-dephh +marved was a big upgrade

no bias obviously?

Original thread here

*my points of comparison are Lock-in / the start of the regular season vs the end of Masters/current LCQ. Since LCQ is ongoing that can obviously change stuff for the LCQ teams.

image here (not virus link i promise)

some notes on why i placed certain teams in certain tiers:

• Vitality isn't included because it's not fair to them after what happened.
• PRX in "clear improvement" post-Something (they were rocky pre-Something).
• LOUD in "got worse" after crashing out in Masters, but if you exclude that they're in "remained mostly the same." same with NAVI
• RRQ and BBL weren't expected to do very well but they almost snatched a playoff spot in their respective leagues, so they have potential.
• EDG + KangKang went much further than anyone expected, so "clear improvement."
• BLG and ASE weren't included in the list I used. BLG go in "clear improvement" after qualifying for Champs, ASE remained mostly the same (not very good)
• I AM NOT COMPARING TEAMS AGAINST EACH OTHER, JUST HOW THEY PERFORMED. FNATIC IS IN THE MIDDLE TIER BECAUSE THEY REMAINED THE SAME (GOOD)

i welcome thoughts and opinions. i may edit the list today and provide a new link after i see people's comments. i obviously couldn't watch every match in every league so some more input is appreciated. might also make a list after Champs just to see how much each team changed post-lockin

EDITS FOR THE LATER LIST:

• EDG to most improved (owen has convinced me)
• Liquid to "clear improvement" (i didn't realize they were really bad in lock in, but I expected them to be top 3 emea anyway. dolphin has enlightened me there)

OWL was dead for years sadly, this is just making the funeral faster

Had a discussion about this with some friends after their loss yesterday -- the big concern was that despite having 4 int'l champions and a young talent in zekken, they weren't able to make it work. That being said, the current roster only existed for since May (so just over 2 months), so the question becomes whether the team can gel in the offseason.

Let's say they do and they perform much better next season -- perhaps qualify for Masters. Then no changes are needed. But, let's say they don't, and they go 4-5 or worse again. What might happen? JUST TO MAKE IT CLEAR -- THIS ASSUMES NO ROSTER CHANGES UNTIL AFTER LCQ NEXT YEAR. With this org administration who tf knows if they'll suddenly drop someone for no reason. If they do this post is immediately moot.

Scenario 1: kaplan is dropped
SEN and coaching -- a relationship that has never worked sadly. They drop Sykko mid-season to some mixed results. Honestly, SEN is suffering the same problem I keep saying for 100T: a star-studded roster that just isn't working, and a likely culprit is the coach if they don't improve. Again, it might be too early to tell since this roster is two months old. But, he might be first on the chopping block based on this org's previous behavior if SEN don't make playoffs next season.

What I hope actually happens: kaplan and drewspark cook something up in the offseason and SEN improves off that alone
What might happen if the scenario becomes true: I have no idea bro, I just hope they'd bring in a solid coach and not some old CS player (looking at DFM)

Scenario 2: either Pancada or Marved are benched/transferred elsewhere
I really like both Pancada and Marved, and I do remember Pancada saying in an interview (maybe?) that he doesn't like playing controller. But, it's felt clear to me that his sentinel play pales in comparison to the powerhouse he was as an Astra player in 2022. Statistically he's done better when he played Viper than when he played KJ since the start of the season. (Cypher is an outlier since he's only done two maps with him.) There's no denying that both Pan and Marved were two of the top 5, maybe even top 3 controllers itw in 2022, and while they've tried to make it work the org might want to drop one of them to make way for a stronger sentinel player.

What I hope actually happens: role switches depending on map -- Pancada takes the Astra on Astra maps, Marved takes the other controllers on the other maps. No one dropped. Pancada viper + Marved second smokes whenever icebox and breeze return to the pool.
What likely happens if the scenario becomes true: Pancada is benched and would likely return to Loud unless Tuyz drastically improves. Marved solo controller + igl is hard to replace already.

Scenario 3: TenZ retires from pro play
Since Masters 2021 TenZ has had a very, very rocky road in his pro career, including his fiancee's diagnosis, which hurts more because he and Kyedae are around my age. I don't know why, but I can't get the idea out of my head that TenZ could retire by the end of 2024 if SEN doesn't go to Champs. I can understand if he does, though. He's had a lucrative career, is a known name in the Valorant scene and forever will be, and he could spend more time focusing on Kyedae if her condition were to get worse (god forbid) with a more flexible streaming schedule. I know SEN themselves will never drop him on their own accord because of how integral he is to the brand and fanbase, so the only way TenZ would leave is if he leaves on his own.

What I hope actually happens: TenZ becomes a very strong initiator as implied with his kayo play in LCQ, eliminating another role clash and helping the team for another two+ years
What might happen if this scenario becomes true: SEN Verno. He'll be of age to join VCT and has shown some huge potential in OXG as a main initiator.

As it stands Sacy and zekken should be safe no matter what unless they hard throw next year. If Pancada leaves Sacy might as well if they consider themselves a package deal like Victor+crashies. zekken just needs to stay off raze whenever he can, his jett is pretty strong.

I welcome any thoughts, opinions, and other scenarios you might've thought of. these were just scenarios I made up in my head while I was bored at work

(also inb4 allat. some light formatting edits too)

ah hell nah not patricius

i fear that dicey is one of the few players that unironically got carried by chamber meta. he won't be good

also i wouldn't change the roster except maybe stellar, but i really think a coach change is more necessary. maybe move derrek to 6th and bring in someone from m80 because i think derrek's mental is a bit shot atm

i'm seemingly the only one in my online friend group that's been playing on 60 lol. those friends have been saying that once i start playing on the new monitor i'll jump from diamond to ascendant pretty quick. hope that's true :)

my game runs at 160, so from what you're saying it'll indeed make things feel very different. i'm stoked. i've never had another monitor apart from the one i have rn and i just thought most people played on 60. i guess i was still in the mindset of many years ago when 144hz monitors were more novel and more expensive than they are now

240 is my eventual goal, i just didn't have the money for it lol. once i get a job i plan on getting a 240 and offloading my old 60 to my little sister who's been wanting one for her ps5

the monitor i got was an HP, and i've yet to have a bad experience with HP hardware. let's hope it stays that way

i saw some 165hz monitors on sale (i got mine because of prime day) but they were mostly from some dubious chinese brands that i had never heard from

i imagine 60 --> 144 is a must upgrade and everything else is more like a bonus?

i've been playing on a 60hz monitor my whole life but i bought a 144hz monitor last week and sent it to my house (won't be back until august, my brother received it)

is it really such a huge upgrade as they say? would my gameplay instantly improve assuming i don't need to readjust anything?

i'm currently diamond and my friends call me crazy for being that rank on 60 and i thought that was normal... turns out i was the only one on 60

soy patriota pero realista

that being said i hope kru proves me wrong and surprises everyone -- i said they were a sleeper pick

counterpoint: all 3 movies are goated and comparing them isn't fair to any of them -- they should all be watched anyway

by that standard anyone that speaks english is part of NA scene lmao

that's just silly

bro just finished watching the rebroadcast sadge

like i said so many times on this site, the weak point was the coach. they added that assistant coach way too late to really make an impact. hopefully it'll be better next year

kpop is actually good, but i'm psychologically adverse to listening to it because the fanbase is among the most cringe in existence. like i can't enjoy bts knowing that if i criticize them on twitter i actually run a risk of getting doxxed lol

after playing this game for 2 years I've encountered exactly two cheaters, both in diamond/asc elo, and none between bronze-plat where i started. so honestly, as much as we rag on rito vanguard for being basically malware, it's worked.

that being said, my point of comparison is pre-prime csgo, where even in nova/mg (where i usually hovered) you ran into the occasional spinbot -- hell, i have a vivid memory of a teammate being banned live even when i was in the trenches of silver

whoever wins this probably goes all the way

🫵🏼🤡

ain't no recovering from that

purple-magenta

it's definitely depressing, but the comedy makes up for it. it has a good balance of comedic episodes and depressing episodes, with the latter usually popping up later in the seasons, especially season 3.

season 1 wasn't depressing iirc, but the problem there is that season 1 is unironically bad and the show gets exponentially better as it goes on

Hole In Your Heart -- Royal Blood
Amsterdam -- Nothing But Thieves
This Is Our Life -- Des Rocs
No Love in LA -- Palaye Royale

bojack horseman

Gaming is my reward for working hard on schoolwork. Hell, I've purchased skins for myself as rewards for doing well on exams. That way I can focus on school and enjoy my games as well.

The only thing that's really gotten a bit fucked is my sleep schedule, but I'm working on that

i have them as a contender to make champs, with the other being c9. for me it's either one of those two

that being said anything could happen. kru could finally wake up, clear their mental hurdle of being unable to close out maps, and win it all

Most NAVI fans

wait he's almost 30? i was convinced he was like. 20 tops from the way he acts (not to detract from his success)

release chamber was basically a duelist -- his tp and ult were uber busted

nah not most battlepasses. like i said in my comment i only bought 4, and it's one bp per act. I started playing episode 2 so assume i've bought 1 bp per episode (haven't bought one for ep 7 yet)

radianite is a total scam i agree, but from what i see it only really hurts the big spenders. i've probably spent $100-150 USD on this game across the years I've played it and I've never had an issue with radianite -- the amount i get from the battlepass (free or paid, i've bought 4) has been more than enough. :/

i would be on board with making radianite more readily available through the battlepass though, that'd be a good start

Firstly, the game is fundamentally different in that client -- not every agent and map is available. It's an entirely different build than the game we have here. Even if you COULD get an account transferred, you'd get hit with a "version mismatch" like when people use the beta client.

Secondly, since this is an entirely different client, China is probably the only region it has available. Say you get a China account and you're playing in Europe. You can't transfer the account between regions like in LoL because again, different client. You'd be playing at 400 ping at all times. All those hurdles just to not be able to play the game anyway...?

yep, OP's post is moot just because of that sadly

knowing riot they'll release that knife next Lunar New Year but for an exorbitant price

60, peaked asc1, currently d2

6-7 hours on weekdays, 8-9 hours on weekends.

My goal fhis coming year is to increase my weekday sleep to 7-8 hours

no one mentioning Clannad After Story makes me sad

F1 Monaco grand prix is boring as shit, the cars are too thicc now. Spa's where it's at

also hot take: the Daytona 500 is also a lot of fun even if it's hee hee hoo hoo go in circle

bruh they had six straight Ls after this and got destroyed by Guard right after they won their last game, what are you trying to prove with this

maybe in a few years. theoretically they could do something like that for Valorant's 5 year anniversary, but one can only hope. i would imagine the demand for the ruin dagger would still be quite high

It's buddies, sprays, and banners from old battlepasses. Maybe in the future they'll add the BP gun skins, but i don't think they'll ever add the knives unless they increase credit max to like. 25k and make the knives worth that

idc what happens for the rest of ascension, fusion beat the going 0-4 allegations. i'm forever proud of my boys

jollibee fucking rocks i wish it was more widespread. shit's hard to come by where i'm at

forgot that someone always brings up 7-1 too, thanks for the reminder

twitter drama about two players and their racism
someone on VLR complains about cancel culture
someone on VLR makes the most obvious race bait post ever
someone on VLR drags Brazil into the conversation (they were not part of the drama to start)

in addition:
someone on VLR brings up 7-1
babysasuke appearance
a post with a nationality or race in the title gets >100 replies

he'll probably forget within a week and start some other drama after

it's the twitter way

hope it's a wake up call for him to stop being a dick. tenten stepped out of line but on a different day it would've been fl1p bearing the brunt of that

i became a bang fan when he was still part of TSM Academy and proceeded to eliminate the senior team while on loan to BBG lmao

tsm fumbled their potential carry player and proceeded to remain t3

wouldn't be surprised if the union does something similar to that. or fusion/9z/00 if they somehow by some miracle win

FUS is just doing the classic Paper Rex strategy: they don't know what you're doing if you don't know what you're doing

my boys :')

BORA FUSIONETA

EL PLAN FUNCIONA

VAMOS A VCT CARAJO