I guess i'll never know the answer lol. Also not gonna rank SEN 24' for obvious reasons. Anyways here's my list
1. Loud 2022 10/10
Really hard to choose between 1 and 2, but it's hard to pick against a team that has a GOAT/GOAT Candidate at every role.
Less - Undisputed GOAT of Senti
Aspas - Undisputed GOAT of Duelist
Sacy - GOAT Candidate for Init
Pancada - GOAT Candidate for Controller
Saadhak - GOAT Candidate for IGL
2. EG 2023 9.99/10
Once they got to Champs form (ie: no visa issues) we saw something special that will take a LONG time to be replicated, if ever. A true team, with exceptional synergy. Lightning in a bottle. Even when they were down they looked in control of every round. And if you didn't ban fracture you were already down a map. By the time you read this last sentence, C0m has already lurked behind you and won the round.
3. Optic 2022 9.25/10
Not much to say, they weren't 'invincible' like some of the other teams here (Shanks, XSET, FPX, XERXIA, and others beat them). But they were consistently ELITE. The Streets shall not forget Prime Yay + Iceman. Their virtually even record with the #1 team is a testament of their achievements.
4. GEN.G 2024 9/10
The elephant in the room is getting grouped at champs, which will be a stain on their legacy. But lets be fair, that's pretty much widely acknowledged as the the toughest group of all time (min top 3). They lost a close finals to a white hot SEN in Madrid, then proved themselves at Shanghai. And that TH finals was not as close as the score appears. Every TH player was negative. The only map where they looked worse was ascent (not clearing corners consistently). Even icebox which they lost, they looked better the whole map, seriously go back and watch it, they lost to very small, unfortunate things - Texture legging an op shot that shoulda killed, Munchkin mistiming a flash by 0.1 seconds, etc. Anyways, while they fell short in groups, had it gone the other way, every team would be living in fear right now, and that says it all.
5. FNC 2023 7.5/10
Supremely Overrated. Where do we even start? Lets do it in order. (tldr: mickey mouse and visa issue merchants)
Barely winning a preseason, showcase tourney with a mickey mouse format against LOUD who swapped their two best champs performers for rookies, via a historic choke.
After they won that worthless temu trophy (the kind the breaks on planes), they dominate a farmers league (name the 2nd best EMEA team of '23 and tell us what they accomplished, it's not gonna sound good) and now the hype train is outta control. "They're astralis" "Unbeatable". Liquid does beat them in the end, which is a bad look, but that was a fluke and we all know it.
After that they get to Tokyo where, unlike the book series, they encounter a series of fortunate events! Lets examine all 3 teams they beat at Tokyo
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NRG
With an anti-prime ardiss. First map is actually dead even first half, but then FNC picks it up next half to get a solid 13-9. Fair enough, solid map. After that Keith puts up a LEGENDARY 0.21 Rating performance including plays such as walling off your own team during an site exec. For comparison, during the infamous DRX 13-1 game where Boaster had 0 kills until the final round, he had a 0.44 Rating.
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PRX
With a PUBG Streamer taking place of the Pacific MVP because of visa issues. "Even with something, they wouldn't have beat them at tokyo anyways". Based off what? Not the evidence. The evidence strongly suggests otherwise. PRX with something outperformed Fnatic at the next 3 straight events. Next tourney they made Champs finals (probably strongest form they were ever in) beating LOUD and even EG in upper finals. At Madrid FNC were missing cuz they were worse than the teams that PRX beat. At Shanghai PRX were the favorites going into it, beat EDG and lost an extremely close series vs 100t, and FNC were winless (lost to GEN.G, who PRX beat domestically, and got EMBARRASED by fut, who PRX would beat). This means that PRX with something were better for than FNC for basically a year after they were allowed to play with him.
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EG
Conveniently also facing visa issues! Also for their star player, the one who, upon his addition, turned around their season and would later win Champs MVP. After spending (wasting) 2 weeks of tournament prep with a sub, Demon1 returns last minute. Even with this big nerf, upper finals basically comes down to a smokes spam. Furthermore, across every map played, only 2 were decisive, Fracture for EG, and Lotus for Fnatic. Every other map comes down to two rounds, the closest possible result.
After that, we all know the story at champs, so i'm not gonna cover that, and instead deal with the two most common excuses/cope.
"Mickey Mouse? actually single elim (and no qualifier and literally pre-season) means they won the hardest tourney!"
Maybe, but, further still, a random agent select tourney would be by far the hardest event ever hosted, doesn't change that winning it would be a cosmetic achievement, worthless in comparison to events with real formats and qualifiers (ie: designed to select for the best team).
"Only lost because of Loud"
No, they lost because they were the 4th best team and they ran into the 3rd best team, who smoked them.
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