Fnatic was the best team in the world, rest of EMEA wasn't that bad technically, just overshadowed (Liquid was pretty solid). And Americas was way higher competition, that LOUD team from last year would be undefeated rn, invented their own meta (harbor viper), and a team like EG were able to somehow be better than that. Pacific i'll give it to you is probably more competitive now, and honestly the talent is more evenly spread now across all leagues, but that just reiterates my point that the top competition level from last year is = to today's if not better. Just different teams (Heretics taking FNATIC/NAVI position, GenG replacing DRX, etc.)

You're right, i'd argue it got worse tbh lol. Every region is a 2-3 team league now (besides Americas).

Yes, and no. A better mechanical player at the pro level will always be an improvement, and they would probably fair better, but Fnatic was top of the world with him already last year against relatively the same competition, so I don't think that's the reason. I think it's more so the coaching change, cause the team themselves look a lot sloppier and more indecisive than last year. All their players are still mechanically gifted, it's just more so they're putting themselves in bad situations. If you watch the Fnatic from last year, there was a clear plan almost every round of what they wanted to do, but now it seems like they've adopted a more reactive style.

I feel like I've never seen a bad Turkish player. And all of them are like 18 with crazy mechanics, there's something in the water over there I think. Only a matter of time before every squad has at least one on their team.

aspas and zekken are 100% better, so are oxy and keznit imo, but those are arguable.

He's barely top 3 in Americas lol, fun to watch though.

EDG v. Heretics champs finals, Heretics win 3-1. I'm from the future.

Idk why Tuyz isn't playing duelist, that would make a lot more sense. Having your IGL be the entry duelist is never a good idea, hopefully they make that change.

I don't think they qual for champs, and if they do it will be as the 4th seed. No way they perform better than 100T, LEV, SEN/G2.

While I believe he should def get picked up, it's never that simple. Just because he worked out with the TH roster doesn't mean that same performance will carry over to a new team, especially on a flex role. Honestly, there isn't many teams that need him/would consider him an upgrade, and the ones that do, they know he would not turn the ship around solo (KOI, GX, etc.) so it's just another contract to pay. I hope he finds a squad though; he played great this past tournament.

Really good. I'd compare him to Derke probably, just because of consistency, but I think he was a bit better than that. I'd say he's for sure one of the top 10 best FN pros of all time and has a real argument to be top 5.

Turkey
US
Korea
Brazil
Russia
Canada

If they do sign Pancada back, it'd be Tuyz duelist most likely.

The verticality of the map plays right into the strengths of omen + blind is the best piece of non-smoke utility out of the controllers, hence why omen is played on almost every map. I don't think viper or astra will be necessary, it's more so what other agents will actually provide something better? The map is very wide, having two walls and then a third smokes to float helps both sides. I can see maybe interchanging Kayo, who's just a strong agent in general, in for the third controller, but I just think you need at least two.

I can see triple controller of some sorts being picked initially (omen, harbor, viper/astra) and then gekko/breach and Jett/chamber. I think harbor and omen should be pretty heavily picked from what I've seen of the layout, but the other agents are probably interchangeable.

Kid is leading the tournament in almost every possible stat, almost 1 kpr which is ridiculous, and he's not even on his main role (yes, I know he has played duelists in the past). All that and it's his first international tournament, surely this is the best debut on the big stage we've seen in Valorant?

o7

miniboo
cauanzin
forsaken
leaf
Skuba

Money/Viewership/etc. Relegating teams would eliminate fanbases and viewership from well established organizations (KOI, GX, Vitality, etc.) Also exclusivity; the easier it is to join tier 1, the less it means. I agree there are some T2 teams that deserve a spot performance-wise, but the partner teams would have to stay and having a 13+ team league this early would kill the leagues, as well as make formatting difficult.

"Form" is only relative to what the consensus is on a team though. People only say a team is out of form when they lose games they "should" win on paper, which once again is all predicated on what we have watched on these teams prior. The only one I'll say was actual bad form was LOUD, and that's because they actually looked clueless on the map, regardless of win or loss. As long as you have your full roster, I don't think "form" should be an excuse though. Any team losing can be attributed to a team being "out of form" at that point, but bottom line is that it takes a good team to beat a good team. I agree that some days teams look worse, but that can just as easily be attributed to the underdog team playing super well/antistrats/etc. Also, they did lose to T1, but came back and won the rematch. Would you say T1 was "out of form" in the rematch? Probably not. I just think for people that understand the game well, it's obvious when a team has improved vs. flukes.

Teams have to face stiffer competition to get better, that's how EDG went from no wins at Champs 2022 to beating teams like Loud, NAVI, etc. If you've really been watching, you would see the Chinese teams (or at least EDG and FPX) have gotten better since their first LANs. Also, Riot taking slots away from China is a hilarious suggestion due to obvious reasons lol. Genuinely believe all other regions slots would be taken away before China's.

Pretty sure it was Fitinho with like 70 something funnily enough. I think it was against EDG, but could be wrong.

Should be in the 400+ range, 300+ consistent at the least. Can't be too sure nowadays because I swear Val has been de-optimized or something within the past like 6 months, but nonetheless those components should get you pretty high fps.