Because most VCL (including JP) have already started prior to the implementation of Group Pickems, we felt that rather to shoehorn the option mid-Split for them, we'd start Group Pickems in Split 2 for these VCLs to ensure a clean start.

It's not a matter of popularity or not. We want to try test this on as many VCLs as possible. Most likely VCL South Asia and Vietnam will be Pacific's own test. LATAM as well.

Talent agencies do what they do best.

Up-and-coming players, made themselves known during the OFF//SEASON tournaments, but most have played in mid-tier 2

Quite so. He's very flashy, very quick in his mechanics and movements. By far the missing piece of the XERXIA core last year. Surf had his moments, but Pati was pretty much the showman that help every engagements in their favour, seen in Champions.

I think you need to check your financials.

At this point I'm worried for your financial wellbeing

I assume you haven't made any improvements.

No, I have to clarify; this isn't referring to PRX. This is solely, as far as I'm aware, referencing to Singapore's absence in the SEA Games.

Unlikely. Last I know is from PUBGM.

Probably a decision from their own ministry of sports committee, honestly it's a guess at this point.

Sleepy doesn't even coach much anymore. He's also probably busy with his work for PRX. Roseau at this point is pretty much capable of coaching, considering he was also coaching Indonesia's CSGO team during the World Esports Championship in Bali last year.

No, it's referring to Singapore's participation in the SEA Games. SG isn't fielding a team.

Had a lot of fun. We countered a lot of stuff. Talked a lot of stuff, too! Hope yall like it when it comes out!

We'll have a preview for the JP/KR/CN as a separate article!

Dual nationality

but my man RIPabloEscobar

You do know that DRX is literally a separate org and not a rebrand right?

Most regions is doing so. Although I'm hearing some are moving forward with the new patch?

Achilios is doing a co-stream

The finest Nongshim Ramen

Allow on Jett, Lakia on Skye, Estrella on Breach (I know you've malded once on this pick in particular)

I think DK is still stuck in late 2021 post-LCQ loss

They put Estrella on Breach. Again.

Esperanza and Estrella were super sus on that Bind...

Never was signed. Sylvan isn't in any team.

Well, that's rude.

Also, even in recent years, Riot has put smaller prize pools even for a well-established competitive ecosystem.

MSI's prize pool is only 250k USD. The Mid-Season Invitational, the only other international tournament in League's ecosystem that pitted each league's mid-season champions with each other (comparable to Masters.)

Riot prioritizes its internal incentives and incomes for their top-flight competition (viewership, the Partnership program, cosmetics, merchandise, etc.), while still giving an external prize pool to supplement an already streamlined economic flow. This is a once-in-a-lifetime tournament. I have no doubt that come Masters and Champions, the prize pool will be increased per process.

Team skins are coming, and if anything when it comes to income, it'll most likely follow some semblance of similarities to LoL. VCT is in its 2nd year, and there's still a 5-10 years' worth of timeframe to catch up to CSGO and R6's income (even though there's much more added pressure knowing it's Riot and their success with LoL)

Fellas, you do know the teams are also still receiving incentives and incomes from Riot as part of the partnership agreement, right? LOCK//IN is only a showcase tournament, of course it won't have some big prize pool.

Yes

Staple name, one of the orgs currently in LCK

Edit: if you're talking about Jeong Hi, ex-DK. Good player, very dynamic.

GGyul and hangul is the last two members, don't have VLR profiles.

Acquired. Shadow Corporation is an old name in terms of Korean talent agencies.

Same parent org. SPEAR is transferred over to OP.GG

So for the road to Ascension:

It really depends on the Challengers' region. Some Challengers (like LATAM, JP, and OCE) adopts a relegation system where the bottom performing teams will have to go through the qualifier process once again. Some Challengers don't have any relegation at all, so they're safe for both Splits.

There's no mid-season international tournaments for Challengers, only Ascension.

All I'm going to say is I'm not going to fully report based on unofficial records and other hearsay. The situation is tricky as it is, taking the decision to not fan the flame.

He has experience playing in Challengers and now he's shown that he's capable of competing with the rest of the pack. Not a joke.

https://playvalorant.com/en-us/news/announcements/announcing-valorant-s-premier-alpha-test/ all you need to read here for now.

No, in game tournaments were never intended for Challengers. That beats the purpose of Challengers. Challengers is solely for Tier 2-high Tier 3 competition.

Premier acts as an gateway for amateur, semi-pro, possibly Tier 3 or below players to get a taste of what competition Tier 1 and Tier 2 might have, all wrapped up within Valorant's in-game client.

I wasn't aware that Premier was supposed to be launched in conjunction with Challengers qualifiers. Nowhere in the official Premier Alpha blog nor any other leaks that it was supposed to be launched around right now.

AFAIK, it's still in Alpha post Brazil-test and it's nowhere near finished.

Yeah my bad, I went a bit aggressive there. Sorry. But yeah, basically what Leo said is what's being translated into LOCK//IN

the format could've been 2 16 team groups bo1s(simulcast the group stage because people are only gonna watch the teams they like.

This is the exact reason they're making every match available on a centralized broadcast. They don't want to take away any potential viewership and exposure from the lesser matches/teams. They rather have a consistent, continuous viewership that even if it fluctuated, it won't hypothetically having that much gap compared to a simulcast.

They want every team and match to have equal amount of opportunity to gain as much viewership in certain context and times.

check #8

I didn't say that they're hiding that they're prioritizing the fanfare and broadcast/viewership while trying to find a compromise and middle ground over the competition, did I?

Check my previous/other comments. I made it clear that I'm well aware over their supposed priorities at this point.

I rather have RRQ doing their best and showcase their roster and competitiveness, even if they got slotted out, it entices some viewers to search/get more exposure about them

Continuous viewership is still viewership, even if it fluctuates.

The execution is quite underwhelmingly shit, I agree. But being able to broadcast every match is something that even dome shooters kind of struggle. It can lead to one stream having a higher percentage of viewers than the other, and lead to teams and matches having wild differences in average viewership.

Now I do believe this does plague Valorant, but with ensuring a centralized and continuous coverage of the event, it ensures at least someone will watch a team and the matches, and eliminate the hassle of switching streams just to catch every match.

Also it's clear it's also about new teams' exposure.

The one thing that does give it a bit of a question mark was giving the LOCK//IN winning region an extra slot at Masters.

Other than that, it was more or less apparent that this might not be a Masters-type event (paraphrasing the original announcement that LOCK//IN is a 'celebration of a new milestone for VCT')

Goddamn it's only 12 posts but yall fuckin extended it

Like a trailer that cuts too short and didn't show anything worth mentioning.

From what I've seen from people so far is the expectation that LOCK//IN would be like Masters at the very least (which honestly I'm not blaming them for.)

I'm not exactly shocked because the original wording to describe LOCK//IN was (paraphrasing) 'to celebrate a new milestone in VCT history' makes me think this isn't something like Masters.

Fair, yeah. Randomized bracket seeding would probably do that, even if there were stipulations to ensure the "ideal" circumstances.