I feel like this is better then his sentinel role last year since he now has the freedom to be much more proactive as an IGL and can call from the moment as opposed to being the lurker or last man in as the sentinel. Imo this is also Zellsis' best role on sentinel. His aim def is not the best on the team but his game sense is up there so the sentinel role suits him best, like we saw with his KJ play last year

Double sentinel has never worked realistically, we saw challengers teams picking up deadlock - cypher with relative success then Sentinels ofc picked it up on lotus and ascent. It kinda worked on lotus but never picked up on Ascent for them. LEV did see some success with it but they seemed to abandon Ascent in general after their loss to trace

BUT, I am confident that teams will pull out the double sentinel combo with vyse and a traditional flank watcher (cypher / kj). Teams will likely like to use it against retake heavy teams, for example Sentinels. Vyse also takes the role of a secondary initiator, with her flash and vines (molly thing). Using her alongside a kayo, sova or gekko seems pretty viable.

For example, an ascent comp of Jett, Omen, Sova, Vyse, Cypher / Kj

Thoughts? or will Vyse flop competitively like the past 3 agents before her or something

An extension of my 2024 regional placements list

Note 1: Rankings taken from each team's placements throughout each international event. If a team finishes tied (e.g. 9th-12th), the lowest placing is taken (e.g. 9th). The average is then taken.
Note 2: Pre-franchising regions have been assigned to their respective franchised regions (e.g. LATAM -> Americas, Japan -> Pacific) China has been incorporated into Pacific as only EDG qualifies for Champions and China do not have slots at any other events.
Note 3: All decimals rounded to 2dp

Overall 2021-2024 Ranking
1st: EMEA (5.47)
2nd: Americas (6.25)
3rd: Pacific (7.83)
4th: China (8.14)

Overall 2024 Year Ranking
All regions sent 9 total teams
1st: Americas (4.88)
2nd: EMEA (6.11)
3rd: Pacific (6.44)
4th: China (8.11)

Overall 2023 Year Ranking
Americas sent 7 total teams, EMEA sent 9 total teams, Pacific sent 7 total teams, China sent 5 total teams
1st: Americas (5.57)
2nd: Pacific (6.86)
3rd: EMEA (7.66) (6.43; removing worst placing teams at Masters and Champions - Team Liquid and Navi)
4th: China (8.20)

Overall 2022 Year Ranking
Americas sent 17 total teams, EMEA sent 10 total teams, Pacific sent 13 total teams,
1st: EMEA (4.92)
2nd: Americas (6.53)
3rd: Pacific (8.46)

Overall 2021 Year Ranking
Americas sent 18 total teams, EMEA sent 10 total teams, Pacific sent 13 total teams (should have been 14, but Bren Esports did not participate)
1st: EMEA (3.5)
2nd: Americas (6.94)
3rd: Pacific (8.69)

Nobody remembers who came second in anything, TH's year will be remembered but when people look back it was the year of SEN, Gen.G and EDG

what is this HOLY cope. heretics remain winless 0% winrate in 2 attempts LMAO

who said this???

"ur team" - Sentinels who won Masters Madrid

Senshitels won two trophies before heretics even made a grand final

sure thing, i will prob make one comparing all the regions once champions ends to see the evolution of each region throughout the years

Rankings taken from each team's placements throughout each international event. If a team finishes tied (e.g. 9th-12th), the lowest placing is taken (e.g. 9th). The average is then taken.
In case of champions, 1st bracket indicates lowest guaranteed placing, 2nd bracket indicates second lowest, etc. For the overall year rankings, the lowest guaranteed placing has been taken although taking the highest wouldn't change anything.

Overall Year Rankings (rounded to 2dp.)
1st: Americas (4.88)
2nd: EMEA (6.22)
3rd: Pacific (6.44
4th: China (8.22)

Masters Madrid Ranking
1st: Americas (2.5)
1st: Pacific (2.5)
3rd: EMEA (6)
3rd: China (6)

Masters Shanghai Ranking
1st: EMEA (4.66)
2nd: Americas (5.33)
3rd: Pacific (5.66)
4th: China (9)

Champions Ranking
1st: Americas (5.75 (5.5) (5.25))
2nd: EMEA (7.5 (7.25) (7))
3rd: China (8.75 (8.5))
4th: Pacific (9)

Was it a honeymoon period at kickoff and madrid, or is it because of something else.
They played really well in their first 3 stage 2 matches. Until, they started relying on the "Deadlock - Cypher" comps. They clearly aren't getting the value SEN thought it would. But with that out the way, do you think they have what it takes to innovate and make playoffs, top 3? Or even win champs.

Looking at the representatives from every region, you really don't want anyone in your group.
Heretics are EMEA #3
SEN are AME #4
DRX / PRX for PAC #3
BLG CN #4 and we know what they did to the favourites last year.

You just gotta pray for the CN teams as the higher seeds (and still you could go in as the underdog as the 1 or 2 seed)

No matter what this team will qualify, went 0-9 last year and went through LCQ. And now clutching up when it looked like it was over.

Shoulda won against FURIA 💀 woulda been booking their tickets to Seoul rn

Pretty sure they played as 'DRX VS' for another year after, so they should def be up there as one of (if not) the most consistent team OAT. Hope to see them succeed for once

bait used to be believable

am I wrong in saying the only way SEN don't make champs is they lose to G2 and lose their first playoff match. While 100T win all 3 of their remaining regular season matches, win one playoff game (not getting the bye) and losing 2 in a row to not make top 3. Since then SEN sit on 12 points while 100T sit on 13, with neither of them making top 3?

Bro took too much of the crack

Looking at the top 6 of, PRX, DRX, Talon, TS, RRQ and Gen.G, they basicially have an incredibly easy path to playoffs. BLEED are out of contention, while GE sit at 3-5. None of DFM, T1 or ZETA look stunning. Really no competition here no?

tl;dr: having a team with Zest and Yay who both made mutliple top 4 VCT finishes. scary who basically went to every event in 2021 and 2022 and accomplished regional players in Deryeon and Retla and STILL placing last is honestly something only this team team can accomplish.

This team and org is just dysfunctional, instead of picking up players who could actually play well and creating a sensible strategic approach - they went up and picked up yay as an import and used him on skye and viper at kickoff? and then proceeded to have him play raze. You literally have Deryeon who can comfortably play Raze which enables you to run yay on chamber or jett. You have Zest who has made it to multiple playoff and subsequent top 4 finishes with DRX. sScary is the only person playing with any motivation to win, he's made it to multiple masters and champions with X10 and Xerxia. Then retla has lots of experience spanning back to 2021 with PRX and 2022 with BLEED themselves. And yet the best you can accomplish is tied last and tied second last.

Ultimately, this may boil down to the coaching staff or overall team dynamic. But this team has no future unless they just disband, let the talented players join talented teams and build fromthe top down in an attempt to at least make top 8 and fight for your spot in 2025.

who do yall think can make it to VCT next year, at least in Americas I'm confident it'll be one of the current top 3 NA teams being oxygen, darkzero (previously TTR) and one other team maybe m80 if they return to form. Also any news on china ascension? Will it be a similar format to last years.

i swear to the lords above every time this team plays it's a fever dream. f0rsaken and jinggg just run onto site not even letting go of WASD, then the rest of the team somehow gets 3 kills - all within 1 second of each other and suddenly it's the next round? What even is this

Pacific and America starts shortly on 8.11, and both have extremely competent players who can run neon - and I'm willing to say someone's pulling out the iso. Notably, I think SEN can run Zellsis or Zekken on Neon, same with NRG with victor. PRX and Talon play today, with forsaken and governer both running neon. Pretty sure ban has also played neon as well (may be completely wrong).

tl;dr: nrg suck and are not making cham[s

Could NRG actually make top 3 and make champions. Even though 4 members would have played together last year and adding Ethan is definitely an upgrade. They're in 7th with a 3-3 record, tied with SEN and G2 who are both likely better teams. Then EG and LOUD sit behind them 2-3 so basically a game in hand on NRG. Plus, they face SEN, G2, KRU and C9 - none of which are easy games and imo I see them going 2-2 ending 5-5 in the season, which may not be enough to make to playoffs - and even if they play well and do, they'll almost certainly have to make top 3 and that is nowhere near a certainty. I don't know how long they've been practicing, but with the incoming patch and new map rotation - they probably have a better chance than if they were coming in stage 1 for example.

against gen.g? I mean the turnaroud time isnt great and T1 have made roster chances. Or will Gen.G just stomp them

surely they are, he's a clear-cut IGL for them

bleed is no longer bleeding wtf???

for pacific it'll be playoffs - and likely will be the same for china
not 100% sure for emea and americas since they start a bit later

looking like a completely different team?? if only they put this much effort into their attack half

will likely be same as last year

is this normal? the whole TS team having a heater of a match

tbf this is the first time anyone has played this map, if you're still falling off after 2-3 matches on the map its kinda a skill issue

NRG 1-2 SEN
NO MADRID :(
NRG 0-2 100T
NO SHANGHAI
NRG 0-4 AT STAGE 2 INCOMING

IL Winners
AME: LEV
PAC: PRX
CN: FPX
EMEA: FUT
Swiss Stage
0-2: G2
0-2: DRG
1-2: DRX
1-2: TH
2-1: FNC
2-1: EDG
2-0: Gen.G
2-0: 100T
Playoffs
7th / 8th: FNC / Gen.G
5th / 6th: FPX / 100T
4th: EDG
3rd: LEV
2nd: FUT
1st: PRX

realistically none of my predicted IL winners actually win - but no matter what im predicting a prx win

Both FPX and EDG could make a decent run into playoffs - prob top 6 again will be the limit, competition has improved a lot while china has been going much slower than the rest

apparently the reply button just doesn't exist anymore, good to see you've found it this time

Yes, 1 point for each match win and earnt bye (so top teams in each group will get +1)

when the fuck did i say they were burnt out? reading comprehension stats really maxxed out there SAMP

That is true tbf, they still won against teams lacking competent igls and coaches. I never said they were burnt out just that they played so many maps that competent igls and coaches were able to antistart them rly easily

There is also a world where one of NRG or C9 get a win but SEN leapfrog G2 (they need G2 to lose and to make up a +25 round difference) and C9/NRG

Well mathematically, they are still in it.

NRG and C9 both need to lose their last two games in order to go 3-3. Preferably NRG goes 0-4 to put map difference at +0. C9 at best losing last two games can go 8-9 in map difference. In that case if SEN wins against FURIA 2-0, they go through. If NRG win 2 maps in their last two games, they go through with a +2 map difference. If they win 1 map it will come down to round difference. At best NRG will have a +31 map difference (13-0, 13-11 x4) on which case SEN can only drop 4 rounds against FURIA.

SEN can go through using the 2-win rule, for that to happen, LOUD and EG need to win giving both G2 and NRG wins. They go 4-1 and 4-2 with those wins. SEN wins against FURIA with C9 going 0-2 in their last two matches.

Why the fuck I just did that. Idk? A bit complicated? Yes.

You cant compare a hero shooter with cs2, the amount of practice and time they put into vod reviews and scrims are gonna be way more, compare this to overwatch instead buddy

Lotus recently had been looking HORRIBLE for sen, starting 9-3 and 10-2 down is no way to go for world champs, its atp where teams have enough footage on their lotus, they can really easily counterstrat it.

First event of the year was kickoff? The every masters event barring 2023 would then also be fake. What are you going at

It goes without saying this teams potential is still top 5 in the world, but to have played 13 matches going into stage 1 while teams like eg, lev and other americas powerhouses played 2-3 matches with a month to practice. It was over from the start. Falloff? Yes. But sens downfall might be overstated.

Stage 1 dreams? Shanghai? 2-peat? Over.

They are in a good spot for stage 2 and points. Give them a chance to recuperate. They’ll be fine. (But srsly you cant be throwing 10-2 leads come on)

Respectfully, it really didnt. First off, it was a single-elim. Look at the majority of masters and champs events, most of them including the previous two masters and champions had winners from the lower bracket. Get a lucky first few matchups and you’re on your way to the final. Second off, it was the first event of the year, these rosters are not gonna be close to the quality of teams after a full split / year

In what world are we living in where mibr havent been 2-0ed by SEN

Masters level ≠ masters event, they are clearly saying the prestige and coverage would be masters equivalent, lock in had no similarity to masters in branding either

very early preds for shanghai, we just know none of these 12 teams are gonna end up qualifying - assuming masters format is retained from 2022 and 2023
also extremely biased

Qualification
Americas
1st: LOUD
2nd: SEN
3rd: EG
EMEA
1st: FNC
2nd: TH
3rd: VIT
Pacific
1st: T1
2nd: PRX
3rd: Gen.G
China
1st: EDG
2nd: JDG
3rd: FPX

Masters
11th / 12th: FPX - VIT
9th / 10th: EG - TH
7th - 8th: EDG - JDG
5th - 6th: T1 - PRX
4th: LOUD
3rd: Gen.G
2nd: FNC
1st: SEN

whoever this skibidyesyes guy is so delusional and same with everyone else who is complaining about this formatr. is this format perfect? not even close. does it work, yes. yes it does. All the best teams qualified from their regions and saying otherwise is delusion. Everyone knew the format weeks before the events so even using it as an excuse is copium. The teams should have just preformed if they wanted to qualify, they didn't so they loss. It's simple, it's common sense.