Agreed

1. FPX - aim is as cracked as always, but you can tell they are far better as a squad than they used to be, and have heavily improved on playing off their opponents weaknesses. I can see them making a run in this form, but I doubt they can win unless they improve even more. Main weakness: some individual misplays that will be ironed out with further experience.
2. FUT - besides the first map, FUT played overall very well as a team. They are a well balanced team with a lot of individual skill, but need to work on their discipline, as they threw away quite a few large man advantages by over peeking. I don’t think this team has it in them to make it super far, but if they can show up individually and fix their easily fixable mistakes they can certainly make playoffs.
3. G2 (interchangeable with T1) - valyn is undoubtedly a very talented igl, but you can tell the pressure gets to him in these international events. Calling was average at best today, and G2 only barely won due to hero plays by leaf. I don’t see any potential in icy, but it’s unfair to boil their issues down to just him. Good mental to close out the series after a crushing map 2 and start to map 3, showing that if they get over their nerves and play like they did against KRU, they could have a shot at playoffs.
4. T1 - hardly worse than G2, but unfortunately I believe they have a very slim chance to make it out of playoffs now that they lost their first game. This team very clearly has problems with their mental, and they’ve repeatedly shown they are unable to break out of slumps where teams are winning round after round against them. However, at their very best, they look insane, and we saw glimpses of this during the series. They can make playoffs if they find a way to consistently show the insane form they showed on icebox (might have just been a shit map problem, idk) they have a slim chance at playoffs.

I need that. I DESERVE that.

talent cast this event is so mid compared to past events

this is the best scenario cuz that means 2 teams from each region in playoffs

geng, lev, fpx, th

navi definitely would have played better than this

made that mistake myself, i put fut in my parlay which was a huge mistake

embarrassingly terrible. FPX look great so credit to them, but what on earth possesses mrfalin to solo dry peek mid when he knows 3 are there on an eco. i didnt think id see worse gameplay than G2 vs T1 but here we are, EMEA always manages to disappoint

wait

not crying, just an observation. i love watching emea get shit on so i am quite enjoying myself actually

definition of all aim no brain, this dude makes so many questionable plays

i need foot esports to win 2-0 for my parlay

g2 is still mid af lmao they need leaf to hard carry

i doubt either team makes it out of groups but i have money on the game so its been a rollercoaster for me

100T is our only hope unless LEV gets their shit together, i had no faith in g2 anyways

they would be a top tier team with a better player on duelist, hopefully jawgemo can free himself from EG and join them next year

its because its breeze. breeze is easily the most boring map to watch in valorant history, i cannot remember a single memorable game on this map. cant wait until its out of the pool

would be legit contenders if they had a star duelist

moving leaf off duelist was good, bro is legit insane on sentinel

imagine this team with oxy or jawgemo instead of icy

ok, thanks for letting me know 👍

are they really changing the start times later on in the event? vlr says the playoff start times will be the same as swiss stage but vlr is wrong a lot so you could be right

i noticed that tokyo had much better match starting times for NA than shanghai, even though the time zone difference in those two cities is only 1 hour. for tokyo, the matches started at 8 pm and 11 pm for me (i am pacific standard time, which is on the west coast of the united states for those unaware), while in shanghai there is a five hour difference, with the matches starting at 1 am and 4 am. anyone know why they made such a drastic change? is it because eu match times werent good for tokyo? I cant complain because all other events have had great match times for NA west but i am just curious about their reasoning for the timing of the matches this event.

people underestimate g2. icy is obviously nothing special but the core is insane, i think they could be a world contending team if they had a star duelist like jawgemo or oxy. they could still do well and maybe make it out of groups with icy

even if all 5 drg members drop a life game they have no chance imo

FNATIC falling off and then making a comeback again

this is pretty unique to this university and does not apply to the vast majority of american universities. low income scholarships exist at most schools, but schools that arent like top 20 schools all usually give out merit scholarships, for example my family isnt low income but i still get 50% off of tuition from a merit scholarship, so for the majority of students you get equally fucked whether or not youre low or middle class. that being said college is just too expensive in general in the US

lol

i would agree with you but LOUD really looked terrible against 100T, i cant be confident they would do well in shanghai

that being said LOUD and G2 are both facing the same issue currently imo; that being that they lack a star duelist but have an incredible core.

i agree that the scheduling this year is inexcusable, leo faria smoking something

there has never once been a mickey mouse tournament. the only one you could argue is optic's trophy (because fpx couldnt attend) but besides that every event has had the best teams at that current moment in the tournament. just because those teams fell off afterwards doesnt mean they werent the best at that time. if fnatic and 100t were better during kick//off, they could have qualified too. we gotta end all this stupid discussion about "mickey mouse" tournaments just to try and discredit teams we dont like

you're right, but i still have faith. fut vs fnatic was also a very messy series

i think that optic is one of the best teams of all time based on consistency, but i dont think they ever peaked extremely high. if this list was about consistency optic and loud would be on the top with prx shortly behind

they wont ever try via ascension, but i can see them trying to get into partnership when the current contracts expire in 2026

five highest peaks by any team in valorant history

1. TOKYO FNATIC
2. CHAMPS 2023 EG
3. CHAMPS 2023 PRX
4. CHAMPS 2022 LOUD
5. CHAMPS 2023 LOUD

as you can tell i believe that champs 2023 is overall the highest skill tournament we've ever had. drop your opinions below

Drop your hot takes below. These can be teams you think will flop or perform above expectations

-FNC will not be eliminated in groups, they will make a run just to be eliminated by 100T in playoffs (ultimate revenge match)
-one of PRX or TH will perform FAR below expectations
-LEV will do better than most expect. c0m will re-enter champs form and tex will play better than ever, and they will place minimum top 3
-china will have their worst event, winning 0 series against teams that arent also from china

he's literally right every event has dark horse teams

most literate SEN fan

is he struggling immensely? yes, and its inexcusable. but hes on LEV for at least this event regardless, so you may as well root for him and be nice, especially if youre a lev fan. and he actually didnt play that bad this series (only -3). what he needs is confidence, and people shit talking him all day on twitter and vlr isnt going to help. who knows, he could re-find his champs form at shanghai.

he makes smart plays when hes confident, but plays like a silver player when hes nervous he needs to find a way to stay comfortable

nzr is better but not by that much cant lie, people overrate him a bit. plus if players were beefing with him then its better to have a worse player who provides vibes and minimal midrounding than a better player who you have bad vibes with

shout out to potter for making this guy look good, she knew exactly how to use him. he needs to realize his flanking playstyle doesnt work now how it used to and change up his playstyle to fit his new team dynamic.

because sen is by far the best team in the world

fair enough, i just feel like along with keznit he is the one who is most expected to pop off and get kills

he played great in the regular season but he has been choking in playoffs. not just this series but he played like a bot against g2 as well. if you cant perform when it matters but are known for playing well usually that is what i would call inconsistent.

most inconsistent player ive ever seen

calm down ladies lets all be friends

if lev lose here they need to drop c0m and get a real igl to let kingg focus on fragging

y0y

he isn't playing great but lev fans are using him as a scapegoat, they think that dropping him will solve all their problems when it wont. lev need a real igl and let kingg focus on fragging only. kingg's igling is actually so bad especially on the attack half its hard to watch.

i understand he played very poorly most series, but how can you blame last map on him. he didnt play amazing but kingg literally lurked every single attack round and died leaving his team with no viper util. criticize c0m when its justified but dont blame him when its not his fault