I would put G2 in their own tier but you do you. Everything else makes sense to me.
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| Registered: | June 15, 2023 |
| Last post: | January 19, 2025 at 11:31 PM |
| Posts: | 627 |
I would put G2 in their own tier but you do you. Everything else makes sense to me.
Jawgemo definitely has better movement and utility while Zekken has better risk assessment. I don’t think their aim is that different.
I would take Jawgemo though because he’s the definition of a selfless entry.
It’s definitely a clash between Jawgemo and Zekken but they’ve got different play styles. I personally think Jawgemo is more explosive though.
If C9 win then Americas is cooked and if G2 win then neT gets shit for no reason. Feelsbadman
Kickoff is volatile man. Nothing is guaranteed and unless your team is a proven powerhouse internationally, it’s quite probably that you could get upset.
Because you’re chasing results and not progress. Set more reasonable goals and work them incrementally.
100T have something to prove and I think they’ve got a good chance to win given the time they’ve had to reinforce their map pool while SEN have had role issues.
He’s aggro when he’s defensively OPing. It just takes a lot to flush him out because he’ll do mix ups between first contact and second layer. Even then he’ll disrespect utility and push forward with shorties too.
He’s got a great Jett and Yoru. His raze is a bit unknown because Nismo would pick it up so we’ll have to see.
Raze, Yoru, Fade, Tejo, Astra.
I doubt most teams could pull it off with roles but I genuinely think it’d be the best comp. Maybe T1, G2, PRX, and FNC? Having both a world class Raze and Yoru from two different players on your team is rather rare.
The roles are confusing but it works out depending on comp. I don’t see them running a lot of Sentinel comps but instead relying on double smokes whether the secondary is Viper or Clove. This is especially true with Tejo’s release.
Tex: Raze or 5th slot flex (Clove, Vyze, Chamber, Iso)
Demon1: Jett or Primary Smokes on non-Jett maps
c0m: Recon or Viper
Natank: Flashes
KiNgg: Primary smokes or Viper
These players are flexible enough to move around when they want to change comps for certain maps.
What I really want is for them to go full time Demon1 Iso with Tex on entry. Play double duelist + double initiator and Astra every map. Outside of c0m these guys are all insane mechanic aimers and should play to that strength.
Not a duelist main but I dabble:
Ascent: Jett
Bind: Raze
Split: Raze/Yoru
Fracture: Raze
Sunset: Raze
Haven: Yoru
Lotus: Yoru
Abyss: Yoru
Pearl: Yoru
Breeze: Yoru
Icebox: Jett
Learn Yoru and Raze because the only Jett mandatory maps are out of rotation.
Keznit and Oxy over Mada for now.
Supamen should come 5th for smokes.
For sentinel it should be:
Fracture | Lotus | Haven | Bind | Pearl | Ascent | Sunset
KiNgg is better in a scrappy environment but Valyn is better if you want discipline and morale. I think most teams would pick Valyn if they needed an IGL and KiNgg for a fragging flex.
Trent being at C is weird given I’d have him over the majority of B players except Cryo and Demon1. He hasn’t been consistent recent but his fragging peaks should have him at least high B or low A. You mentioned that it’s based on current form but Cauanzin is S — maybe try to be more consistent?
G2 vs. NRG will be a treat to watch for sure. Historically they excel on opposite halves and we’ll probably see peak Valorant when it’s G2 (Defense) vs. NRG (Attack).
I personally think G2 has the edge because of endurance though — they’re known for insane comebacks while NRG has a history of tossing leads.
Everything else looks plausible though I’d move 100T and KRU up. You forgot Mibr and LEV btw.
Yeah, it’s possible I’m pulling from my memories of his KJ play but he’s just a different style of Sentinel player. Hoping that Yay and N4rrate take inspiration from that — I know Verno already is.
Derke was one of the most explosive Razes during the Chamber Meta and he carried forward into 2023. I’d argue he had some of the cleanest entries until we saw peak PRX and Jawgemo — I’d argue to say his style is closest to Zekken’s right now.
There’s basically two factions of Raze players — Movement Abuse and Space Denial.
The former
The Latter
Cauanzin has shown hints of greatness and that Loud Comp from Kickoff/Madrid heavily relied on his performances in Breach.
I suppose he isn’t necessarily better than either JonahP or Ethan but I don’t think anyone has that dominant lead if we’re strictly talking agent mastery and not accolades. I just think he deserves recognition for running it on non-meta maps.
Meteor is just different. I know he hasn’t played as much Cypher compared to Benjy or Johnqt but he sprinkles in a lot of his duelists tendencies with mixups that you wouldn’t expect from a cypher. He’ll switch from hard anchoring to proactive fighting on offbeats, disrupting utility cycles and collecting multifrags. It’s very different from the traditional playstyle.
Rough Act. A2 rn but peaked Im2 and Im1 this act.
In terms of agent mastery I’d definitely change some of these. The switches don’t necessarily have as high accolades but they’ve shown extreme examples of how to push agents beyond their intended niche.
Yoru: Ethan (Hybrid Entry and Initiator)
Sova: c0m (Lurk Initiator)
Skye: JonahP (Bird Manipulation)
Breach: Cauanzin
Cypher: Meteor
NRG doubt is crazy. There’s zero chance they lose to Mibr based on offseason performances and I genuinely doubt the C9 upset.
Oxy | Rossy | Mitch | v1c | Xxif
That’s a champs qualifying roster right there
I disagree. People thought c0m hit his ceiling long before he had a chance to become a world champion. Not every player shows their peak early on and Trent’s issues have always been his decision making and not his base mechanics. With enough good coaching he can improve.
Move KRU up and 2G down. Furia beating KRU jumbles thing a a bit and they’re for sure good enough for playoffs — I just don’t think they break top 4.
Makes you wonder if the game has unexplored counterplay options. I bet Harbor would be more popular if the OP became more prolific.
Verno and Trent will contest Riens for best Initiator.
Pretty sure G2 is the team most well known for insane comebacks. Most of their losses are stomps because otherwise they recover with the next half and flip the momentum.
People say they choke because they have a couple 2nd-3rd place record but those matches were pretty decisive.
I think they should pick up Rossy and have Mitch play sentinel (one of his flex roles).
Makes me wonder if that that’s a failure by coaching staff to respond to the other teams’ adaptations by either reinforcing their mental or providing counter strats. We know they’re capable of comebacks when behind but SEN seems to have a problem with maintaining cohesion when their opponents reverse their momentum.
I’ll probably catch Map 3 of MITH and the GenG maps.
Do you think MITH is more equivalent to a T1 team?
I see the two SEN losses. Can someone give me a rundown of whether they were in bad form or if the APAC teams are just really good?
What are the chances they pick up Rossy and have Mitch play sentinel?
Worst Offender: QOR snarly
Edit: Forgot to add GCN BennY
Maybe something like:
Dante | mta | Mazino | Cebando | Shyy
A bit of a toss up between 5th-8th?
Also, don’t read into NRG’s loss too much. FNS always loses the first group match.
Oxy has more potential as a pure fragger than Keznit while Jawgemo is practically unmatched as an entry with far greater peaks but slightly more inconsistent.
People repping Mada are riding the high from his T2 stats and those matches against a brand new SEN roster — he’s practically NA Primmie in terms of hype.
I figure that if they’re too familiar with VCT then they’re aren’t studying well enough. Give me the doctor who reps C9 because they don’t have the time to constantly adjust their opinions after the most recent matches.
Nobody who knew game thought NRG was the best. G2 is chilling back home right now.
NRG are getting upset now to get it out of their system for next year — just like 100T.
We need more top duelists to put in the hours for it to become meta. It has potential given the shear utility gap but it takes a lot of time to master and is less forgiving than Jett/Raze.
Players that could kickstart the shift:
Etc.
I don’t know China so I’m just not gonna fill it! Strictly my opinions :D
APAC
Duelist: Meiy
Sentinel: Meteor
Controller: Karon
Flex: F0rsaken
Initiator: Stax
IGL: Munchkin
Americas
Duelist: Jawgemo
Sentinel: N4rrate
Controller: s0m
Flex: Verno
Initiator: Trent
IGL: Valyn
EMEA
Duelist: Purp0
Sentinel: Less
Controller: Atakaptan
Flex: Chronicle
Initiator: Trexx
IGL: Saadhak
China
Duelist: Zmjjkk
Sentinel: CHICHOO
Controller: Smoggy
Flex: ?
Initiator: ?
IGL: nobody
Sliggy VODs on YouTube are a good spot to watch the matches.
Had low expectations since their match against NRG but Sen look much more polished. N4rrate and Johnqt have seemed to adapt better to their roles and the star fragging is showing through.
They lost 3/4 pistols and still managed a 2-0. I’m not sure if it’s because GenG have regressed (they lost their arguably best player in Meteor) or if SEN are genuinely good though. Both are probably 3rd best in region at this point.
I’d still rate NRG over them right now but if SEN fixes all their issues, they have the fragging potential to contend for trophies.
Edit: meant to reply to OP whooops!
Pretty decent list. I can see the justification for placements that I don’t quite agree with which means that you’re somewhat reasonable.
Personally I’d have 100T slightly higher given the Meta will shift back away from Neon to Jett/Raze. I think their match against Trust In Plug while worrisome showed that they’re capable of handling multiple role swaps — they just suck at Neon comps.
I have zero faith in C9. Oxy is the only reason they’d make playoffs (top 8) but it’s clear even EG could upset them. They’re far too inconsistent and should be lower.
Loud is a hard team to rank given they have two star players in Pancada and Cauanzin but they’ve proven inconsistent. The rest of the team is relatively mid and the quality of their IGL’ing is unknown. I would have them lower than EG and possibly even lower.
Lmao I had G2 making a lower bracket run too but I think NRG qualify to Bangkok over SEN.
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