I genuinely think they'll be like a staple of international events now, similar to the LOUD/OPTIC/PRX of old, making deep runs and stuff. It's just so hard to win multiple trophies, especially back-to-back ones, so idk if that'll happen but I do expect them to do well.

He was and has been 100T best player since he got signed, he just flys under the radar cause he was even more cracked in chamber meta, so like the form he's been in is less astonishing ig. Stats aside though, he's definitely indispensable if I'm 100t, especially considering his willingness and ability to play other agents when necessary.

I think FURIA and C9 in Americas will surprise as teams, and I expect primmie and oxy to take those next steps of being top 3 in the world type players. I think if they let him play duelist, primmie will be better than aspas/demon1/yay level.

Hating on a 17 year old kid making money playing video games, you need God.

I mean they signed him on as a 6th, cause next year when he's of age he for sure would have interest from many more teams and it would have been more difficult. It seems they're willing to pay him early to secure him on the team, it's a gamble but kid's talented.

https://www.vlr.gg/post/4157108/sen-reduxx

Had a feeling they weren't just signing him for a fill in.

Exposure and a chance at winning don't put food on the table and clothes on your back

You have to consistently innovate, once you have a success with a certain playstyle, other teams can study it and build counter measures, that's why fnatic was able to be so good in 2022, the way they played in lock in vs. end of year was semi dissimilar in terms of approach (always had the player quality tho obviously), which is why I think they won two trophies and top 4 at champs.

2 and 4 not really crazy takes lol, KC is a brand new team, literally 4 diff players. Only been one team to win trophies in same year/back to back years as well, not easy to stay on top in this game. I think the DRX one is insane though lol, they're bout to sign 3 rookies.

I think Wedid has serious health issues (I think cancer but not sure) that even had him unable to play some matches in challengers, so I mean that's probably a big reason why he's not able to play T1. And as for adder, there's just better sentinels currently in the league, you can't really replace any player on an NA team rn with him, probably why you haven't heard his name popup often.

Does anybody know why the age restriction for franchising exists? Esp when they allow any age to be in T2, and ascension is a thing. I don't understand what having players wait till they're 18 accomplishes, is it some sort of legal rule thing that Riot has to follow?

Your parasocial stats are maxed out

Broke, literally on the verge of bankruptcy until Jerry Jones bought it out.

Makes sense.

Not a hot take really, idk why 100t chose Zander over him.

Braindead take, n4rrate and bang are about as good as you can get with the roles they needed filled. I think they will be just fine.

Start KK, Bench Aspas, Sell something
Start Karon, Bench Tenz, Sell Kingg
Start Riens, Bench Leo, Sell Verno
Start F0rsaken, Bench wo0t, Sell Chron
Start Chichoo, Bench Meteor, Sell Benjy
Start Saadhak, Bench Valyn, Sell fns

This is simultaneously a terrible and hilarious comment.

This is either gonna propel Fnatic back to 2023 type form or make them look really dumb. It's always a risk replacing somebody as good as Derke, especially with a rookie.

If it was just for RB, they would have just signed anyone that plays whatever role is left to fill, I am sure they signed reduxx specifically cause this RB situation is a great scouting opportunity. We'll see down the road.

Pretty smart by SEN, they essentially get to "sign" him prior to him being able to compete and see how he performs/build rapport with him for when he's of age.

Lmao you can't be serious

Timeless droppin tonight lil bruh lock tf in

In what role?

Pretty sure Aspas was a demon before fr0d lol... Won champs before fr0d, top 5 player in the world before fr0d.

It does, that's why everyone harped on the franchise system when it was announced.

They could but once again there isn't much profit to be made in the lower tiers when you create a clear separation between what's considered the "top tier" and everything else. There's a reason VCT matches pull 100's of thousands of viewers and challengers games pull a fraction of that, no tournament organizers are going to want to invest in something that probably will not have a good return, if any return.

This was bound to happen honestly; I think it's exacerbated by the fact franchising is still new and the previous system is still "fresh" in our minds, so seeing it unfold like this is a bit more frustrating for players. Eventually though, no one will really even care, because there is really no way to make T2 profitable Riot would have to lose money in order to help that scene out.

This curse never fails... First Tenz/Cned, then Yay, then Demon1, now it's looking like Aspas is heading for a bad year (might not even play). I'm actually amazed at how consistent this curse seems to be.

Kanye, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Probably stay, he's not replacing Aspas or Keznit lol. Don't know if he speaks english or not, but assuming not.

Premier/Challengers Promotion stage. That's how Blinn college got in I'm pretty sure.

Not true, just last year Demon1 was as egotistical as one can be lol and he was the best player in the world. They don't always go hand in hand

Well said. Genuinely think they saw the Heretics success and thought they had to go get budding talent in a sort of FOMO frenzy. Replacing Boaster would be a better move competitively, but I get why they don't want to do that, considering he is like their whole brand. We'll see what they're trying to cook, but they are moving very odd.

There's no way to give an upper final advantage without compromising competitive integrity. A "best of 4" would be the only other advantage outside of map vetoes, where the upper final team only has to win 2 maps and the lower final team has to win 3. Still think that's just crazy unfair but the only other way.

Mexico is #1 respectfully. Or Latin America in general.

He could have changed back while at champs, that would be hilarious considering how he answered the interview question lol.

Yeah, one of the postgame interviews from the final days of vct cn (forget which game), he got asked if he thinks it's smart to change settings often, and then he answered by saying no, that he's back on his old sens when he used to play chamber in 2022 cause it works for him both rifling and op'ing (which was .28) and he's trying to stay more consistent with his settings.

https://x.com/circustreehouse/status/1813582827897897067

Found the vid actually.

KK wasn't actually on .1 1600 during the tournament, whatever website that was on is wrong. He was on .28 800.

I seen KK do that like 8 times at Champs ngl

You can't judge for playing with t2 teams when he literally came from the best team in the world at one point. It's the same case as yay, everybody knows yay is t1 worthy, but if you judged him on his time in t2, he wouldn't even be considered.

I mean every single one of his ex teammates are in t1, and doing well. He was just as good as them during their time, and even parts of 2022. Surely there's a team (KOI,GX,M8,NAVI) that could use him. Idk if he speaks english actually, but skill wise he deserves to be playing against the best.

Why is EMEA blackballing my guy? Personally feel he's definitely good enough to be on a t1 org, is there something I'm missing cause he's been out of T1 for like 2 years now.

Highly doubt they want to pickup sayf if they thought they could do without derke. More than likely Alfa will play duelist or they are going to pickup a younger talent.

I think you can make it work on some maps if you have two high caliber players (derke + alfajer, jawgemo + demon1, t3xture + meteor)

I'd say JonahP. Feel like he was g2's best player (could argue leaf), but didn't receive much of, if any, of the credit for their success this year.

Lower time to kill. Mechanics are just better at the top level, everyone is relatively the same consistency, so faster flicks/reaction time wins out.

Usually how it goes when the older, "OG" game gets passed up/caught up to by the new kid on the block. It just has to do with nostalgia/exclusivity, CS heads want to feel like what they grew up on is 1 of 1 and can't/shouldn't even try to be replicated, even though Valorant is its own game. CS fans are also generally older, and older people tend to be change averse.

TBF, relative to the age of VCT, he's not wrong. 2 trophies in 4 years, Multiple regional titles, multiple records. Tenz is in the top 5 pure accomplishments alone, not even factoring in popularity. Once you include that, it makes sense though. Obviously can't compare to faker literally due to career length, but relatively it's a good comparison.

Riot moves different when it comes to homebase my boy, having a Chinese team on top of the game is like a borderline national achievement.