I had Loud going the distance. I didn't cheer for either side, I just wanted AM to win. Any non-braindead fucker from NA would have still been fine if loud won.

EG are officially a top team.

Also, fuck my pickem. I had loud with a flawless win.

guys we have all done that same thing, lets be honest.

EG are unstoppable on fracture, Loud is still a top 3 team in tokyo.

get pistol
get anti eco and bonus
lose a random round
win another
other team calls a timeout
drop 4 in a row
call eg timeout
win the half 7-5 or 6-6

fault line
gernade
Breach blind
double satchel
paintshell
nano gernade
sova ult
kayo molly

ALL FOR FUCKING TOWER. WHAT THE FUCK.

GG to EG, they're poised to win this tournament.

I said this same fucking thing. Shit is too clean.

quite

(what is blud talking about, we just went 4-0 in groups and now we are facing the two best teams in the whole tournament. thanks riot)

If they say that we just say that lock//in was a complete fluke and they'll start to stutter to the ends of the earth.

I'm just excited to see EG in their best form ever against the ever-looming beast that is Loud. I'm cheering for a good game, not either team.

Either EG win and are officially a top team globally or loud start their flawless run to win tokyo, either option I am all for.

True as fuck

If they randomized and got this bracket, they should have rerolled. Boring as fuck rematches in round 1. Rematches are way better in lowers or further into playoffs, not TWO REGIONAL in ROUND 1.

Want a rematch? Should have got the semi's from lockin between DRX and Loud as a rematch.

Then we would have got the goated match of "counter gaming" vs "W gaming" aka EG vs PRX. That would have been too fun of a matchup.

Anyways, let's throw EMEA to the opposite sides because Riot still on their knees for the EMEA scene :)

Yeah, no way to do it.

5/6: NA seed 2 vs NA seed 3

7/8: Pacific Seed 2 vs China Lower Seed

https://www.vlr.gg/pickem/c8415429

The storyline is that Something comes back for round 2, but in Upper finals and lower finals he's diffed 20-0 by Saadhak and FNS on every map. All this to get El Classico again.

Bro the only matchup I wanted was EG vs PRX. That would have been SO insane.

But instead AM vs AM for the quadrillion time. More AM teams have taken out AM teams than EMEA or Pacific has, combined. It's insane.

I agree, if there was seeding this would be the bracket:

LQD vs EDG (would be Seed 1 vs Seed 8)
PRX vs DRX (would be Seed 2/3 vs Seed 7)
Loud vs EG (would be Seed 2/3 vs Seed 6)
Fnatic vs NRG (would be Seed 4 vs Seed 5)

Lowkey funny as fuck that we get a Pacific v Pacific and a AM vs AM, but EMEA (the 1 and 4 seed) were made sure to be spread to different sides of the bracket.

Would much rather the ethical

Fnatic v NRG
Liquid v EDG

Loud v DRX
PRX v EG

In theory, it could have just been a roll between PRX and Loud for seed 2 and 3, which the 3rd would get EG (6th seed). LQD get 1 for lockin, fnatic get 4 for same reason.

This entire bracket is SEED FOR SEED with exception of seed 1 and 2 being same side, and seed 3 and 4 same side. Everything else is the seed you would give each team.

Nvm I thought about it more and it's

PRX and Loud were probably the only random part to decide who gets 2 (higher of the group loser) and 3 (lower of the group winner), as in DRX and EG.
1 + 8
2 + 6
3 + 7
4 + 5

With riot math it would make sense.

But I dumb

Shoutout to me saying, 8 months ago, that EDG are an insane fracture team. That mf knew his shit.

Mostly talking about the ex-fnatic players still being very good after they left the team. it seems like most other trial-and-error in the history of EMEA has been a definite downgrade when compared to how other regions can get the right talent. Mostly talking about the top tier teams in EMEA not being able to find decent talent.

Loud is a San Antonio Spurs superteam. Build throughout the years and conger a beast of a squad.

Fnatic is a Miami Heat superteam. Have a decent core, find the two single best players out there, and sign them.

Both superteams, just one was built in 2022 and the other was bought for 2023.

I said after the EAST ASIA LCQ last year that Zmjjkk was one of the best op-ers in the world.

He is the same animal, and a different beat.

He was him, he is him, he will forever be him.

The whole ex-fnatic squad is gonna win ascension too. It's funny as fuck that fnatic is the only team that's actually DONE anything in EMEA.

It took EMEA making the single greatest superteam in Val to be competitive with Loud and NRG. Now, because of the reward format, it rewards the obvious weakest region with the most opportunities. Like, I am confident that the bottom 4 teams in EMEA are worse than Kru. It's actually sad.

I was legit gonna put this but it's a little too troll.

Kru would have done better than Giants tho.

Thank god the one team region can finally have their one team play.

Hope to god that Fnatic lose masters so that a consistent 2 emea teams get grouped at champs instead of the alternative 3.

I guarantee that C9, Sen, and Furia would have all done better than Navi.

With all the DSG problems it's unfair to blame it on Yay's performance. He's a great talent, but look at Ardiis. Similar playstyles, but one has a crazy good core to support them. I think Yay would be plug-and-play equal to Ardiis or Cryo in their situations. Leaf, Demon1, and Tenz are much more aggressive than Yay has ever been comfortable being, they're just a whole different style.

Plus in Franchising you don't get as bombarded as NA T2. Like, the dives in Franchising compared to NA T2 is like comparing a wave to a tsunami. That's why NA T2 looks like a mess, because it IS a mess. It's really hard for passive opers like yay to do well.

DRX gotta figure something out, but Fut are about as linear as DRX are. It'll come down much more to which team executes better. EG had plays on plays to counter each team, they're an incomparable beast. Plus DRX permabans lotus, a staple of Fut's map pool. It'll be close, but you can't really say either team in their current form can distinctly beat the other.

Me when the One Team Region has their One Team play

:0

It'll be really fun to watch 3 EMEA teams get grouped instead of 2.

I see why you say this, but Liquid was more of a bounce back since they were expected to be a top 2 team in EMEA at the start of the season, I don't think C9 (after roster change) and the T1 roster were expected to be even near the level that they got to. T1 wasn't even expected to be the second best Korean team. Liquid just stopped shitting the bed, C9 and T1 reached a new level. I'm not denying that the bounceback by Liquid wasn't a ton of growth, but it was their expected level to began with.

T1 were probably (other than C9) the team with the most growth. They've always had the potential to do really well, now they are actually following through.

Nevermind

If NRG win, theoretically, they would hop EG due to regional seed (nrg #2, EG #3) and get the 5th seed. 5th seeds get to verse the 4th seed. Who would be the theoretical 4th seed? Fnatic. NRG fans gotta pray that it's gonna be a random draw.

I think we have seen in the first two days that EMEA is straight up behind on the overall meta. AM has revolutionized that Harbor-Viper comp, and not even Fnatic are playing it. EMEA still has a sentinel on split, while every AM team runs the same double dive + double smoke. If EMEA want to stop shitting the bed in Masters, they have got to watch... any AM vod really. Even the T2 scene in NA is running better comps than EMEA does.

(EMEA copium btw)

So what if Loud won Lock//In and got the extra spot? We'd still actually get Fut vs EG, but NRG would have got the bye and we'd get Fnatic vs C9. Clearly, Fnatic vs C9 has the bones to be a better matchup than Navi vs NRG.

The point of this is that it's kinda unfair to throw the top 2 from a region into playoffs and nor expect their 3 and 4 seeds to do worse in the groups.

(End of EMEA Copium)

I am confident tho that teams like C9 and Furia could have done decent at this event. DRX looking beatable, and how the Chinese teams have looked, C9 and Furia could have fought to make playoffs.

But hey, that's all a dream world, and we don't know what would have really gone on.

Lets Go M80, time to prove why Canada is truly the best region in AM.

I have ASE going through in the lower bracket, I believe brother. I just like watching Foxy9.

double agent more like double negative

I blame the brits

Thank God Foxy9 is back AND Tenz is watchpartying. This is gonna be insane.

Do you mean only getting 2 rounds against the best team in Tokyo? I'm going to assume that one.

Nah, they gonna lose to Attacking Soul Esports.

Then EG will lose to Attacking Soul Esports.

Then Attacking Soul Esports beats Loud.

Attacking Soul Esports now and forever.

JP is actually 30 seconds ahead, wtf

I hope this is a good omen for champs and the NA crowd. JP and NA are the two biggest regions by far, so it'd be great if both diplays good crowds, even when a home team is not present.

I think it's better than the alternative (lines) but I get that the overall ascents are the same, mixing that up to be a different look would have been cool.

nobody is prepared for the wronghand call. If this is the universe we get, then it's the best universe we could have hoped for.

https://www.vlr.gg/pickem/c8415429