i can definitely see trent in B, upon review i do think his individual season was better than i thought it was. however, i still think cauan had an excellent season on such a poor team and often carried most of their games. winning maps for your team is what makes an S tier player, his INDIVIDUAL form was excellent. trent was just very inconsistent and had some stinker maps, although he was better than i thought he was.

baiter detected opinion rejected

for me cauanzin has always been a ridiculously good player for how young he is and the ceiling it looks like he will have. consistently good even on a struggling loud and he has shown signs of becoming the next less or aspas for them imo. i was definitely skeptical of jawg as a solo duelist but seeing what he can do on 2024 eg (like the game against sen) i think he is honestly one of the best entries itw rn.

cryo is def high B, could be low A now that i'm thinking abt it but i put him there because i don't think that he has enough experience as a jett/controller flex and he also didn't look that good playing in shanghai against other top teams (th, geng, prx) even on his "best agent" jett

yeah... that's why i said flex as in initiator/viper flex. that's why i compared him to players who play similar roles (mazino flexes a lot, ethan's has a good omen, verno cypher, etc). I had him as a high B but you've swayed me to put him low A

i actually thought i put valyn in S oops ill fix that

kingg has always been a fragger but i'm not sold on his igling. i know it's a big part (see 2024 nrg) but i never thought leviatan were THAT tactically deep. that one sunset map they got rolled on against fut is really biasing me

I actually thought most people would want him lower. I think jonahp is a really good ini flex but outclassed by the likes of mazino, ethan, verno, natank

are you thinking moving up or moving down? imo net has proven to be a decent defense side caller but he never had the impact fragging either on the guard or m80 to actually be a threat on the weak side. definitely a good system player but has never shown those flashes of brilliance you see from top players

why are you hating i literally glazed 2023 eg

this is based on current form, that's why trent is ranked so low. same thing with cryo, i don't think he has had enough experience on smokes roles (for example, his omen doesn't look great) and jett is not a good enough agent anymore to just take over games. definitely had flashes of greatness, the game against loud was a crazy performance, for examples, but i don't think he's as good of a jett/semi flex as others. i can see putting him in A though, definitely a high B here

trent looked quite poor after kickoff, especially on his signature sova. definitely was the guard's best player but on g2 he never really had a shining moment

i personally think eg's 2023 success was due to him in a big way/knowing how to use demon1. the vibe change around 100t has been actually crazy and they have looked really good at times. i think people rate him too low compared to other igls like saadhak/fns, and he has shown that he has the mechanical skill to take over maps

discussion on another post about s-tier players for each team in americas made me think of a tier list for all players

tiers are unordered, players are judged INDIVIDUALLY and not based on team success. note most of this is eye test RIGHT NOW, hence why certain players are ranked so highly despite no official matches and why some players (demon1) are ranked so low

feel free to ask why, i will explain my reasoning for specific players

S - world class, one of the best in their role/overall ability
narrate
cauanzin
zekken
aspas
boostio
verno
jawgemo
valyn

A - one of the best players in region at their role, passes the eye test
s0m
ethan
leaf
fns
mwzera
eeiu
kinggg
tex
oxy
supamen
keznit
mazino
johnqt
pancada
cortezia
heat
natank
jonahp
bang

B - good players of championship winning caliber, but are not their team's star player(s)
icy
gobera
c0m
havoc
mada
melser
zellsis
shyy
khalil
derrek
cryo
dgzin
tuyz
artzin
nzr
demon1
zander
asuna
v1c
pryze
yay
trent
raafa
zap

C - decent role players, just mid
adverso
nature
vinny
lz
xenom
xeppaa
mitch
silentzz
net

D - why is this person getting paid, shanks is better
mta

unironically think americas has a lot of good talent this year

recently a lot of igls have been making the transition from smokes/senti to initiator roles. obviously there is the argument that initiators are more "with the pack" and thus will lead to better calling, but i think the uncomfortableness on the role is doing more harm than good. for some igls there is some sense (fns has marved/som and saadhak had pancada/tuyz so they can both flex well and call) but for others it just ends up with the johnqt/narrate issue.

i feel like the role switches aren't necessary, a championship winning team can have an igl that plays a lurk/controller/senti playstyle. pretty much the same number of internationals these past few years were won by an ini/flex igl

flex igl:
munchkin geng
nobody edg
saadhak loud
fenis optic
redcar gambit

"traditional" igls:
boaster fnatic
johnqt sentinels
boostio eg
angel fpx

discuss

does he have a vct ace? i honestly can't remember one even though everyone on prx + benkai has one

johnqt
zeKKen
zeLLsis
ReduXX
CuRRy

only need johnqt to have double letters

(this means n4RRate is confirmed)