For ZETA, I need to be brutally honest. If they want to compete again in 2025, there needs to be a squad overhaul.

Their current roster movements are a step in the right direction. Although losing Laz might have been the least ideal scenario, they desperately need a change of personnel. At this point, there's no going back and they can't stop here. While they are at it, they should change their coaching staff. Much of their dismay in 2024 came from their weak mentality. Valorant is known as a heavily momentum-based video game, however ZETA truly embodied it last year. Most of their rounds came from being on a strong roll. However, they were unable to overcome it when they were the ones on the receiving end. I strongly believe that they should weed out this deeply rooted issue by bringing some new faces. I would be happy to see them bring in non-Japanese players and staff as well, with a real focus on resilience against large swings in the scoreline.

Too many are too critical of PRX. They think the only way to improve is by dropping players and abandoning their playstyle. However, I want to provide a different perspective going into 2025.

All their players are world class and I hate the criticism of Jinggg. In fact, he should be the central player to build around. PRX's success revolves around their ability to cater to Jinggg. They need to stop trying to relegate him onto other roles when he is clearly the most impactful Raze, on his day. When he gets to play Raze, PRX need to have more standard team comps to help him to their fullest. However, I do not think PRX should completely change their way of throwing in unique curveballs. Whenever something gets to play Jett, PRX can be much more flexible. With all of this considered, they need to strategically combine all of their wild plays and ideas with more calculated ones. I hope 2025 can bring back prime PRX and hopefully cheer up their toxic fans.

Definitely going to be serious trophy contenders in 2025. If they want to go to the next level however, they should start with some more experimentation. Compared to every other team in the world, no one can match GEN in terms of simple, standard play. But every once in a while, they should throw in some more spicy set pieces and team comps. They need to define themselves as the vanguard of the meta and always be one step ahead.

The strength of Pacific seems to be on the rise but It's hard to imagine GEN falling off immensely. If it does happen, however, with the immense amount of Korean talent nowadays, they can certainly bounce back with roster changes.

Some insane firepower on that team. With 4 Brazilian teams in Americas 2025, I strongly believe that 2G will make their country proud. Although qualification for an international event is hard to predict and justify at the moment, I think 2G will avoid immediate relegation. This is mainly because of their strong mentality that definitely outshines that of other America's teams.

Drop any team below! I'll give my honest thoughts and analysis on how their 2025 will go, with my reasoning.

I have a feeling DSG vs. RVNT could become our first 2 - 1 match.

In Pacific Ascension, there have only been 2 - 0 matches so far.
Do you think there is a massive skill differential or a wide spread mentality issue in Asian Tier 2? Hopefully we can see closer affairs soon, as 9 games have already gone by.

Same number of NA and SA teams now…

Honestly embarrassing from Valorant.

Update:
Submitted a support ticket and my compensation for the RR loss is giving me a mission granting 4000 XP and 100 KC… They also said that they do not know when the issue will be fixed. I hope this issue does not become widespread.

Aurora #F730. His Valorant Tracker is private…

TSM, as an organization, fell off extraordinarily hard at the end of 2020. They should have realized in 2021 that they were not made for VCL, let alone VCT.

sentinelmain377 is my archnemesis at this rate...

Reported him but his Valorant Tracker is private. I wish I could know whether or not he just started using the hack or if he's been using it multiple times without a ban...

Made a ticket and praying.
Worst part is that because there was no guarantee I was winning that game, I'll be refunded the lost RR at best, when in fact I should be gaining RR and ranking up...

Made a ticket and praying.
Worst part is that because there was no guarantee I was winning that game, I'll be refunded the lost RR at best, when in fact I should be gaining RR and ranking up...

I posted the round history above.

Here is the round history:
https://imgur.com/a/9lAnuAF

I was on my rank up and was winning 10 - 1. All of a sudden, the cheater detected screen pops up and we're kicked out of the game.
I check my career but it says I lost the match and RR. I look at the round history and the enemy Sova got all the kills after the rest of the players were kicked out...
I restarted my game multiple times but the match is still on my career and the RR is lost. Is this a new unstoppable hack?

Here is the round history:
https://imgur.com/a/9lAnuAF

Update:
Submitted a support ticket and my compensation for the RR loss is giving me a mission granting 4000 XP and 100 KC… They also said that they do not know when the issue will be fixed. I hope this issue does not become widespread.

No it's a LOCK//IN event, like they did in 2023.

48 teams split into 3 pools of 16, each with 4 randomly selected teams per region.
Each pool plays a single elimination bracket, ensuring there are no regional matchups in the RO16 and quarterfinals.
Winner of each pool enters a 3 team single round-robin group to crown the winner.
Optionally, the top 2 of teams in the said round-robin can play an extra game as the grand final instead.

Phantom is better but whenever I use it I become FNS.

Yeah, I could've mentioned yay and full rosters but I got lazy.

Thank you everyone for letting me know about Victor.

Just to confirm, are these all of the players from Tier 1 confirmed looking for new teams in the 2025 season?

Laz (RETIRED), Derke, TaKaS, Zyppan, Jamppi, Mistic, Enzo, ardiis, hiro, starxo, Victor, crashies, Mazino, SUYGETSU.

One of my hot takes is that we will see T1 be around the same level as GEN sometime next season.

Bias is not allowed! Anyways, DRX will win all 3 events in 2025!

Assuming G2 don't make Champions Paris, they would also have to not Top 8 and auto-relegate or they do and lose in Ascension...

Still decently hot take because Champions has been the most competitive event of essentially every year, bar 2021. That year was dreadful.

10% - NRG with FNS will continue to flop next season but s0m will prove to be a top 3 controller in Americas
20% - SEN and LEV will both benefit from a C0M and Sacy swap deal, likely maintaining top status in Americas
30% - China will experience the greatest power shift out of the 4 regions in the new season
40% - EMEA will once again have a single strong side that will perform the best of any team in the region at all 3 international events
50% - Masters Toronto will be the most competitive event of the year, due to Champions Paris allowing 2 teams per region to qualify through Championship Points
60% - GE will significantly improve with a new roster, likely even becoming a regular in regional playoffs
70% - EDG will stumble at Masters Bangkok but prove to still be a strong team in the rest of the season
80% - T1 and GEN will be near the same level, as the season progresses
90% - Of the 8 teams that came from Ascension, most of them will extend their stay in franchising, meaning we will likely not see many new teams in 2026 become replacements
100% - DRX in 2025 will be the most dominant team of all time, overtaking FNC in 2023

Probably will have to wait until after Ascension...

Would be a nice boost for both teams, to be honest.

Sayaplayer is restricted F/A on T1 but let it count still.

Sayaplayer
MaKo
Meteor
stax
Rb

Strength: I bet he can cook some fire Indian food
Weakness: Valorant

DRX the only team with 3 players on the list and we still didn't make top 4...

My apologies for not understanding the first time.

I see what you mean. But the probability of getting two teams in the Grand Final that went unbeaten in the group stage is lower than you think. There have been 10 events where there was a group stage and only in 4 of them was the Grand Final contested by teams that went unbeaten in said group stage. The probability probably gets even lower for events when both Grand Final teams were in the group stage because for some events one team gets a bye straight to the playoffs.

No? Unless we have another LOCK//IN one of the teams in grand finals would have come from the lower bracket, meaning they have already lost.

I doubt we will see many more unbeaten wins, as the competition is heating up. A team would have to be extremely dominant for that to happen.

Here are the list of teams that have won international events while going unbeaten.

SEN - Masters Reykjavík 2021
ACE - Champions Berlin 2021
FNC - LOCK//IN São Paulo, Masters Tokyo 2023
GEN - Masters Shanghai 2024

Interesting Facts:

• These unbeaten runs seem to have happened in some of the least competitive events to date
• SEN are the only team to do it without dropping a single map
• FNC are the only team to do it twice
• GMB (Masters Berlin 2021), LOUD (Champions Istanbul 2022), EG (Champions Los Angeles 2023), SEN (Masters Madrid 2024), and EDG (Champions Seoul 2024) were all one game away from going unbeaten

Can someone actually tell me whether or not it's a good game? Worth buying?

Who is one person in VCT you think should genuinely stop trying and hang up the boots?
For me, it's FNS. Yes, he won his trophy but his time has been long up. I quite like the NRG squad and I feel that his role as player is overall harmful to the success of the roster. I think he should quit sooner rather than later.

Yeah that includes them. You should've added commas around the blowing up part or put the "since ACE" part right after the "adapt to next year" part.

Technically ACE did stay together. They were 2 - 2 in the group stage of Stage 1 2022 before purp0 subbed in for zeek in their last match that they needed to win. They lost to BBL and didn't make playoffs.

You can beat them in the upper bracket but whatever you do... Do not eliminate them!

I hope EDG keep doing well though.

Eliminating TH means doing poorly at the next international event.

Kickoff: KC eliminated TH and did poorly at Masters Madrid
Masters Madrid: PRX eliminated TH and did poorly at Masters Shanghai
Stage 1: FNC eliminated TH and did poorly at Masters Shanghai
Masters Shanghai: GEN eliminated TH and did poorly at Champions Seoul
Stage 2: VIT eliminated TH and did poorly at Champions Seoul
Champions Seoul: EDG eliminated TH and... Masters Bangkok...

Every team that has beaten TH in a regional or international Grand Final has suffered at the following international event.
TH lost to KC in Kickoff who did poorly at Masters Madrid, lost to FNC in Stage 1 who did poorly at Masters Shanghai, lost to GEN in Masters Shanghai who did poorly at Champions Seoul, and lost to EDG in Champions Seoul...
This trend shows that EDG will do poorly at Masters Bangkok.

TH lost to KC in Kickoff who did poorly at Masters Madrid, lost to FNC in Stage 1 who did poorly at Masters Shanghai, lost to GEN in Masters Shanghai who did poorly at Champions Seoul, and lost to EDG in Champions Seoul... Would be crazy if EDG do poorly at Masters Bangkok to keep the trend going.