has got to work for nrg fans at some point, cause it sure hasnt these past two years

G2, SEN, KRU
BOOM, RRQ, T1
FNC, TH, LIQUID
(WOLVES, XLG already confirmed), BLG

had a great start to the year, then the plane to Bangkok with all the players went missing and we got a bunch of doppelgangers in instead, they havent found the plane since

ngl, i dont see the same. i watched that match. i dont think it was a case of t1 playing bad, i think boom just played REALLY well that day

my main problem with t1 going into bangkok was i had zero clue whether they were gonna stick with sylvan or carpe, i just feared roster overcooking

a pacific region crowd, favoring a pacific region team? shocking

people saw them as a super team, kickoff brought doubts to their super team title, masters removed the doubts again

i dont think that the problem is that ascent is bad, its just incredibly stale. the map itself is played the exactly same way every time, but the new agent and the removal of the odin reliance on b site could make it slightly different now

more importantly i just want an indian org that invest in indian talent. i genuinely think the indian player scene is such an untapped market that with some care and training could compete pretty well

i wouldn't mind as long as its another indian org replacing them

my best bet would be remove GX (have had the least impact imo on the emea scene) and maybe KOI just due to finances (im not sure how much theyve gotten better or worse since last year though, i heard they arent in the best spot)

yeah which sucks (i personally think qualification to any international event should secure a second year in tier 1) but even in tier 2 apeks showed alot of commitment to the scene, made lots of content and are willing to train new talent

i definately wouldnt mind a fokus or mouz. i just dont know the emea scene that well, i wouldnt know exactly who to kick to make room, cause Apeks would definately be on riots list as the first team to sign in as a replacement i feel like due to their commitment

PRX is one of the biggest team in pacific
PRX represents the region well with multiple SE Asian players
I dont see how having teams in other games makes any difference, infact some teams have actually been caught using the money that riot gives them and taking it to others games cough cough MIBR

i think with the rise of popularity and success that DFM is seeing, Zeta could be an option to kick as they no longer have the barrier of "the only somewhat good japanese team" to rely on to keep them in

since they kicked their old owner/ceo after 2023, they have started to make the right moves, still not the best but not as bad as they used to be

furia i dont know as much about

secret and prx arent nepo picks though. prx are 2x grand finalists with one of the largest fanbases in all of pacific, i dont see a reason why you'd get rid of them and although secret havent seen the same amount of success, they have shown a large commitment to the valorant scene since very early on and also bring in a large phillipino audience

when considering who to keep and kick, riot has shown that success is not the only margin they care about, infact its probably the one they care the least amount about. riot priorities orgs that are finacially stable, bring in a fanbase, help promote the game and scene (via content and social media) and have shown commitment to the game

ik its happening at some point, i just forgot when, i thought i remembered the contracts from the start of vct franchising being 3 years?

NRG no, although they havent seen as much success lately, they still do bring in alot of fans and make alot of content which benefits the scene
LEV yes, dont represent the region well and make bad choices around management of players
FUR not sure, low impact on the region as a whole, not sure about their presence though
C9 yes, talent killer org, bad management decisions
PRX no, legit the most popular team in all pacific, brings in so many fans, not being removed AT ALL
TS no, longevity in the scene and also big fanbase in SE Asia

this is the last year that all the franchise teams have on their current franchise contracts. at the end of this year (or maybe next year) riot reviews each team and decides who stays and who goes right? or am i being crazy

if im right, who do you see being removed from each region?

americas: LEV or C9 out, G2 and another LATAM team in
cn: AG out, i dunno, they've made the least amount of impact on the region both performance and prescence wise, probs add Rare Atom
emea: im not sure who you kick out here, but I would add Apeks in as a franchise team due to their commitment to the game
pacific: GE out, im not sure what their social media prescence is like in india, but ik there are alot of indian orgs with indian talent that would be better for the representation of the region.

5cm

nothing without keznit

This team looks to have LOTS of synergy and actually has some pretty good fundamental and ideas. Looking at the lower bracket they could have, if they keep up the same form they did today, they could make a somewhat decent underdog run. I say anything Lower Round 3 and beyond and its a big upset

average vlr one game overreaction

this. boom has everything to prove, nothing to lose

damn yall really dont believe in VIT. good cause i dont either

Which super team going into 2025 vct has the biggest chance to flop. Example: 2024 NRG, 2023 Sentinels

ive heard good things about them, tbf tho i dont keep up emea as much cause their games are at 3am for me and i already put too much effort into pacific and china mostly, with the remainder of my time going to americas

i was considering them but i dont necessarily think they are being underestimated. i think they were slightly forgotten about in terms of being good cause they didnt qual for champs but when people look at the team, i think they know that at the very least they will be a solid team domestically

Americas: C9 (i hate the org, but we all know the storyline. they make shitty decisions in the off season, everyone writes them off, then they just dominate domestically right until the final hurdle where they just crumble. the question is whether they can FINALLY qualify for an international this time.)
CN: Nova (started to look pretty decent at the end of last year, have only looked better in the off season, swerl is the most underrated player in the entire CN scene rn)
EMEA: KOI (i dont think they will qualify for an international, but this team has the potential to punch above its weight domestically, could see them qualify for playoffs once or twice)
Pacific: DFM (underrated? not sure, seems to be alot of hype around this roster but whatever. they kept what made the roster good cough cough meiy and then they added some pretty good supporting players around him. could be the year where japanese valorant becomes more than just zeta)

flor is a female.

Regardless of if they make it decently far in T2 after GC this time around, I do think that all the players have decently bright futures.

• mel may continue to play the game at a pro level if she decides to, but if not she has a very good potential in casting and analysis that she has demonstrated for the main vct stream
• i would not be suprised if flor becomes the first GC player to make it to the VCT, i genuinely think that any English speaking team thats in need of a duelist and doesnt want her is stupid, it kinda just sucks how the gc champs inteferes with alot of vct team trials (i think an issue thats worth talking about afterwards and when the tourney is over)
• sarah, noia, and alexis are all still solid players and if rebellion for whatever reasons decides to pull out, there is surely another team waiting to yank them up easily

i mean i kinda left it up to people to decide how they would want to rank it. i thought most people would be like who was better at their own time. so like of course modern day geng or heretics would destroy 2021 gambit. but its hard to deny that at the time gambit was WAY ahead of alot of the competition compared to heretics and geng modern day

Fnatic (Masters 1 2021)
Envy (Masters 2 2021)
Gambit (Champs 2021)
Loud (Masters 1 2022)
Paper Rex (Masters 2 2022)
OpTic (Champs 2022)
Loud (Lock//IN 2023)
Evil Geniuses (Masters 2023)
Paper Rex (Champs 2023)
Gen.G (Masters 1 2024)
Heretics (Masters 2/Champs 2024)

geng, drx and boom are only based on the pieces that exist now, take it with a pinch of salt
no GE as they have 0 players

S: GENG, T1
A: Secret, PRX
B: Talon, RRQ, Zeta, Sin Prisa
C: DFM, DRX
D: Boom

dont forget boom have home crowd advantage. indonesian fans are absolutely crazy

https://www.vlr.gg/pickem/f548d256

Revenant are my underdog for this tournament. They have the storyline, they have the breakout player potential, the only thing they don't have is a good bracket, but I have them beating sin prisa anyways lol

I have rev beating sin prisa in the opening match, for no other reason than i think its just a really funny possible upset

dw oce is used to being underestimated :)

we never forget bonkers

alot of the jft copium for me is kinda gone though since they dont have broken iso to use anymore. still will cheer for them but i dont think they are going to make it super far, however they do have a good looking bracket

geng and fnatic are the closest we ever got

gen:

• win kickoff
• second masters 1
• win split 1
• win masters 2
• win split 2
• group stage champs

fnatic:

• win lock-in
• second regional finals
• win masters
• 4th champs

anything is a mickey mouse tournament if you dont win apparently