So worlds play-ins?
I’d love to see it but it probably wont happen due to covid, and i dont think riot wants to copy the lol format completely yet

the soups and banchan are just as good as the kbbq itself :)

korea: samgyeopsal (+ if cooked kbbq style)
galbitang and gyeranjim is up there too

just wanted to point this out, but apparently aleksander joined Optix???
nvm its a different aleksander liquipedia just messed it up

depends on subregion imo, its only higher because of orgs like bleed and x10c with stupid amounts of money compared to something like vn or hk/tw, but probably around korea

Any of the other top 3 (DK, WGS, ESC) can all easily take on VS imo
WGS almost beat them in stage 2 anyways

I think salaries are like this in order:

NA
EU
JP
SEA
KR
BR
LATAM

imo theres two main reasons

• riot never fixed the pc bang issue, which stunted its marketing (which also screwed over cs growing in the region)
• long paced fps games arent exactly popular in pc bangs themselves because of price per hour: you dont get the most value out of your money at times
  ow and sudden attack are still the most popular fps games in korea by far because of this, short games and highly accessible in pc bangs

likely a better fa? not sure exactly why but theyll probably announce his replacement soon, maybe someone from ex-gng

Good for the players seeing that theyre finally getting good salaries, but sad that we can't see many of them on the world stage representing either kr or jp

Right now there's actually an ok amount of orgs in Korea, and the financial program is opening back up so hopefully there's more teams to come back
Rb was talking about salary differences between the west and east (Plus, Japan has EU level salaries) so it sucks as of now that all the korean players are leaving

As of new confirmation, DRX Lakia is most likely not joining ESports Connected following the release of Moothie. He's likely moving to Japan, as confirmed by sources
The team is unknown as of right now, however the report will come out soon, with Lakia's team announcement coming out tomorrow most likely.

Seoldam has been signed after a couple of months in limbo following his release from Northeption. The org is unknown, but his announcement will come soon. Currently unknown if Seoldam and Astell are still a package deal.

In addition, Doenmo and Persia are both yet to have their orgs announced respectively. No information about where they are going to exactly, but they have been signed.
Meteor is currently trialing for a Japanese team, and Northeption was trialing Korean players for the upcoming circuit.

nvm forget what i said about ESC, hes going to japan (unreported atm but confirmed)

i cant give hints because i dont know where hes going, all i know is that theres an announcement for him soon
some people were saying he might join esc as a 6th man? idk for sure yet

hes joining esc, also a seoldam announcement is coming
nvm hes moving to japan

Good news for you! Seoldam update coming soon :)

Update: As of recent info from sources, Lakia will likely go to Japan

https://www.vlr.gg/event/pickem/658/champions-tour-game-changers-series-iii-north-america

yes but im not sure entirely regarding jeong hi, but this puts them in a weird situation
wheres the igl? removing jeong hi and secret for exy/hyeoni/esperanza puts that into question because why not take ts, who fills both roles? idk, its weird

not sure exactly, ive heard he hasnt been on peak form
jeong hi i have no clue regarding him though, just rumors but it could be due to overlap

intro to be benched from what i heard but jeong hi might be out too

They were supposed to sign a new roster, but were unexpectedly dropped
Not sure what they're doing now that they have 600k in funding but I have heard that NU might get involved with the LCK

• Lakia
• Seoldam
• TS
• Exy
• LuZ/10X/Persia (if theyre signed to the same org)
  imagine a team like this, has heavy potential to be a top 3 team, probably better than wgs

yeah, and japan seems to have a lot of money so im not surprised if they bring in lakia too for their second import

Very quiet this offseason, nothing on him as of yet
He has formed a streamer clan with people like Doenmo but its more just a casual thing

I think DK, WGS, and ESC are all very evenly matched atm, with VS just somewhat above the rest
All of them have a shot at taking VS in a series so its exciting to see how 2022 will pan out

As a followup to initial rumors, sources confirm with me that Lakia has signed to a org. The deal is now done and will be announced next week
It is unknown (atleast to me) which org it is, but here are some (heavily potential) possibilities from big Korean orgs:

UPDATE: Lakia is confirmed to move to Japan. Report will come soon by some sources, however I received new confirmation that he is joining to Japan rather than ESC. Moothie replacement unknown

good luck bro you got this
if it works out go get some jjangmyeon together ㅋㅋ :)

On an individual level, Lakia is probably better
but thats where the problem comes in, considering that the lakia bench was a team decision, not management (management brought him in the first place when he was an fa)
Zest probably gels better with the team, both in-game (which helps with their set plays etc) and out of game (theyve been teammates since the start of vs)

Loco was signed to Rio agency but im not sure whether theyre still a package deal or not
All we know about Persia is that he was signed to a "known org"
LSB was looking to join Val later in the year, maybe something with that? Or Ghibli/Mystic? They had some rumors in September
NTH is also trialing Korean players, Meteor was there too

Korea and SEA receive English broadcasting on the main channel because the TOs have set English casters already (AfreecaTV, PPGL)
It's also why BR, JP, and CIS/TR don't get main broadcasting, as good as it would be to have CIS grow as a region

Just see how well Zest gels after his time away from the team, see how the team does without k1ng imo

yes but its 6 team double elim for whatever reason, still better than 8 team single elim though

ah, sad to see but still a solid core to work around
seoldam jett, exy flex, luz sentinel, ts igl/controller, lakia initiator and thats a pretty good roster if talon want to work with current fas

Rumor has that Talon is looking to pick them up, not sure how that’s going now though

MaKo/Zunba imo

I heard rumors about the LCK and Nuturn, considering the price of that I'm not sure if they'll be back by challengers 2

yeah, im really sorry about that
when i do that its more of not knowing if im able to publicly state what i know, but ill try to do that less often now :)

BoDork (public announcer) + a few of my sources can confirm that Nuturn isnt coming back yet
They originally wanted to after getting the funds, but considering their manager left and the sudden disband, their new roster was just left behind

Possibly, Talon will be deciding very soon whether to go with ex-TNL or somewhere rlse

I assume Talon would be the most likely to do this roster if the talks end up going through, although they might just sign the original 4 + SeliG replacement or build around TS, Meteor, and Exy if they have enough time to do so

Termi/glow is in-game coach, Argency is strategic coach

Yep, he was recently trialing
He was actually gonna join ESC but was outperformed by Hermes/Chibab/Hyeoni

Are you familiar with GHS Wenty? Seems like he would also join cause he was the unannounced SeliG replacement but it seems like he could suffer the duelist role change

yes, im half korean and i like to report stuff in vct kr :)

Subject to change:

• Meteor
• TS
• exy
• JinboongE(?)
• Wenty(?)

who was it?

Was it the unannounced SeliG replacement?

After the TNL Valorant disband due to months of financial hardship, news has circulated that Talon has started to make talks to sign them and take over their name for VCT Challengers 1. The deal, if going through, likely includes the whole roster, and a fifth. Unknown if anyone will be replaced at the current moment.

It’s most likely to be Talon if the talks end up going through