That's actually true, but exactly THAT is Fnatics weakness - their discipline. Of course they have the best roster in the world and are able to beat every team. I mean they were 2-0 ahead against LOUD and then they stopped to com, were insanely aggressive and stopped peeking etc. - like they didn't care anymore. That's the reason why those teams NEED a loss from time to time, so they get remembered that they're not unbeatable. LOUD is more disciplined and they stay more calm. I hope for a rematch in Tokyo.

How can NA be on top when LOUD are VCT 2022 World Champions and Fnatic VCT LOCKIN 2023 World Champions?

There is a chance, that an NA team will become the best. I mean EG are basically doing a lot of pioneering work right now with creating a fully new playstyle - but they still have to manage to beat NRG and LOUD with this - and Fnatic beat LOUD the last time. When EG or NRG wins Tokyo, I'm with you - then NA is on top for the moment.

I actually hope that EG wins the tournament. We need fresh wind and these guys don't give a damn about these big teams. When they have the momentum, they're able to beat LOUD and Fnatic. But that didn't happen yet. ;)

They're doing so well. I mean MaKo and Rb are insane, but EG is just ONE UNIT. These dudes deserve all success.

I say 2-1 DRX, but EG will doing great - you have to love them. Potter is also so nice.

Ascent and Lotus were kinda the same level of both teams, but NRG was so much better on Split... deserved 2-1 victory.

Ah, and 34 years old ANGE1 should think about handling the IGL over to Shao and NAVI then sign a new player. That dude is not playing on this level.

SUYGETSU is insane. Wow.

At NRG you can really see how they perfected their team behavior. No player is shining over all maps, they're all doing their job incredibly well.

cNed kinda outsmarts himself with Your kinda often. For the opposite it's just annoying, nothing more. Jett is so much more powerful.

Yep, think so as well. If they won't pull out a crazy anti strategy, NRG will beat them. NRG used basically a mix of the Fnatic strategy and the LOUD strat on Ascent - was nice to watch.

NAVI didn't certain things good... Shao and SUYGETSU did really well, but cNed should not buy the Operator anymore for real. He was throwing the Op shots like against Fnatic. WIth the Phantom he's insane... better stick to that.

crashies and s0m are so good again.

Players
Duelists: cNed = ardiis
Initiators: Zyppan > crashies
Sentinels / Flex: SUYGETSU = Victor
Controllers: ANGE1 < s0m
Flex / Initiators: Shao > FNS
IGLs: ANGE1 = FNS

Team abilities
Experience: NAVI = NRG
Tactical variety: NAVI = NRG
Entry fragging: NAVI = NRG
Roaming / Lurking: NAVI > NRG
Anchoring: NAVI = NRG
Pistol: NAVI < NRG
Operator: NAVI ≤ NRG

Overall I'd say this will be by far the most exciting match of the qualifying for now. NRG won against LOUD, lost against EG and then won against them, then lost against LOUD... they played so many crazy difficult matches on the highest level in the past weeks, so they will probably start with a better momentum. NAVI had not their best matches in the last weeks with losing to FUT, Liquid and Fnatic - before of that they won against Giants, Liquid and FUT - so they can if they want. Both teams have several of the most experienced players in the world who won big tournaments.

Because of the current form, I see NRG with a small advantage - but NAVI can always be dangerous.

EU = Europe - Central, North, West, South
CIS = Commonwealth Independent States - which is East-Europe + Russia (also counted as Europe, since their capital is on European ground, but in games they obviously have their own servers because of the distance) + West-Asian countries, that are close with Russia

NAVI is def. European, since it belongs to the Ukraine

I don't need any help. You need help with your racist nonsense. Anyway, I have no demand to discuss with kids. Have a nice day.

.

"Alphabet" or "HFM" rgearding the internet, but he said he wants people to say the full name. xD

Guys, he's trolling. I bet he just sat there and wanted to see how many kiddos go full rage mode.
He is Czech btw... so European. :D

I'm really happy for EG, they're such a great team. I also like FUT and they still have a good chance via Lower Bracket to qualify. They're not out.

Btw.: Demon1 was def. not good in this match. Ethan, Boostio and C0M played incredible, though. Ethan is easily already one of the best NA players. That dude is crazily talented.

zeek was really good and when niesoW still played for Heretics that dude was cracked, I miss the old Heretics a lot. But niesoW is on break for almost 1 1/2 years now... dunno if he will ever come back.

True. Also Tokyo will have a totally different mental meaning to all the teams. Fnatic already forgot how to lose, they probably even needed this loss. They need to know they are not unbeatable (no team is) - that's the best foundation for Tokyo. And when you watched Paper Rex yesterday, I'm sure that it's even possible that no EMEA or Americas team could win Tokyo, but Paper Rex or DRX - those guys are cracked as well.

When Fnatic is overrated, every team is overrated. LOUD recently lost 0-2 against NRG and lost against Fnatic 2-3 on homeground a few weeks ago. No team is unbeatable and the Valorant pro scene is still ultra young. Compare it to the CS:GO scene, where all Top 20 teams are like insanely cracked, Valorant is still not even on the same level. Teams that got champions (VCT World, VCT LOCKIN etc.) in 2021, 2022 or even 2023 still can be not even top teams anymore in 2-3 years, when the skill ceiling gets higher and higher.

But what has the manager to do with the team and the coaching? Nothing. I mean, I have nothing against the USA... I have some American friends in Washington and Reno, but the argument of the manager is American doesn't have any American influence on the team, since it's a person who does orga stuff. It's a European team with a Euro coach and Euro players.

But beside of that the whole regional hating is so stupid. I have my chat completely off when I'm watching Valorant tournaments on Twitch. All these silver kiddos spamming "EU >>>>>>> NA", "aspas >>>>>>>>>>>>>> EU", "TenZ >>>>> Fnatic" and stuff are so annoying.

To be honest I see NRG and Cloud9 becoming much stronger in close future. NRG is basically a OpTic in BETTER. They just need their time in growing together, just like Fnatic needed it's time growing big from SUMN FC to now. I bet NRG will become the best NA team soon.

I checked everything and updated. ;)

Duelists:
Jett - aspas
Raze - Derke
Neon - leaf
Yoru - ???
Reyna - ScreaM
Phoenix - Victor

Initiators:
Sova - Leo
Fade - Shao
Skye - Jamppi
KAY/O - Zyppan
Breach - Chronicle
Gekko - Saadhak

Sentinels:
Killjoy - Alfajer
Cypher - nAts
Sage - sheydos
Chamber - yay

Controllers:
Viper - MaKo
Omen - Khalil
Brimstone - ATA KAPTAN
Astra - s0m
Harbor - Mazino

I think it's very hard to list an objective as possible overall Top 10, since players will always do varying performances on the different type of agents. A main duelist f.e. will not play the same ACS and KD(A) on Astra as he would do on Jett, so I think we always have to differentiate between duelists, sentinels etc. - just like "cryyBAE" did in his post. I will still do my best to also list my personal Top 10 in the end.

I know it's a long list, but thanks to fact that I'm on job search since 31th January, I had so much time and basically watched all Valorant tournaments and 90% of the Challengers matches from EMEA, Americas and Pacific region + the Challengers Split league of the DACH region.

So here is my try.
(HM = "Honorable Mention" of a very talented player (U23) from Tier 2 or Tier 3 tournaments, who didn't play a Major yet)

Duelists:
01) Derke | Fnatic
02) aspas | LOUD
03) Sayf | Liquid
04) leaf | Cloud9
05) Foxy9 | DRX
06) cNed | NAVI
07) qw1 | FUT
08) yay | Disguised
09) TenZ | Sentinels
10) QutionerX | BBL
HM: Keiko | Apeks

Initiators:
01) Leo | Fnatic
02) Chronicle¹ | Fnatic
03) Shao² | NAVI
04) Jamppi | Liquid
05) Zyppan | NAVI
06) zekken | Sentinels
07) cauanzin | LOUD
08) crashies | NRG
09) stax³ | DRX
10) Asuna | 100 Thieves
HM: trent | The Guard

Sentinels:
01) Alfajer | Fnatic
02) Less | LOUD
03) nAts | Liquid
04) BuZz | DRX
05) Victor | NRG
06) nukkye | Giants
07) k1Ng | Gen.G
08) sheydos | KOI
09) Zellsis | Cloud9
10) Munchkin | T1
HM: al0rante | MOUZ

Controllers:
01) MaKo | DRX
02) Chronicle¹ | Fnatic
03) Shao² | NAVI
04) s0m | NRG
05) kiNgg | Leviatán
06) Boaster⁴ | Fnatic
07) jakee | Cloud9
08) Khalil | FURIA
09) ATA KAPTAN | FUT
10) Rb | DRX
HM: kAdavra | Mandatory

IGLs:
01) Boaster⁴ | Fnatic
02) FNS | NRG
03) Saadhak | LOUD
04) stax³ | DRX
05) ANGE1 | NAVI
06) runi | Cloud9
07) Redgar | Liquid
08) stellar | 100 Thieves
09) mazin | FURIA
10) rhyme | Giants
HM: YaBoiLewis | FOKUS

Overall:
01) Derke | Fnatic
02) aspas | LOUD
03) Leo | Fnatic
04) Chronicle | Fnatic
05) MaKo | DRX
06) Sayf | Liquid
07) Shao | NAVI
08) Alfajer | Fnatic
09) leaf | Cloud9
10) Less | LOUD
11) nAts | Liquid
12) s0m | NRG
13) Jamppi | Liquid
14) Foxy9 | DRX
15) Zyppan | NAVI
16) BuZz | DRX
17) Victor | NRG
18) cNed | NAVI
19) zekken | Sentinels
20) nukkye | Giants
21) qw1 | FUT
22) k1Ng | Gen.G
23) cauanzin | LOUD
24) kiNgg | Leviatán
25) Boaster | Fnatic

Yeah, brother... we're getting OLD. ;)