Their Split comp was a bit troll.

To be fair to the doubters, EDG trolled their defense side the last time they played this comp on Ascent against DRG and lost. I was not at all sure until the score was like 11-8.

EDG also lost this map to DRG with a good defensive comp. You never know

My comment was mostly a jest, I'll admit, but GenG looks really solid enough to beat this shaky version on T1.

I think these roles are mostly to put Freeing on Tejo. Also, BeyN is doing well on Omen.

This map (Lotus) seems like a bit of a prep-time-with-comp/roles diff and Foxy9 being a lot more comfortable in his role in GenG.

Foxy9 rn: "Who is the best team in Korea now?"

As the second seed in your group, you can't face the leader of your group even if you win the first round match. In this case, you either wish SEN was more successful earlier so that they could lock in the first seeded position earlier, or less successful so that they could be seeded lower. Because there is no other way for SEN to avoid a tough bracket in their position. At the end of the day, it's a bit pointless to be stressed about it. SEN was going to face one tough opponent before guaranteeing play-offs in any case.

Also, I wish people would stop being so timid against G2. Yes, they are strong. And yes, they are favored to win against you. But C9 literally showed that (in Haven) once you take the fight directly to them head-on, it's entirely possible to beat them. Who knows how Pearl would turn out if C9 weren't so cautious in that one 1v2 round? As it stands, I would say G2 Haven looks weaker than SEN Haven and then you just have to try finding a way to beat G2 in one other map, either through anti or a new comp. It's tough, but not impossible.

That is, if SEN is actually willing to beat the best teams in the world and win a title again. They were going to face G2 sooner or later, does it really matter it's in the second match instead of the grand-finals? And even if they lose, it wouldn't be a shameful loss.

Also, it's not even guaranteed that they'll face G2. As it stands, C9 should be favored in my opinion, if you have seen all of their performances so far in this tournament. This is excluding those who think "nah, c9 never get out of play-offs" of course.

I mean, it's not that bad. Definitely not like his other tweet. .They did show the willingness and outlasted TEC in the end, especially after that Ascent nightmare.

Serial was playing new roles for the first time, no? A bit different than M8 players. As one can see in the next weeks, they are rebuilding their map pool accordingly and he's getting better.

On the other hand, M8 started on fire, but they been losing confidence with every close map loss, the defeat felt inevitable after Lotus today.

TL is rebuilding their map pool with Serial. It's not that weird that they looked a bit off in their first match.

That said, Mates are losing confidence with close every loss. Also they are relying a lot of individual pop offs; Kamyk Breach with only 2 assists (14/15/2) on Lotus OT (12-14) is very surprising.

FUT looked awesome on Pearl, but won Lotus 14-12 because Xeus went crazy. Hardly an obliteration.

Fair enough, though in my head I thought of his new role would be more token and maybe giving some suggestions here and there, rather than being an actual coach. Probably a bit like patrickWHO, who was sitting next to the GE coach when he was replaced earlier.

Not gonna lie, I can see FNS taking the Haodong route; stepping down from the main roster but being the assistant coach, still being part of the team that makes a run. He can retire fully afterwards if he wants. Lowkey, that would do a lot to change people's opinion about him, if such a new NRG manages to make a successful showing, that is.

It doesn't help if they pick these weird comps either.

Jokes aside, EG aim is on fire today. Don't think I have seen this 5 stack as sharp as they were today.

It's fair. Only three teams will go to Toronto. 1st seeds are rewarded for their success and 4th seeds are given one last chance to make a run.

RRQ aren't guaranteed first seed yet. But fingers crossed.

Boom might choke...
RRQ don't start me on this one ...

Sure buddy. T1 had a bad game today and they do need to think of their macro, but come on. What is this with the doom? Boom and RRQ have been genuinely playing so well and have good ideas, these were not shameless losses for DRX and T1, especially if they study the results and prepare accordingly.

This was very nice by stax, but we had some sick aces this year.

The smell of jealousy is heavy lmao.

What makes him better overall?

To be honest, the only difference I see between them is their teammates. And lukxo is a lot more aggro. Overall, lukxo seems like the better player to me.

Check out lukxo's performance in Ascension as well. He's the real deal.

BLG is locked in for the first seed, no? I thought this match didn't really matter.

BOOM's Omen is destined to have crazy plays.

Estrella looked like an upgrade last week, to be honest. But Freeing on Yoru and Beyn on Tejo for the first time, on top of that? That's overheating.

Cooking too much on their own map pick was a choice. Their kitchen blew up.

They are filling different roles. And they just rolled two really strong halves for Ascent and Lotus, with little prep time.

I am not sure why people are pushing this as a definitely bad move by TL. If either party is uncomfortable with the situation, isn't it better to just part ways nicely? Both TL and Kamyk are looking better for the split to be honest,.

How did TH remove the stench of losing Split against Giantx even though they had a huge lead, especially when Giantx lost that map 13-0 in the very next week?

That way.

That comment was talking about XLG vs JDG game stats. They sometimes get added later than usual, getting stats from VCT CN games is a recent thing on VLR. (They are actually available right now.)

VCT CN streams are still scheduled on YouTube, there is no reason to think Twitch streams will stop as well.

Thank god wo0t is such a good shooter, because he had some questionable Tejo util and ult usage on Icebox.

Well game by them though, both of them had really impressive performances on Haven and Icebox respectively.

If you look at the interactions between TL players and Kamyk, it seemed like they just stopped vibing together. So, even if Serial is not an immediate upgrade, TL are better off with a player they feel better about.

Serial can find his footing with time. He got thrown into uncomfortable roles with little prep time; I think he will get better (shooting wise) as time goes on. And he's already had an impact; TL showed flawless defense halves with him on Deadlock. Especially on Lotus, one of their worst maps in Bangkok. TL with Kamyk on Lotus was so lost that I think if they had actually had a default comp on Lotus, they might have even beaten Vitality in Kickoff grand-finals; they had that much momentum in that match, going into Map 3. I think this double sentinel meta suits TL with Serial, and nAts can call around it well.

We'll have to see if this comp holds up as well when opponents have VODs on it, but I am optimistic. They seem to get better each week.

It wasn't a life game, Xeus is good. But the real problem is FUT's comps, and TL is more than good enough to expose and take advantage of it.

They will 13-0 someone with this double sentinel comp one day. It feels inevitable.

I didn't say VIT is a bad team. Of course they aren't. I just presented them as a counter-example to your statement.

The truth is this game doesnt require a top tier igl anymore it just needs 5 shooters with someone who can handle the extra load of vod reviewing and making decisions.

This is describing VIT, wouldn't you agree? With a squad like theirs, VIT's performance shouldn't be merely performing well but being regular title contenders. They were one of the favorites going into Bangkok, to be fair, but despite their super firepower, they couldn't close out important games when they were up against a good IGL. And in EMEA Stage 1, they didn't lose to FNC just because Boaster was fragging out; they (especially Derke) were read like a book.

Now, I will say that being capable of fragging out is a necessity for all top-tier IGLs at this point, so there is a truth to what you said, too. But you can't get the title with just having 5 capable shooters + VOD reviews, you need to have a mind to surprise your opponents or be able to play around their attacks in game too.

Going back to my example... VIT's issues aren't simply because of Sayf's calling. Wit trexx, .they apparently had some "different outlooks into the game" (or something like that, if I recall correctly) and VIT is playing with a new player now. And I remember seeing a post about Sayf mentioning communication/understanding issues too, recently.

Thankfully, these are fixable issues. And as Sayf gains more experience as an IGL in top-level competitions, he should find it easier to frag sometimes (in international tournaments) while IGLing. People were speculating the reason for bringing CyvOph in as the controller might even be due to that, just to keep Sayf away from having to flex into duelist and controller roles, in order to release some of the role related burdens. And this seems to be working well lately, though they had to go against an in-form FNC team and Boaster, who showed a masterclass of IGLing.

The truth is this game doesnt require a top tier igl anymore it just needs 5 shooters with someone who can handle the extra load of vod reviewing and making decisions.

VIT's results are the proof that this just isn't true. Or do we think VIT is getting outplayed against teams with good IGL's just because someone in VIT camp didn't watch enemy VODs well enough?

I was not going to reply, but I couldn't help it. 😀

Yes, Riot should redo the Bangkok Grand Finals just because you specifically think it is a fluke. If you think it is a fluke, surely it must be so.

Disclaimer: I disagree with the OP. T1 is playing below its level, but that's still enough.

They're performing even worse against teams that would get 3-0'd by APAC, EMEA and Americas worst teams.

But this is equally baffling as a statement. Which teams are those? At least EDG is trying out new comps and a new player.

In addition to those, there are NRG vs MIBR and G2 vs C9. The second one will be a good clash, and the first one has a lot of hype behind it.

100T matches also have the potential to be bangers. (I am not at all hoping for a 2G upset XD)

You are judging FUT by their past tournaments in 2024. That is fair if that's how you want to do it, but one can also judge 100T similarly from that point of view.

In this year alone, FUT finished their Kickoff in 4th place, whereas 100T was in the 9/12 spot. And for Stage 1, specifically, they look miles better than 100T; they aren't just 5 good shoters but have clever util combos and macro plays. Xeus, especially, looks insanely talented as a rookie (in Tier 1) duelist. Their biggest issue at the moment is not taking advantage of the meta agents/comps. However, 100T also suffers from the same issue, maybe even more so.

Another point: CyvOph doesn't look like a downgrade from trexx at all, leaving the fact that he doesn't play the same role aside. VIT's issues are a bit deeper than a select few players underperforming. They really need good in-game leadership, in my opinion, but that is really tough to do in that great collection of very individualistic fraggers. (Even in the EMEA Kickoff grand finals, TL had a very good chance of beating VIT if map 3 was anything but their 3rd map.)

Other than that, I don't have anything else to object strongly to, in your list. Sure, I probably would swap a few teams and wouldn't put a Big Tier Gap after G2 and T1 at all. Just in Bangkok, it came down to who performed better on that day and prepared more between G2/EDG/T1, for example, since they took turns beating each other. And G2 and mibr had a really close series recently. But overall, your rankings seem sensible enough. I definitely wouldn't bother to make a detailed ranking of each team like this though (too lazy for that XD), so props to you.

Yeah, it's undeniable that T1's performance got better and better as the tournament went on; they didn't look like a team that could be winner of the tournament, at the beginning. Sylvan, especially, was a massive improvement; his ace against EDG in the first play-off match and overall performance really inspired T1 and they all played in a more controlled way. It was a really good run.

Look at how the tables have turned. Pacific looks like the best region by (almost) everyone now.

I think it has to do with the level of teams coming into the tournament this year. All first seeds from the 4 tournaments looked great and in form, coming into Bangkok. And ironically, excluding T1, all the second seeds were said to be capable of making upsets: SEN hype needs no explanation, some people were bringing up TE's win against EDG and some of their players' previous records against big Americas teams, and even TL had some believers of an upset against their opening match against EDG.

The grand finals was also a very close match. So close that some people were (and still are) even arguing that G2 were the better team overall even after their loss.

Personally, I don't think Madrid or Bangkok were "mickey mouse" tournaments or fluke wins. Such comments are either empty trash talk or rage baits.

The SEN roster who won Madrid managed to perform well enough in Champs to be remembered fondly by many; just look at the threads after each SEN loss, people were constantly talking about the "downgrades". G2, who lost at Bangkok, are named as "the best in the world" right now because of how well they are playing currently. And if T1 doesn't perform well during Stage 1 or in Toronto, I am sure there will be many threads about "T1's fluke run" in Bangkok. In the end, the legacy of these results will be remembered by the consistency of their producers.

Are you sure? Because I just checked Liquipedia and it says that in a 2-way tie, H2H is the tie breaker.

For example, I just checked the official Valorant website and SEN is listed ahead of 100T at the moment whereas VLR put 100T above SEN.
(https://valorantesports.com/en-GB/tournament/113486585696786485/stage/113486585697507382)

I don't think it's impossible. C9 are playing well and if they play like they did today, they can trade blows with G2 comfortably. Though, of course, G2 is still favored.

This game puts both C9 and mibr on 2W-1L and mibr would be the second in the group due to H2H, no?

G2 will win Toronto and bomb out at the Group Stages in Paris. We have seen the script.

Jokes aside, I see your point about the burnout. The are super disciplined and super drilled, and it's impressive that they have been keeping it up so well. But the mental toll must be quite high too. All the expectations from themselves/fans/critics can't be too easy.

Yes, it was justified and I was excited too.

But their decisions have also been very questionable: picking opponents' best maps, not picking our best map even once, not making enough comp changes to adapt into the meta... They are said to be the worst team in Bangkok. Which is really unfortunate but also not undeserved.

EDG vs Wolves. I know whose co-stream I am gonna watch for that match XD
(Kinda hoping Smoggy and Chichoo continue to win so many clutch situations for that match as well, for maximum entertainment value.)

It's the overcorrection (of the TE hype) due to their Bangkok performance. All the hype they built up died when they bombed out there and performed badly at the start of Stage 1.