Even Indians on this site have repeatedly said there's no Indian talent worthy of tier 1, especially not over other valuable players that were selected through open tryouts. How many Indians even tried out?

we're costco guys

From what I understand DRG need to make champs if they want to stay in tier 1, and the macro of the team has been pretty poor especially post-Shanghai. It looks like Wolves, JDG and others are improving their rosters and changing their coaching staff, add to that the already dangerous trio of Trace/FPX/EDG. I think DRG need another win condition outside of Vookashu to be a top 4 team next year.

https://www.vlr.gg/pickem/42c34d22

So the roster for Wolves is -aluba -pl1xx +lysoar +V1ya

I think Lysoar is a big upgrade for this team but I'm not sure how good V1ya is. XLG are playing with YOU for this event and I hope it's not their roster for next year. They need a strong igl and as far as I know YOU has never been an igl and I wouldn't consider him an outstanding player.

If DRG wants to make it to champs next year they really need to find replacements for Shion and Nicc I think. Even if SpiritZ fixes their inconsistent duelist problem it still might not be enough for them.

Scales going 0-14 that one game was absolutely shameless lmao. Slowly returning to TYLOO is big for them imo. But TYLOO does have a history of making good players look like shit. So we'll have to wait and see how this once again new roster turns out.

I was honestly surprised to see that K1ra and x3b were the ones chosen from Ascension. K1ra was okay but x3b was just not good. But I'm guessing x3b is their new igl so firepower isn't their concern for him.

I assumed Bunt was the one out because K1ra is a controller player if I'm not mistaken and x3b plays all of Sword9's roles.

Unfortunately Oxy has a ball and a chain wrapped around his ankle (his C9 contract)

Maybe GENG? Don't they need 2 players?

This. As much as GE is hated and clowned on I'm actually excited for this new roster, it's nice to see new faces and all of their pickups are deserving a t1 shot.

Masters Bangkok:
AMER : SEN G2
EMEA : KC TH
APAC : DRX T1
CN : EDG FPX
Final : G2 vs TH (G2 win)

Masters Toronto:
AMER : SEN G2 LEV
EMEA : TH KC FNC (VIT choke, FNC find a way as per usual)
APAC : GENG T1 PRX (DRX choke)
CN : EDG FPX TE
Final : T1 vs SEN (T1 win)

Champs Paris:
AMER : LEV NRG G2 100T
EMEA : VIT TH FNC KC
APAC : DRX T1 PRX RRQ
CN : EDG FPX WOL JDG
Final : LEV vs KC (LEV wins, c0m crowned best player in val history)

Who is RA?

Honestly I think the hate for BlazeKing is really unwarranted and childish, but I never expected him to be a star player or a huge pickup for a tier 1 team. Like, I don't remember being blown away by his individual performance to the point where I thought "Yeah, another t1 team will definitely grab him" but maybe that's because GE was just shit as a whole this season. Hope he gets picked up by a tier 2 org as he is still a solid player.

EG is like his only option in NA so it has to be that

Foxy and Udo are way better than Saya tbh, hope it's either of them

Hopefuly Udotan, dude is cracked as fuck. Honestly way more flexible than Sayaplayer.

Honestly they need to scrap their roster, maybe just keep Knight and Nephh. I guess they're spending all their money on league of legends and don't give a shit about winning in val.

DRX exposed Trace's inexperience against high level opponents, they just need to get as good as they can in China and hopefully scrims, more practice and a stronger map pool will help them improve throughout 2025.

Isn't his contract still good for another year? He might leave in 2026 but he's definitely going to be on TEC for 2025

I have a feeling he's going down to t2

Honestly there's just far too many Korean shooters for Lakia to stay in tier 1 pacific, and all the non-korean pacific teams have an idea for their rosters already. I expected to see him in China.

I think we should be looking at LOUD in long term. Sato and Lukzo are both really good players. I could see Sato becoming a star duelist in the future.

EMEA, NA and Pacific are all putting together some really promising teams, I'm not seeing a whole lot of buzz for China right now. I think EDG will do well but won't winning an international. But I do think we'll see the Chinese teams improve internationally overall.

k1ng or udotan maybe? who are the best korean sentis on the market right now? I've heard good things about Xross but don't think he plays that role

ncslasher

Vera, UdoTan or Kr1stal would've been fine choices too imo, I don't think this is the best lineup that they could've picked

Talk Tuah

Gotten or Lmemore pls, I like Blazeking but he should go to GE (the only GE player from 2024 that deserves a second chance)

Gotten is definitely the better player over zesbew, but imo I think Lmemore would be the best firepower option

1 T1
2 DRX
3 PRX
4 RRQ
5 GENG
6 SPG
7 ZETA
8 Talon
9 TS
10 DFM
11 BOOM
12 GE

Hard to rank because RRQ still has Estrella as igl right? I don't see them breaking top 3 but likely top 5. PRX's placement largely depends on if they fix their problems or not. They're mechanically still a great team.

no yesican?

Welcome LEV neT

Now that Meteor is confirmed out, Munchkin seems 50/50 and no idea about Lakia what's your GENG roster for 2025?
Texture duelist
Karon smokes
Yoman igl flex
Zest recon
Foxy9 senti

Doombros and Krystal would've been the brain that this team needed, VIT looks like it has way too many cooks in the kitchen and no one to properly lead the team

Lakia is likely not going to be in t1 this year unless GENG resigns him, T1 and DRX seem to have their rosters already

FPX are still playing 'Chinese valorant' and while Trace has a ton of great ideas and I loved their performances on Ascent they lack experience against high level competition (as shown in their match against DRX).

I'm hoping to see both of those teams and others improve even further over the next year. They have the mechanical talent to do what EDG did.

Yay senti
Derrek ini
Supa smokes
Icy or Sym duelist
Mitch igl

It's Twitter people wanting to cancel and harass another person. They will make drama out of absolutely anything. Am I genuinely supposed to believe that these terminally online people don't say 'mean words' about others? Twitter girls and these 'politically correct' accounts bully, harass, falsely accuse and spread lies about everyone. Just over the past few months it feel like every week another Valorant pro is getting targeted for something they supposedly said or did online.

Bro is going to join Wolfen, B1sk and D1masick on the Chinese plantation

UdoTan is an insane player, that's actually a solid roster on paper

Tbf Vookashu and Autumn don't speak Chinese either, it's the Chinese players that comm in English

Chinese teams really don't care if the import speaks the language or not, they just want firepower

Why would DFM pickup Aspas when they have the best Japanese duelist already signed?

PRX S tier and DRX D tier, hello?
It's the same PRX roster that got WORSE with every international since Champs '23 (with the exception of Monyet during Madrid) and were grouped last we saw them, meanwhile DRX's pickups are actually insanely good

Free1ng is an unbelievable player, and was the most impressive player aside from XLG Rarga during China Ascension

I think it's possible that an org like FNC, NRG or ZETA snake their duelist in favor of signing Aspas. If not, what team has an open slot for duelist that could affort his buyout? The only other reasonable option is a LEV resign or welcome to the Chinese scene

porno acting lmao

What language does BOOM comm in? If they don't comm English then Sscary probably won't be signed. I'm guessing one of the Alter Ego players or Lmemore will take the 5th spot. Zesbeew was easily the weakest member of the team and will likely go back to t2.

sScary or Lmemore to replace Zesbeew hopefully