I'm a clinical EMEA hater, but those mfs on Heretics all impressed me. Riens especially bro, easily worldclass.

Also I need to mention Meteor, cause if he wasn't my favorite player for the last 3 years then I'd be so fucking impressed by his performance. From a Duelist (Jett) player who really relied on the OP for success, he became the cornerstone Superstar Sentinel for the best team of 2024. At least Texture was a known cracked duelist that just got snubbed while on GE, Meteor reinvented himself and became inarguably top 3 in his role in just a single season.

Unironically, if the players and coaches had an issue with his chem, I as an org, would just dump the rest of the team. The most relevance this roster has had in the last 2 years is from dumping Yay and the second most relevant was Rossy dragging this team to 2nd at Red Bull. An entire core of failures (outside of v1c) should have been booted instead of the 1 piece that has brought hope to this godforsaken org, but fuck it lets spend another year spoonfeeding Oxy stats and being a bottomfeeder team when he has a mid game.

Just like Jimmy Butler, get Rossy 4 dogs that can run with him and you'll become a competitive roster instead of this bitchmade team of Oxy and Xeppaa (who parallel KAT and Anthony Wiggins pretty well from the Minnesota incident). All the stocks I had in C9 was based on Rossy, they just went from battling teams like Kru, Lev, 100T and MIBR for the VERY contested AM #4 seed to battling Furia for worst team in America's. No lie, give Bleed this franchise slot I'd rather have an org of criminals than an org of fools.

I know it's obvious but EG's insane run was so crazy for just general esports. Like a bottem feeder roster that get's 13-0'd turns into world champions. And like, they also got 2nd in Tokyo. They just turned up to a different degree, and actually held up. That's crazy.

I mean, getting rid of the low damage range is a niche buff, still gonna take 2 shots to kill from range, but buffing the max range by 5 meters is going to help consistency in site fights a ton. I honestly think this helps duelists a lot, and makes Phantom a much more attractive option.

No more 124, larger full damage (156, 39, 33) range. Good buff imo.

4 bodies from 20+ meters should still be 140. So it's still an extra bullet from range (compared to vandal), but it's way more viable considering you always kill a half-shield player from distance with a headshot. Also considering the overall movement nerf in this update, it's easier handling will be more important (compared to vandal).

I pray to god Sen (and T1) set a good example for handling academy rosters so that they are properly beneficial for the players, org and the scene. Honestly, like this Cubert roster (if + crashies) would be a frontrunner for ascension. I hope deep down, that if Cubert wins or even just top 2's an NA stage, that Sen partners with a new org to inherit (aka sell em) the roster and operates it as a "associate" team.

I think it would be a great way to create high quality tier 2 teams, generate more tier 2 talent, as well as revitilze org involvement since these tier 2 teams would have support from those in tier 1. It would just be a way to mitigate a good bit of risk for orgs investing in tier 2.

Nah, i think we give bro some time. More reps for this roster is going to help, trust me. Also, Sen is no longer the defacto best NA team. NRG (and potentially G2 if they have a good redbull, since they face 2 other Hightier teams if they make main event) have a case to be directly better than Sen. All their players will have that drive to be the best again, which they have the potential to reach. The soup event, or whatever that tourney in Korea is, will be important to see if Sen are actually going to step up like NRG did, or if they're just not that type of team anymore.

Mitch and Tom are the Caster version of a Radient eboy boosting their little sage kitten into gold. Mitch is just the worst play-by-play caster. He's only gotten worse as Val has gone on. I used to hate on Paperthin, but that guy got WAY better in his analysis and color over the last year. Mitch hasn't gotten better - he's gotten worse. And Riot recognizes this, i mean he's getting less high-stakes matchups and Tom is getting a much more prevalent role on the desk (Tom deserves the world).

I think this year was (and I know this sounds dumb af) a good meta for the casters and it really showed who was real or not. The past years had a lot more small things going on, and less chaotic executes, so casters had way more gameplay to excuse their casting. This meta had a ton of high energy moments, lots of mistakes to occur, lots of outplays, lots of hero plays, and lots of empty space. This let the casters dive more into analytics or personality, which is why (imo) casters like Paperthin and Pansy were significantly better this year than last. It really illistrated the sheer gap that Bren and Sideshow have between the second best duo (Pansy and Steel could do it tho). Duo's that really know how to explain the game, and who really know how to frame moments where able to thrive. Mitch didn't handle anything well, and showed the largest regression from all casters in all regions. Mitch will forever get hate from me, simply for how poorly he casted the f0rsaken ace. Any other play-by-play would have made that moment better, but whenever i see it again the moment is worse just from Mitch's effort.

Yapper Yap Yap

Fuck Mitch

Yap yap Yapper

Wait was shanks on eg not a bit

C9 was a bubble team last year, and they straight up got significant upgrades in Rossy and V1c. Rossy is WAY better than Runi, and V1c is WAY better than Vanity. Kru also got better as a top 4 AM squad. I still have Kru as as the 4 team in AM, and I have C9 as the 6 (both have the potential to upset and get into the top 3 IMO)

Also, Loud and 2G once Baby Aspas, Less Jr and the prince of Neon become allowed to play, they'll both be cracked squads. But, we'll talk about that once it happens.

Final note, I think everyone generally underrates T2 NA prospects expecially T2 stars. Oxy was a star in T2 and arguably performed better in tier 1 (even though it was his system, but I digress). Same with Johnqt, same with Eeiu, same with G2 last year. Almost every NA talent is able to match their T2 performance or do better. So just keep the general track record in mind where the worst an NA T2 player really does is be decent in their role (Icy, Moose).

Would you rather have this Phoenix + Dive or Neon + Breach?

I'm still taking Neon Breach every day.

Meteor in Japan

On Chamber

Uh oh.

The biggest issue is that NA needs a space to test new talent. EMEA is able to support 12 teams because they also have like 8 different 10 team leagues. NA has 12 team slots. If Tier 2 NA has more opportunities to build their tier 2 talent, then I'm sure we could get 10 teams competitive with a top 10 from EMEA or Pacific or China.

Highkey, I think we see a Sen Bangkok, T1 Toronto, and a Heretics Champs win.

Them Sen fucks are dogs at the start of the year, i feel like T1 gonna be in form by Toronto, and then Heretics in Paris (Their full roster + basically all their family/support will be there) would be a great end to the season.

Just nonsensical vibes, but I feel like Sen's prep and flexability will show early in 2025, then G2 will be the strongest NA team once the meta is more concrete.

I have T1 bias, so they win toronto for fun.

Heretics are going to break through through their Grand Finals curse, and It'd be great for them to lose Champs 2024 and win Champs 2025 at the largest European Stage we've seen for Valorant.

Meteor? And a cracked tf out duelist? Plus an IGL who can shoot the roof off? Deja vu, like I've seen this before.

I think the Vitality roster blows up after split 1.

The NA Bias in me wants nothing other than a Champs Grandfinal slugmatch between G2 and Sentinels, meaning those 2 rosters actually reached their true potential. That series would be a fucking BANGER.

After the Meteor to T1 signing, I would like to formally say

FUCK CHOVY, FUCK GEN.G, FUCK ALL DEM FOOLS

FAKER MY GOAT, KERIA MY KING, SYLVAN MY BELOVED RETURNS T1 TO THE MOOOOOOONNN

naRrate

But the fact he said it about Demon1 makes it seem like it's targeted.

Sen and G2 have no weaknesses, 100T has inconsistency issues (that Zander helps mitigate by a significant margin) but their peak is fucking insane. Don't forget that Kru also got better with Mazino returning, they're a high tier threat. NRG has the potential to compete at the top, and C9 is a super underrated roster imo. Lev is mid.

I forgot Aspas left Lev ngl, losing your two best players and missing out on the best available options is rough.

Rossy and Vic are not flashy players, but both are probably in the top 30% of firepower in all of VCT. This team is set up so that Oxy gets 2, and everyone else gets 3. Rossy and Vic will get you those 3.

What are we womp womp-ing the fact I used more than 3 words in a vlr post or the fact I'm participating in the thing the title say.

Naruto Shippuden was by far the worst popularity to quality ratio I watched. Naruto is like a 6/10 at best, but that's still solid. Shippuden was so bad I hate watched Boruto (mind you, I haven't watched anime since 2021), and even that shitty reboot had more positive qualities than the most overrated delivery of media known to man. I did think Sasuke vs Itachi + Pain vs Jirahya was the best section of episodes in the series, but the downhill after that mini-arc was absolutely unmatched. It's a 1/10 show just unironically.

Bro's gonna have to work minimum wage at EG or go through the T2 sluggfest with like MxS idk.

I still believe JDG can cook into that 2/3 position in China, but I think they'll at least make a Lan this year. I also think C9 has a chance to be a serious upset threat, even among how good the peak of America's is - mostly depends on Rossy's ability to IGL while keeping his fragging at a very good level.

Only thing I need to fix is my damn flair (I have no clue how tho).

Looks like Gen.G is adding Chet as General Manager cause ain't nobody snake like this naturally.

I still believe that Derke's ecosystem didn't allow for him to blossom as a duelist. Him doing well is often a demonstration of his skill overcoming bad situations, while other top duelists recieve marginally more support.

Good aim talent, he just gotta stop tricking OPers and play useful agents then he'll get a shot (aka what I like to call the N4rrate effect).

If Lakia spends 15 minutes working on movement then Gen.G become unbeatable.

Bang was thrown into such an inconsistent system like 100T, I have 0 doubt that if he goes to Sentinels that he'll be instantly better. Like imagine having to try and be a consistent controller with how Eeiu, Cryo, and asuna play. It is just straight up a bad system to play in that Boostio or Stellar or ANY IGL or ANY coach cannot hope to fix. The ultimate "hero play" roster

Faster loading times. I started playing other shooters like deadlock and spectre, they just feel way better to play simply because of the pace of loads. Like it takes 5/6 minutes to shoot your first bullet in Val sometimes. It's QoL to me but my quality of life goes down whenever I play valorant so what do I know.

My best was like Viper/Chamber/KJ. I'm an OP crutch, then I stopped playing Chamber when he got nerfed and my OP and Marshall have been deteriorating. Got like a 1.14-1.22 on thse 3. Just always had fun with em.

Worst is prob Sova. Sova has fucking wallhack darts but I swear you get -50% timing once you lock in the agent. All Initiators actually, it seems you work so hard for the success of the tean you just end up paying much more for their mistakes.

Curry has a good sized brand for the valorant scene, playing for him (if he doesn't have like 100% drive) isn't worth it in the slightest. He's a really good player, but he doesn't need to play.

SKUBA

Well deserved retirement and career as a whole. Excite to see how you grow outside of competitive valorant.

Anyways now that he's gone -

HOLY SHIT SEN SKUBA GONNA GO FUCKING CRAZY, i thought bro was going to have to fight for an import slot elsewhere (like on one of the many EMEA teams with worse quality controllers) but now that Sen have an open spot, I have no doubts that Skuba can fill Tenz's shoes. There are quite a few other controller players in NA T2 that can operate in a tier 1 ecosystem, but Skuba is the best of them (M80 don't screw this up, I need Zander and Skuba in AM VCT).

Zekken, JohnQT, Zellsis, Skuba and N4rrate would be a fucked team to face and would retain the hope of Sentinels remaining a top 5 roster globally into 2025.

You say that like it's a bad thing?

2023 Gaurd and 2023 M80 were both above some franchising rosters (both from 2023 and from 2024) and that Guard squad deserved that win.

It's a retrospective thing of M80's talent didn't stand at the heights they should have. Like, Eeiu was the worst player in the server when he is, arguably, the best talent in the server.

TSM are just there for fun, and everyone is an, imo, massive underdog compared to this M80 squad.

We talking about TSM, the team that peaked at the perfect time to fluke by MxS, Oxygen and Turtle Troup? They are very much the 5th best team out of NA vs a better Brazilian roster than MIBR has.

I hope they lose so that M80 have some narrative of "proving NA is the best" instead of just beasting through to another grand finals that they just somehow throw.

Derke on NRG being used as an actual player and not entry fodder for boaster would go stupid.

I was thinking back on it, and N4rrate on Sen would go too fucking hard that Riot may have to ban the signing.

Basically all the Jett comps nowadays feature Sova, who is Zekken's second most played agent. Then N4rrate can just flex Initiator for whichever other map. Sacy to N4rrate firepower increase is insane. It would be too strong.

Verno is legit going to have to hold a LeBron level press conference for whether he goes to NRG or SEN (since Sacy is reportedly not re-signing). Idk how N4rrate's contract looks, but if he's out of the french dungeon then NA Tier 1 bout to get a massive Initiator upgrade all in 1 offseason (like rossy is there too as a flash Initator that mogs basically all the NA tier 1 flash/flex's that teams currently have).

After the EDG, I've officially switched up. It would be too funny if Heretics got a 5th international win against China. Vamos my kings Riens and Miniboo, keep pulling Mr. 1 Tourney Wo0t forward, all the way to a damn chip.

All the regions have well enough established networks of casters to cover more games.

I mean, I don't know how riot pay structures work, but making more games and having games occur a little more would help the stress of organized personnel relating to maintaining employment (in theory, them handling more games would make their worm more valuble to them internally and give more reason to Riot to keep them employed). It's also allow riot to add more staff, and I like when people get jobs. So yes, it'd be marginally more work for the staff, but they'd also accure monetary or personal gain from a seasonal adjustment.

Why does the 2025 format not look like longer splits?

I've watched clips from different pros talking about how the season functions (prior to the 2025 announcement) and it doesn't really feel like Riot delivered. Perspective 1 from pros was the breaks weren't long enough for masters attenders, and Perspective 2 was not enough games. The issue is if you just add breaks, the bad teams are still going to grind for 2 months without getting a single official to play, and (I think Ethan said this, someone from NRG) but the games are just too valuable and stressful currently, simply by their scarcity. I don't think this is a good prospect for the future of the esport.

So, as an armchair analyst with no tournament planning experience, here is what I'd do/change, with the mindset of maximizing games and useful breaks.

Kickoff - I like it's placement (2nd/3rd week of January) and the format of a double elim bracket. This should not take 3 weeks. My personal idea for kickoff/M1 is to brand it around pure teamplay, making kickoff a much faster bracket and getting all the games done in about 2 weeks. Counter-strat quality will be down, that's fine. This tournament optimizes the idea of testing and succeeding with you teams chemistry, meta read, and mechanics, alongside rewarding in-game adaptation more than the primary splits would. Getting M1 and kickoff done by the end of February would give enough space to add more games in the splits.

Split 1 and 2 format - There are two main ideas: 2 groups, play 5 games split 1 and 6 games split 2 against each side, or just play all the teams in a constant double game week. Of these two ideas both of them are objectively wrong. We are taking 5/6 weeks per split and either packing in mad games or no games. May I introduce the 2-1 format, the best format. 11 games, 7 weeks. A double game week into a single game week. We get all the same games as a pure double by adding 1 weeks and way more spaced games during the split. 2-1-2-1-2-1-2. Every team plays eachother, with more breaks during the actual split so the quality of play can stay at a good level. Like c'mon this is just the best option. The two weeks saved by having kickoff go fast basically sets everything on the same schedule for the rest of the year, but it just straight up doubles the games per split, which makes each game worth less and lets each team get more from their seasons. It also allows for split 1 and 2 to be seperate standings wise, which I think the communtiy was vocal about wanting. I just think this is better.

Again, not an expert, just a fan who thinks this brings much more upside to the season. Also, rebrand the masters tournaments. They don't mean as much as champs so Riot is overdue on making them each a seperate entiity that would bring more value to winning each one.

"Unreal performance"

My king does this shit bi-weekly. He still got another 1, maybe 2 of those games left in his system for Champs. Overall, all good - we go next.

Bad day for t3xture, Lakia, and Munchkin. We go next.

Trexx is insane that's all I know, but it's hard to be top 5 cause thats reserved for the entire Gen.G roster holy they be lookin mighty nice as of late.

Trace 2-0 Vitality

I believe in Kai and FengF supremacy. I can see those mfs getting top 6. FPX could have if they didn't have THAT group.

My one and only serious hot take is that Trace is getting out of groups. I just got a vibe.

I say stop making or thinking about theories until we have statements. Just acknowledge and be cautious about everything and everyone involved until we hear more. Don't say it's fake allegations, but don't treat them as fact either. Just acknowledge it's out there, and work through it when the time comes. People taking sides at this point causes more pain and stress than it saves by "speeding up" or "figuring out" this situation.

That's just me though. This individual has put something out into the world and it is up to everyone else to do whatever feels best to them. Talking about it as either a fact or a lie just feels like semantics until we have more information. People latching onto it now just creates more disbelievers in the eventual truth.