I mean he's 18 in April, So odds are he would be eligible from stage 1 onwards. That's not exactly a long wait. I mean heretics did the same amount of waiting for woot this year. If your options are T1 salary ride the sentinels bench and farm clout for your brand to debut in stage 1 or risk playing tier 2 and decreasing your name value before hand(likely on a team that is either non-competitive or carries a buyout). An academy team from Sen seems unlikely, at best I could maybe see a 2 way contract with a T2 partner team.

That or he's playing for sentinels in an event and being able to rebrand as a Sen player is about the best thing you can do for your brand/clout.

Why are people so worried about 2G ascending because they're a small org. Sin Prisa in Pacific who are looking like favorites are also a small org (I mean they came out of Overwatch, they got negative money) but people don't seem as concerned. We don't really know what the TPA terms signed by either the partnership or ascension teams are. It's reasonably likely Riot planned around orgs with less financial stability ascending and likely have covered enough in org stipe ends to cover operating costs for the a partnership team.

Aint no way after last years precedent with The Gaurd they would prefer to undermine their system than financially support a smaller org.

Kids not eligible until June unfortunately

Choking ascension 2 years in a row 🤝

1 down 3 or so wins to go

Or are we going to have to wait for riddle sin prisa after JFT finish the Vietnam any% speed run

Oce just goated

honestly really not a fan of some of their painters

Pretty sure it's just Ikana repping Vietnam. These other guys are going home

Nah, you want the oce biased casting. It just makes it better imo

EZ for JFT

Just pay for derke tbh. Guys used to getting micro managed should be a decent fit

You ever get that feeling of deja vu

Really depends what you class as a tier 2 org.
If you mean a start up one e.g. Disguised. Realistically if your goal is partnership your only option is ascension.

If you have some money to throw around then your best option is partnership/title sponsorship with an org that's already in ascension e.g. Giant X or if you have fuck you money to throw around than buy out a partnered team entirely. e.g. if EG went into proper broke mode and you bought all of EG you probably get to keep their partnership spot.

At the end of the day, if you want to get in their needs to be a spot available and unless another org breaks contract in some way. Their probably won't be any spots available any time soon

Edit: T2 orgs being proactive would inevitably result in a huge economic loss for any team involved without the chance of returns, so why risk it. Go put those resources into new emerging titles or hold onto it and reinvest in your current games that you have a foothold in.

You can't be trying to say the best team of the year is one that got grouped domestically and missed 1/3 lans.

NA fans really trying to ignore that sen got grouped in stage 1 and only made champs by points when trying to justify putting them over Gen g who made more finals. Won a bigger lan and won their domestic competition.

Seems a bit like cope

Today Edward was really gaming

Isn't dfm's Valorant spot being run by crazy racoons anyway?

Probably co-streaming. Maybe talent if he's got some showmanship in him.

If not I guess there's always coaching

Why would the TO have to let you in. If you sign a roster and they qualify through premier or promotion relegation. Surely they would have to let them play. Short of the team not being eligable to asscend into the VCT (Because otherwise one org would have 2 teams at T1) and not being able to have more than 1 academy team, excluding GC (Because otherwise one org would have 2 teams at T2). There's no real reason why you couldn't unless there's a rule saying you can't.

Just another very EMEA specific issue. Say for example I'm the GM at Fnatic (a UK org) and I think to myself damn all these T2 players I can find in Polaris are trash. I want to put my money into pulling talent out of the say Turkey (it's worked for them in the past with hiro and alfajer). Can I make the Fnatic academy team in VCL Turkey. If so can everyone make an academy team in VCL Turkey, even ones outside of VCT EMEA?. In this hypothetical world could every team in VCL Turkey be a VCT academy team and no one gets to go to ascension?

Heretics, Koi and Giants

Is their anything in the rules stopping a vct team selling the roster right before ascension to a non-vct org. Qualification for ascension is very region specific between whether it's season points or a single event placement. Can a accademy team not get points or not play later stages of an event.

E.g. T1 academy is running train through vcl korea all season and would be a lock in for qualifying to ascension. Can they sell the team right before they lock in their spot at Ascension to someone like D Plus.

Seems like a reasonable shout for both sides. VCT teams get to develop young cheaper talent and then recover cost by selling the team high when the team is about to qualify for ascension. T2 orgs get the chance to have a run at ascension without having to risk returns on building their own roster.

Money has nothing to do with it. It's all about tourism and public perception. Would highly recommend listening to this bit of the uncoachable podcast about their experience in Saudi, how the event ran and also a bit on why the saudi govenment is throwing money at it.
This 1st bit
https://youtu.be/pA88OHSmEoo?t=93

and this last bit
https://youtu.be/pA88OHSmEoo?t=11184

Nah, bros got tenure. He aint going anywhere. He might not play but he aint getting dropped

Surely JD gaming make the list, the hype around the rare atom roster into 1-4 stage one sent home in single elim stage 2. Surely that a fumble

Anyone at all got pickems that are still 100%

Surely if they win this one they get an English broadcast for next year

https://www.teamfortress.tv/
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Just a bit of family history for the newbie's

This is going to age like milk when sen get sent to the airport by fpx.

Honestly though respect the NA grind, go to Lan and get back into to co-stream the playoffs bracket

Is NRG doing a show match?

No wonder they run it at 2am in NA, a beat down like this would be considered unsuitable for a young audiences

but which ones speak Russian?

Childhood friend of first name billy last name billy

Who on earth do you bring in to replace Sayonara because he's underage. Like let alone trying to match the flexibility, finding someone with that firepower that also speaks Russian and can play at the tier 1 level.
Like of the current tier 1 players
-Purpo, Trexx and Sheydos are signed to partnership teams until 2025
-Cloud would be available but igl's are in short supply so someone else will probably come knocking

After that it's time to scout tier 2 and even there theirs some slim options
-One of the R8 players but their probably not at the right level yet
-D3ffo maybe but it would require bisk to move to full time flex
-One of the players of NASR but we're reaching at straws
-Their devolopement player Desire if he's solid. But he's not even 18 yet either and bros in the Ukraine so being allowed leave the country might be an issue when he does turn 18
-Hope drunken pony can magically find himself another Sayonara?

I have solved the problem in the most ethical way possible, don't have to worry about child labor laws if you don't pay them for their work.

Pretty sure its mainly a child labor thing. Was a pretty big thing with some of the earlier lans where teams couldn't technically play certain times or numbers of hours because of child labor laws in places like California or berlin.

Here's the joke you missed, its an old thread but never one to be forgotten
https://www.vlr.gg/61081/mwzera-appreciation-thread/#1

Yall aint familiar. Allow me to educate you in copy pasta
https://www.vlr.gg/61081/mwzera-appreciation-thread/#1

An extract from Facts by Tembo
"can you take your time to appreciate how insane mwzera is? without a doubt the most talented player to ever touch the game

I'll try to explain briefly why I think he is the best player in the world
Despite his insane aim and movement
The best way to know if a player is a good duelist is RAZE. There is a BIG difference between a good duelist and a jett abuser
If he is a good duelist, he needs to be good with raze.

heat? not good with raze
aspas? not good with raze
xand? not good with raze
tenz? not good with raze
cned? not good with raze
scream? not good with raze
d3ffo? not good with raze
derke? not good with raze"

Honestly turning old jett players that never learned how to hold w or play raze into smokes players is a tried and tested science at this point. But also jett players that never quite figure out how to play raze raze is a very NA only kinda issue. I mean Tenz, Cryo, Demon1 and Yay all went from absolutely nuclear when they could just sit hold an angle on escape agents to just kinda useless placid and unimpactful on raze

Good, but its all down hill after competition wraps up in the pool. Same as always tbh

Ok so hear me out here. I got a banger. In true dream team fashion no double ups

-Smokes Demon1 (Brim jail for life, with a side of omen), man was always a cracked brim (and some astra) and his time on NRG showed he's in the Tenz, Cryo role where they're cracked at holding an angle and getting some timings but can't entry or have the flexibility across multiple duelists to play primary.

-Sentinal/igl JohnQT, I think he just edges out king but its more of a coinflip but no double ups and well you can't have an americas dream team without Aspas

-Initiator Heat, Honestly just the correct answer. Bros the best thing that could happen to KRU after Keznit joined

-Duelist, Aspas, Self explanatory move on

-Flex initiator , JonahP, Hopefully man can function outside of the G2 System if not it's probs over but like it's that or double up igls with saadhak

Damn, if only they could put a roster together where it counts

The OCE dream lives

?

Just some of the swimming,
1st Olympic games since I've been teaching/coaching and it's just really interesting to watch some of the obscurities in top level competition. Like the way Ledecky has such an odd kicking pattern in the 400m and 800m free. Or watching some of the sprinters just say fuck it to efficient technique to be be able to just throw their arms forward faster and gain more speed.

Also it's one place where the Aussies are a lock for a few golds which is a bonus

Very simple, NZ's greatest Deck Commercial. A true classic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i6c4Nupnup0

Imo 2022 Reykjavík was big in the world of Micky mouse. I region straight up didn't send their top seed and sent 2 subs for their highest performing players.

I mean zeta division got 3rd. That's only possible in a full Micky mouse house major