dont jinx them, they started 4-0 last year too (+ amazing game vs Loud at lock-in)

the m3c comp showcased what he was good for perfectly imo

g2 had just "invented" a triple sentinel comp on icebox that relied on taking A site and then just making it impossible to retake via util - a lot of teams at the time would just give up A so it worked super well
m3c showed off how great brim is at holding A site thanks to the borderline infinite smokes (and theres no real defaults on Icebox to just force them to waste the smokes like on other maps)

it didnt really catch on in the end since FPX proved right away that you can hold sites without needing a specific agent for it, but its definitely interesting
(Also similar to current g2 they played sageless which is always a bit rough on icebox)
I just dont know if its worth all the util youre giving up vs other agents when retakes are pretty successful against most meta comps and it makes attack so much harder

ex nip, guild, tundra, finest, and currently oxygen bonkar does coaching - he has an incredibly good record when it comes to youngsters so if youre serious this might be the best option out there mfy.gg/@bonkar
he's sadly not cheap anymore now that he works fulltime as a coach (his session were like 20$ an hour while he was FA on bonk iirc)

play-ins is a mini 3 team groups stage (so everyone plays everyone) from my understanding

I have mixed feeling atm
Zeta is fine, like its really not bad, however I feel like they struggle to understand the strengths and weaknesses of GEs comps

Every one of their players has proved that they know how to click heads during the match though so Im not too worried yet

stop kink shaming

appreciate them waiting for me to get home from uni befor finishing map 1
would have been a shame to miss the OT

ngl that round was one hell of a roller coaster

Yeeeee
at the same time if they get their shit together its not like this roster cant still make it, they have the players and the staff... just not like this

This was some of the worst valorant Ive seen in t2 for a while and I watch polaris
idk what is going on with fokus but this is just tragic for a roster as stacked as this

just know youre taking responsibility if they win this now

but they cant be void since otherwise the extra competition of champs is also void xD all champs does is move part of the qualifier into the tournament. Its still the same 4-5th place teams that get added into the tournament that didnt make it to masters.
All teams that made it to masters had to prove that they were better than those teams already

The only reason it leads to upsets is because not all regions are equally competitive when it comes to their non top teams (see in the past c9 and liquid making it out of groups, knocking out Pacific/Americas teams, despite being lcq), but thats becoming less and less of an issue as time goes on luckily

But masters also have better qualifiers, whats the difference between Fnatic having to play EMEAs 4th place vs Apacs 4th if we're assuming all teams are equal

its why it makes it so hard since they have different qualifying forms that filter teams differently so its not a 1 to 1 comparison

the main reason I prefer champs despite having the worse qualifier is because teams dont get placed into top 8 instantly (and then you dont have a loud situation from masters this year)

I was gonna experiment % steps for the reward of points (so everything except for 1st place is worth more in Champs without having to decide an arbitrary number, but also not punishing the winner of the tournament) but Ill test that in 2 weeks once im done with my exams ironically procrastinating maths by thinking about maths instead xD

Cores: ah ok so overlap would be allowed; yea that would have been how I would have done it for best "cores" too and is nice and intuitive

With the tied I was more referring to how tournaments that have tied slots lose some points since you dont take the middle value between 3 and 4 for a tied slot, but just eyeballing it I dont think it ends up mattering at all

Point distribution: Masters/Lockin placement being worth 1 less than a Champs placement is interesting; ill def think about that if I get around to making my own version in ~2 weeks
I think the core problem with the point distribution will always be if Champs is more competitive than Masters (different qualifier forms, lcq teams being at a huge disadvantage, etc.) so thats always gonna be an arguable aspect regardless how you do it

Thank ya for sharing your thoughts

Could you make an explanation of your methodology? Theres a lot of choices that seem arbitrary without getting insight into your decisions

Where do your weightings of champs, master and lock-in come from (how did you come to those number)
How did you decide how much 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc are worth comparatively? (What is the reason behind "devaluing" tied slots [tied 3-4: 120 points, while 3rd + 4th is worth 135])
I assume you split teams into years when their core changes - how do you determine what is the core for evolving teams like fnatic (basically how many players is a team allowed to change in what time frame to still count as the same core for your system)?
Also do you have any plans/ideas on how to deal with the issue brought up above about teams who go 0-2 but still ending up top 8 due to regional performances? (While this is currently international only. Obvious solution is adding regional preformances, but that'd require an entire rework)

I love the idea behind making a table to track teams/cores consistency over the years and can see myself wasting way too much time writing different formula for it already xD

well its more that he chose the right things to criticize in this case (things that the players/teams also thought were a problem) since they were already working on them behind the scenes
but yea, original post just chose the worst examples xD

I get the feeling barca might actually be bad at bind

I really disagree with getting lime off duelist
the core of kiles, wolfen and Lime is working absolutely amazing atm and all 3 are fragging on their respective roles

Lime is a duelist main whos currently the 3rd best duelist in the region (per rating and ACS) who can play jett, raze, yoru, neon, reyna, chamber and has won a vcl on duelist

vs Wolfen who just spend an entire year of people wishing for him to play a passive role since his playstyle didnt look good on duelist

Both of them look really good atm, idk why you would want to change that

its not uncommon for coaches to work with the roster for months before getting announced
or in some cases never getting announced since the long term "trial" failed

theyre not analyzing the game either dw lmao
theyre just someone who bet and lost money, being completely oblivious to the turkish scene, its strengths and its problems

watching the games to have fun is the only correct way, otherwise you end up like the person above, bitter, watching a stream that you dont understand and watching a game youre getting tilted at

no, clearly you meant that they should build a time machine and go traumatize themself (that way 4 days ago would have only been the second worst day of their life)

SNS have actually been impressive considering they just joined t2
the coordination and discipline is really good

If they keep this up theyll make top 4 for sure

He's not a bad pickup though so Id be more worried about how the team is gonna work rather than him as an individual
(heres his game against giants during the offseason https://www.vlr.gg/282839/giants-gaming-vs-ucam-tokiers-crossfire-cup-2023-finals-gf )

DFM just gonna slap CR's logo onto their player card and itll sell right away

I think it comes down to your parameters for super teams:

What recency do players need to have preformed in, in your opinion, for them to be eligible for "super team" players?

Do they have to do well in the last year or is it two or even longer? Is it teambased or is it individual based (so is it enough for their team to do well last year or is it fine if the team doesnt make it to any internationals if the player preforms well)

How many teams' players do you have to mix? (e.g. would NaVi have counted as a super team?)

How many of the players need to fulfill the above criteria (e.g. is it fine if its 4 "superteam" players and 1 t2 superstar)

Depending on how you answer each question Lev could easily be a super team, but you could also answer them in a way that not even Fnc or Nrg qualify

The bracket is treating us well, 2-1 for Formulation; should be a close one

the second match today is gonna be a shock for ya ngl

also, monke

I have mixed feeling about the recent times and its sorta sad that they depart with a good chunk of the community still upset with them

Lets start with the last question first: was he really a good journalist
Without a doubt yes. They might be hard to find since theres a lot of "simple" reporting to fill the time between them, but ds_santos did write good and in depth articles from time to time. The most recent one I can remember for example is https://www.vlr.gg/282631/running-a-riot-games-esports-broadcast-is-a-lot-of-work-heres-how-much which is a nice insight into the production side of things
Of course other (older) (e)sports like cs have way better coverage than valorant. But considering Valorant was released after the decline of written media (gotta fit stuff in a tweet or people wont read it) and theres hardly any funding for Journalists over here, people like ds_santos (and now the new "generation" of vlr writers) have done an amazing job keeping us informed.

And then the drama... its stupid that it escalated to this extend. A simple clarification from ds_santos on either of the dramas would have reduced it to a "I think youre stupid" instead of whatever tf this is. However it is ironic that we as vlr users are the ones demanding accountability, when there's plenty of prominent users over the years, who have said some bat-shit crazy stuff and we forget it happened after a week or so.
(Its just an observation of different standards, dont misinterpret this as me saying I dont want him to clarify his opinions on either of the dramas and apologize should it be needed. As mentioned in the original post, especially the journalism one lead to some really interesting discussions with other writers on vlr so I would love if he did a post talking about it)

I think its a good time for him to leave. I just dont believe theres much of a ladder to climb when it comes to written content in valorant and he definitely has done enough on here for his resume.
Shame that its with a tarnished reputation, but I do wish him luck with his new journey at E2TECHpt.

rough for HTW, lets hope they bounce back next week

Apeks worked on their fundamentals compared to their offseason form though, so thats nice to see

Metizport 2-0
HearthBeat getting ready to win a trophy in his 3rd vcl

edit: ok there were some cream related issues map 1

Polaris been a talent export for a while now... the first split of polaris was just something else
1st, 3rd and 4th best t2 team coming out from vct quals https://www.vlr.gg/event/795/champions-tour-europe-stage-1-challengers-2/closed-qualifier + Tundra who were cracked af and a solid kova
So yea the leagues been continually getting weaker as the best talent finds teams in other regions/"ascending"... and Fokus leaving this year was a big hit

But I do agree its fine. Theres still Apeks. And Metizport has the potential to do damage at ascension by the end of the year.
No I dont think any of the "t3" based teams will get to ascension level but a year of talent development is vital for the league right now imo, and ngl some of the teams were already quite impressive for an open quals (at least compared to what I was expecting after the liquid opens)

The new social media presence has been amazing too so im interested if Polaris can gain traction throughout the season - some of those open qual clips already got a ton of views so Im hopeful

Also good tier list going into the year

I dont think its relevant

Just looking at public reception the audience has never payed attention to what casters are the most knowledgeable. Did anyone ever say that Mitchman was the best caster? Because imo in 2022, Mitch+Tom were the best when it came to reading what teams were doing and telling the viewer before it happened.
coincidentally https://www.vlr.gg/player/9265/mitchman was analyst of THE t2 team of early 2021
Why is Ryan now completely out of t1 casting despite coaching a successful GC team?

I just feel like as long as the casters have a decent understanding and arent completely clueless people dont pay enough attention for it to truly matter. And our current "big" casters all spend a ton of time with valorant and have a better understanding than 99% of viewers, and thats enough imo.
I dont need Hypoc to be top 3 in ranked when he can already pop into a twitch chat and nerd out about the game he just casted, or randomly appear as a guest in an analysis video on youtube.

Winning both pistols and then still losing is rough
but kpi just arent willing to lose that - insider such a beast during that round 23 clutch

this being bo1 is such a tease

Now thats an upset and a half, well played to Z10

those Ludwig x Tarik Invitationals coming in clutch
sen affiliates with mxm and pancada is the new 2 way player

I can see the vlr/twitter shitstorm already... it'd be beautiful

unfortunate thats an issue for a lot of quals/tourneys outside of NA
a mod usually has to make them appear there from what I can tell, so they hopefully see this or another thread

Events tab is more useful in a lot of cases during the off season (although not for quals like this sadly)

good chance theyre just preparing a video to announce it so its taking a bit longer
they bout to release 4 pngs just to spite me

edit: they werent, they were just slow af

Theres a good chance he was just trying to start small talk in one of the most awkward ways. (e.g. he likes chinese food, sees your asian and so thinks you like it too: had you said yes -> what was it -> oh I love that, do you like xy -> and so on)

Quite the all in strat though, if that was what he was trying to do, but even if not, I really wouldn't attribute malice to it at this point.

It would have been so poetic xD I was ready for foxie to go wild on twitter
still think the old case was better but oh well, at least this is a decent step 1

Onur fearing for his job buff

grats to apina, interested in how they develop
shame for iantos' dogs not to make it, but the run was amazing nonetheless

glad to see Jady back finally
the amount of top tier 2 players (ok I blame foxie) who have praised his mechanics is insane and idk how being on NaVi and m3 isnt enough reps to get into a good team (over the past year)
hope they do well

Its really not THAT good
its an amazing concept, like the pokemon mods in arc or pixelmon in minecraft and I love it for that... but especially when comparing it to the latter its still lackluster

If youre looking for actual pokemon games, fangames and traditional monster tamers like cassette beasts are miles ahead

It is a nice addition to the action monster tamer genre, which has been sorta neglected in recent years. Brings me back to games like spectrobes or rune factory so a huge plus for that

Lets just pray the AI allegations arent true, otherwise thats gonna be a heavy blow to gaming as a whole

france is playing rn and afaik they havent been announced https://www.vlr.gg/event/1942/challengers-league-2024-france-revolution-split-1/regular-season

Will be live on https://www.twitch.tv/ryancentral

Will be live on https://www.twitch.tv/yinsu and https://www.twitch.tv/kairocasts

yea everything very short notice this year (due to the TO switch) so everyone who could looked for teams in other regions + 8 players from polaris joining t1 thins the talent pool a bit
and the open qual was rough this season, a ton of the "favorites" got knocked out

I wouldnt underestimate the teams in the qual though, while none of them would have a shot at making it to ascension right now imo, its not like they're horrible teams either
this was a mix vs mix game https://www.vlr.gg/294768/bratan-mix-vs-iantos-dogs-challengers-league-2024-northern-europe-polaris-split-1-open-qualifier for example

your info was correct
confirmed now https://twitter.com/FOKUSValorant/status/1748323671662346344

https://www.vlr.gg/event/1943/challengers-league-2024-northern-europe-polaris-split-1/closed-qualifier is live today. Its max 4 matches per day so it wont spam the matches tab either
"Official" co-streams are also announced, meaning there will be coverage for every day. https://twitter.com/valleague_ne/status/1748002581396205798

Its gonna depend on the event tbh
When it comes to t2-3 events like A1 or THE POKAL I love to use them as an easy way to just get an overview of what upcoming players there are - unlike t2 players pretty much no one knows shit about whos currently in t3 waiting for a shot in t2.

However I assume youre mainly talking about the tier 1/2 offseason events
For those I tend to look for positives with each team (theory being that they still have time to fix the negatives)
So I dont put much weight behind the results at all, but I do think is important that teams show something to get exited about (assuming they already had practice for a couple of weeks, otherwise it doesnt matter). If theres nothing good to talk about I feel like its gonna be rough for their early season since its too much to work on then.