Loud is just step 1,

I'd like them to beat DRX at least once like they used to

and if they take down NAVI then im automatically an NRG fan

until NRG prove themselves to be just as capable as optic were on the international stage, i won't change my flair

FNS chronicle

Yoru
Skye
Harbor
Astra
Killjoy

nAts and Yay have both survived since 2021, but nAts is still performing against franchised teams

nAts > yay

This one is hard since on one hand I feel like FNS can become 40, survive any meta, and still be a world-class IGL, but MaKo is the kind of player that can survive many metas despite not IGLing--he used to be the main jett for one of his former teams. My OpTic bias says FNS tho.

FNS > MaKo

Okay Shao is cracked but suygetsu just has such an unreplaceable affinity with getting multi-kills. From a role perspectice, It's rare to find a sentinel anywhere that's the same caliber as him, while there are plenty of cracked initiators--so im going with suygetsu for this one

Suygetsu > Shao

Lastly, it's hard to find a superstar duelist, especially in this meta where almost all the old awp gods seem to have fallen off. So, when you find people like Aspas, Leaf, and Derke, who can still put out kill montage after kill montage on this nerfed agent, you know you have a keeper. I feel like from a team perspective, a flexible player is more valuable for the sake of the team, but if we are to look at things ideally, then a perfect team would already include players all on their comfort roles, and in such a team Derke would be the most valuable asset among them.

so, controversially:

Derke > Chronicle

either LOUD vs C9/NRG grand finals or EMEA vs NA grand finals.

Not because LOUD is necessarily worse than the NA teams but because since they're only 1 team and NA will have 2 teams, there's a chance that NAVI< FNATIC, or DRX beats them beforehand, while even if one NA team dies the other one will probably survive in another bracket

bro wdym it's 3 grand finals.
also yes i agree optic and loud > fnatic in terms of grand finals appearances

I think C9 is stronger than NRG in terms of firepower, but I think TL probably has a chance of beating C9 but not NRG if that makes sense.

I'm pretty worried that C9 will fall to the Guard/XSET curse of beiing hotshit but failing to adapt at an international event, leaving the optic core as the only NA team capable of competing against international opponents.

good message

NGL I like nerfed duelists, it makes the actual good players stand out as all the more valuable: aspas, leaf, derke. and makes their highlight reels all the more special.

watch what you say buddy TSM seven will show you all the wrath of LAN

its a take, that's for sure

LOL

sorry pal you got the old version for the grand finals. it's actually c9 that wins their rematch against NRG after beating loud

THEY HAVE FENIS

FENIZ BEST IGL HE MAKES EPIC COMEBACK

bring back old yoru ult

Back when Shownu was normal

Bro said FNC has derke lmao

But yes I agree with you completely

Who cars clears

(NA)

Flat out better?
Guard & M80 - Better than 100T, SEN, and maybe EG right now

Threat?
All of them except for DSG and MADlions

I prefer almond water

People vastly overestimate the mechanical requirements of pro play.

Maybe good aim was more important during the early days of val, but nowadays most of the shit players have faded into obscurity, and there's more than enough talent not only capable of shooting back, but excelling at their assigned roles too.

The most convincing example of this is Runi and Jakee.

How did two players of their caliber fail to make T2?

The truth is valorant's (at least NA's) Tier 2 scene already contains individually talented players that would be more than capable of performing at a T1 level if put on any franchised roster.

There is a comparatively larger supply of good players, but being good individually isn't enough to make it very far.

Now, I'd like to mention that IGL's aren't all powerful either. Runi had the opposite problem, and a problem that made us underrate a lot of great IGLs in the past--his team was shit.

Look at any of the world's best IGL's 2 years ago and you'll find FNS getting railed by Sentinels while playing with kaboose and c4lypso, Saadhak getting fucked by Sentinels under the Vikings roster.

It's easy to call the engine on a car useless when that car has faulty wheels, but it's only when you put that engine on a well-kept vehicle that you can see its true value and compare it to others.

Good IGLs are hard to discover: so if you manage to find one, especially a flexible one, make sure you don't let go or your roster will be doomed to be like Sentinels.

Also the coach plays a big role in the IGL's performance so try to get a package deal if you can.

An engine on a car without wheels is useless by itself, but shows its irreplaceable value once it acquires them

and an EGO DUELIST

japan NEEDS EGO

Nah, I think LEV has a higher skill ceiling than Zeta

Name any team you think is good and I'll show you a round where they're tilted and missplay it

The video is just bad hasan

nah fuck that, real optic core fans respect LOUD, we keep each other at the top of our games otherwise we'll just end up like Fnatic and DRX, winning everything in uncompetitive regions and choking when masters come around

ohh let me change that then

syyko is an emotional coach, he doesn't actually come up with strats--that's kaplan's department

Furia is going to beat a predictable Leviatan 2-0,

Proceeds to get railed nonstop by LOUD in semis

EG makes some crazy preparation against NRG and maybe takes a map off of them, but it still ends up being a victory for NRG.

NRG will upset C9 in their rematch using their preparation and new-found form.

LOUD will play against NRG for real this time, and NRG will win a close overtime series against them.

EG close win against Furia
C9 easily wins against Leviatan

EG gets devoured by C9

C9 upset LOUD thanks to mCe's preparation and proceed to the Grand Finals.

C9 wins a close series against NRG due to mCe's preparation, working the same magic he used to beat OpTic when he was coaching the guard.

NV/OpTic core doomed to yet another masters where they aren't actually the first seed.

C9 3-2 NRG

mCe works his magic like he did with the guard

NRG 2-1 LOUD

C9 look slightly more predictable.

NRG upsets 2-0

The Optic core never loses a rematch.

Daddy FNS back on top.

bro did i go crazy? have i been watching a player that hasn't existed this entire time?

I wish d00mbros had a 3rd twin

explain the meme pls

If you look at the M80 vs SR game it doesn't show vanity on the lineup

wait what why is vanity not playing

Flyuh could've unironically done good for SEN ngl

IMO nadeshot should throw a bag of money in his face, mrs. gares will understand.

sadly they're all stuck in t2, except for chet, mce, kaplan, and maybe potter (depends on how EG turns out in playoffs)

This roster looked like the best team in the world at the end of 2022.

Other players described them like robots with how protocol based they were--this is when seangares was coaching them.

Ever since he left you could see the cracks that started forming, their performance was still rather good at lock-in, but nothing like how they looked 3 months prior.

Bang starts clutching less and less, and their gameplan from match to match begins to look shakier and shakier.

Add in Stellar's comments about wanting to shift to a less rigid style of igling and being more freestyle, and it's clear to me the roster has been left to their own devices and needs a clear direction.

just look at Sean Gares' reactions everytime he watches them play. He's trying to be nice about it, but he comments (especially at lockin where they were still performing) "oh they're looking a little undiscplined"

and his interview on platchat describing how he had a whole system about what comps to run, what strats to run for the sake of not only winning the game at hand, but trying to make bait for other teams to try to prepare against it in order to use another strat, whereas now it just looks like they're pulling strats out of a hat.

Asuna isn't the problem, he's actually a great flex and raze entry player
Bang shouldn't have to clutch every round
Cryo was underperforming at the start of the split but hes in form again
Derrek hasn't had any crazy clutches either but hes a genuinely solid initiator with good fragging potential and experience nd teamwork with this team
stellar has no immediate replacements and as long as good coach reigns him in and straightens him out I think he'll be able to lead the team to victory.

This roster is individually capable of greatness, but I think they need a head coach with more of a voice in the team's practice and decisions ingame.

EDIT: I don't want to fully blame MikesHD, he's doing a lot work by himself, so at the very LEAST 100T should be paying for more staff to support him. Seangares had more help than he does after all

yeah, at the point just poach victor and make him IGL.

or listen to vlr and make a secondary caller like Sacy IGL on the team.

Yes, but emphasis on takes time. Pancada has been stuck on sentinel for a solid 3 months now and he went from going +10 in all his games on LOUD to always going negative.

If you're a team that desperately needs someone to fill a role, are you really going to want to wait 4+ months for them to actually get good at that role or just sign a sentinel player in the first place? why waste all that time for results that aren't even guaranteed? you're not even guaranteed a good performance from a sentinel player in the first place so why pile risk on top of risk?

If you're going to sign Valyn, don't make him play another role for god's sake.

Yes yes, like switching pancada to sentinel hasn't had any impact on his performance.

I agree that you should just get a better coach, but I don't like how much people glaze pro players. They're not perfect, they aren't automatically good at every role, and they can be at their A game on one agent and underperform on another.

Yes except Marved and Pancada are both known for their fragging potential, so they're more easily able to flex onto other agents. Valyn, while his aim is above average (certainly not a dephh by any means), is mostly good for his amazing calls, not his fragging potential.

I don't think he'd be able to perform very well on other roles besides smokes.

neT doesn't IGL though.