because the slot is for 4 years, correct? so it started in 2023, ends in 2027, academies picking up in 2025. Problem is, if you set up an academy and then get booted from franchising, what happens to the academy? does it get acquired as a package to the new org, or is it disbanded completely?

Academies streamline talent pipe. Best example is team spirit in CS and Dota. They have scouts setup around the entire russian speaking scene, they pick out the best talent let them develop and then get rid of their previous players to evolve the team. Now their dota team has 4/5 players from the defacto academy and cs has 3/5. Problem is that it's a long term project and franchising just doesn't allow it

Sounds like packet loss to me

Holy shit everything looks mega clean.. also pretty sure it's Legend and not Hole

Xantares Peek was discovered thanks to high ping

I have heard some podcast about CS production where they basically say they rent LanXess in Cologne from Thursday to Monday.
Thursday - setup
Friday - first stage day
Saturday, Sunday
Monday - take down day
Most of the time venue loaners do not want empty seats

Isn't one of the days guaranteed to be written off and not used if you have to set up everything, no?

Because Premier serves as a safe station for some of these players from academies. Either they go from premier to academy to main tram(upward trajectory) or premier to academy to tier 2 (solid talent with potential, not good at the moment)

It makes their whole fucking gambling scene even bigger, more cases= more market items = more transactions= pure profit. Riot have less wiggle room, so that's why I think CS can grow and should grow faster, problem is valve give more of a shit about dota and fucking deadlock

I feel like valve have the easiest job in the world, if they have actually done what I suggest, they could kill VCT without even doing anything themselves (or doing barely anything).
1.) launch open circuit - SUCCESS
2.) launch shit like Split 1 year 1 case (ALL SKINS FROM WORKSHOP, NO NEED TO DO ANYTHING) 50% profit to them and skin makers, 50% to the prize pools of tier 1 events in that season (except for the major) I would assume each event would easily get multimillion prizepools
3.) 1 month before a major launch an operation, 50% go to valve, 50% to the prize pool of the major. (Literally maps from the map pool, perhaps a smaller skin collection, some new content but they might as well hire fans of the game who know how to code things)
4.) continue with stickers, make it a 25/75 split in favour of the orgs
5.) Force every TO to take on a region of NA, SA, Africa, Middle East, SEA, East Asia, Oceania to improve the game there
6.) repeat the shit every half a year, resulting in huge profits for everyone involved

I still think Pacific has the most wasted/unproven slots imo

I know less about Pacific then the other two, my bad G.

Tell me, do you think C9 and EG are fielding and scouting the best American talent right now?

That stable income source being the developer. Riot and valve are huge companies. Riot makes team bundles 25/75, encourage people to sub to their twitch channels for higher quality, more content and else (might even go griddy and make subs unique for every region), secure a deal with EWC and add valorant there. Valve is even easier, add team bundles to CS, make it 25/75, launch skin collections before every major cycle (half a year), 50% to valve 50% go into the prize pools of the events of those half a year (prize pool goes from 1 mil per event to maybe even 3 mil), make a separate compendium for majors like the International. Also make sticker money a part of the prize pool.
Summary: Both CS and Valorant boast huge prize pools, attract new sponsors, new players, spread to new regions and grow

We will see where they land, but if they are shit again, I feel like there are no excuses

And the org who overcame being complete shit to actual tier 1 events

I will give them one year, I like the fact they are actually trying to change, that's already a minimum

It waters down the competition in my opinion, it turns VCT into a clout machine and not actual tier 1 product and it's sad

I don't like the trajectory of their roster, it seems like washed pros gathering and recycling their friends. Who would have thought that the guys who pulled this shit in NA CS would go back to their old tricks

If T1 manage to put a solid roster together, then I agree they deserve to be there. But for now they are there just for those LoL ties

Valid point, but that takes away from a competitive aspect in my opinion

That's the fundamental problem you get with Franchising. I will not be surprised if instead of going for actual talents and future stars scummy orgs will go for some shot down pilots again

It's hard for any org to do this. There is a reason these seemingly brainless morons are executives or managers in the first place. They know how to "talk" to people and what to say in situations where your job is on the line

Exactly the reason I personally think Franchising can't work in esports. Academies might be the way forward, but then that would put insane pressure on the players there, pretty much one split for you to show yourself, if you are good from the get go, you are retained, if you struggle, bye bye tier 1

True, but I would argue it was more of potter's doing. Problem with EG is that they literally shot themselves in the foot.

So then that makes them a 1 man team? Others were just there?

That's the problem of the org. If an org can't make a good roster, why would this org be deemed good enough to have a slot?

IMO that's the fault with franchising at the moment, it's supposed to be a league with all the best teams and all the best teams, and there you see them building shitty roster over and over again. There is no draft like in the nba to get your talent who you can build around

Then it's even more of a waste that they still suck despite the talent pool

Trying isn't enough for me, I like the fact that they are trying, just that they need to pop off completely this year

Only for that core to come back and do nothing this whole year.

Remains to be seen if they work. If they do make it work, then I guess I would put navi on the chopping block, the roster has suffered a consistent decline

Curious, is it this year's result only, or you consider previous years as well?

Americas:
EG
C9
MIBR
Reason: keep making the cheapest possible rosters without any interest in winning
EMEA:
BBL
GiantX
KOI
Reason: BBL are the worse Turkish team, KOI and GiantX are just making mid after mid rosters with 3% chance to pop off
Pacific:
DFM
Global Esports
Zeta/T1
Reason: complete and utter shit
Summary: these teams might still possibly improve but at the moment their stints in franchising have been utter disappointments with little to no hope

Based statement, and this is true for most initial switchers

No way US cannot field a top 3 team

What's even the point of them existing in franchising just to be shit

Average thorin interaction

I mean that's the case with most CS pros who left for valorant. Either not good enough to get the money in cs or too big of a bag in valorant

it is not a complete life changer, just when you get to 144 or 240 hz you just cannot go back to 60

liked the sacy speech, still felt like a huge meme knowing he will then go like 4-17

tier 1 - your majors, Cologne, Katowice, has all of tier 1 teams.
Tier 2 - no tier 1 teams
tier 1.5 - a couple of tier 1 teams mixed in with the best of tier 2, giving you this weird state of the event being somewhat relevant but at the same time being a mickey mouse cup.

I mean I still have cs over valorant, but I enjoy valo as well. RN cs is on tier 1 break, you only got tier 1.5 events but soon it will go with tier 1 event streak before a major in december

ex-teammate of chet in stanislaw, one of the only american talents in JBa, 2 imports from eu in susp and phzy and a south african sonic. IMO it's a solid team who, with tier 1 practice, will be a great representative for NA but I think they need a coach input

ascension, and after that other games. Kinda the reason why I am here, found Champs directly during Cologne Play-In ( tier 2 stage) and got interested in valo

Probably back to CS, a team like Wildcard could really do with a coach like him

the NA teams. even if the talent pool is reset, NA talent get the opportunity to scrim vs tier 1, SA won't have that

Anyone had these games, has this games and will have such games. Those denying this are either delusional, liars or both.

Yet Real still boasts one of the best benches in the world. brahim, guller, endrick, modric, alaba, lunin, are all great players. They have Carlo Ancelotti who is probably the best player manager ever, bro knew how to talk to everyone, from Zlatan and Ronaldo to James and Marcelo.
And losing players is also normal. They lost Ozil and Di Maria in 2014. You know what happened after that? 3 UCLs in 4 years

Worst trend ever, ruined football logos (Juventus as an example). The only esport simplification I liked were Fnatic, Gambit, Navi