NRG does need a proper igl, that's 100% true. But either pick doesn't solve the other huge problem with the team: their vibes. They need a vibes guy. They either need their IGL to fill that role as well, or they need to add a second player, in place of literally anyone. They'd still have a bit of a problem then (their sentinel player is also their Raze player so they're kinda screwed on some maps) but it would do wonders for them regardless.

...I'm sorry, but if you respect someone like Curry or JOLLZ, for example, for smurfing in lower elo lobbies purely for content, MORE than people who genuinely want to help you improve at the game in a morally correct way, then I don't know what to tell ya, man.

...?

Yeah, that's my main concern. He doesn't see anything wrong with it.

Didn't know he stopped. Did he apologize at all, though? Or did he just slowly ease it out because people stopped watching it or something

Mb, prolly should've just elaborated. The whole smurfing thing... he doesn't see anything wrong with it, and he's still doing it, therefore encouraging his viewers to do it as well. Just puts a bad taste in my mouth.

SEN Curry. Don't think I need to elaborate

My agent pool differs depending on the map.
Ascent: Omen, KAY/O, Cypher
Bind: Harbor, Gekko, Fade, Viper, Cypher, Skye
Breeze: Harbor, KAY/O, Cypher
Icebox: Harbor, Gekko
Lotus: Fade, Gekko, Harbor, Skye
Split: Harbor, Omen, Cypher, Gekko
Sunset: Harbor, Cypher, Fade, Gekko, Omen

I'm in.

They not only placed top 4, but also topped their group. Even considering how well they did in kickoff, when you compare it to last year, I wouldn't call it flopping

Harbor in a nutshell

How the hell is Karmine Corp in your top 6 flops of the year? They went from having a player leave because they were such a big joke as a team it was giving them mental issues, to completely reforming and going into kickoff as the most dominant winners in any region, and that's still not enough for you to call them flops?

You're definitely underestimating G2. They're a really good team, and to say they suck because they lost 3-0 to 100T is a tad overreactionary, especially considering they played 5 days in a row against four different teams.

Agreed. It won't benefit Sentinels because they already have really good synergy. If anything, all it'll do is negatively impact LOUD. Which I guess is a good thing for Sentinels, but not good enough to spend all that money.

What do you have against paTiTek?

Not confirmed

Education > video games

Click link, head empty

Goes without saying that it's EDG, FPX, TE, and DRG for China.

"Stop being a hentai" is an absolutely wild thing to say

As good as they've looked on Breeze with the solo Yoru, last year's meta was definitely a lot better for them (double controller, solo Initiator)

Jett/Secondary Controller - 100T Cryo
Initiator - RRQ Lmemore
Raze/Secondary Initiator - KC NARR4TE
Primary Controller/IGL - G2 Valyn
Sentinel - DRG vo0kashu

That's kinda uncalled for, no?

Boostio can probably just play Gekko on every map honestly. If Wingman doesn't add to the hype, I don't know what does.

Saadhak has looked the most comfortable on Deadlock so far

I honestly think both teams played really well. Call me naive but I genuinely enjoyed the series.

I think maybe get a good amount of sleep and watch the Pacific VOD later

FPX have beat EDG twice this month already. I have a feeling they'll do it again.

DRG has consistently been top 4 in their region all year, and are also the 4th Chinese team to make a major LAN since franchising. I think that's pretty decent.

Idk, but that was really fun to watch regardless. Even if neither team does well, their games are still really entertaining.

Kinda surprised they didn't include sprays. I get the orgs didn't have time to design player cards, but the VALORANT art team could probably make all 11 sprays in 10 minutes if they wanted to.

Go watch any of FNATIC's voice comms videos. If you still think Boaster doesn't take this seriously afterward, then I don't know what to tell you.

Kaplan then went on to get outclassed by the nervous dog. Context matters, man.

I don't think you realize how small the gap between tier 1 and tier 2 is. In the off-season, when we had teams from both tiers facing off, a heck of a lot of games were down to the wire, especially when you looked at teams like Oxygen, MxS, and Rare Atom, for example. A lot of world champions have actually gone on to play in tier 2 leagues. At the end of the day, what league you're in just comes down to the org you play for.

Karmine Corp has problems, but they're not the players themselves. It's mostly in the macro. They've got ENGH as a coach and a month of time to prep, they should be back in form by Split 2.

This is a tad overreactionary, don't you think? Everyone has bad games. Kicking a young talent out of an entire region after just one is a ludicrous suggestion.

South North America?

Currently looking for a website (or anything, really) that'll let me see the most commonly picked team comps for each map in pro play. Not sure if such a thing exists, but I do faintly remember accessing something similar a while back, so there's a good chance there's something out there. If anyone has anything, please lmk✌️

There are two main reasons Cloud 9 lost that series:

1. G2 played well
2. OXY didn't drop 20 on either map

I main Harbor. Why? Because someone has to.

Does Less even speak English?

I think you're being too reactionary. You have to remember, he is C9's IGL, so it makes sense that he doesn't do the absolute best that he can stats-wise. Look at Boaster, for example. He may not get his every round (he went 6/22 in FNATIC's first map against Liquid today), but you can't deny that he isn't calling incredible midround calls, strats and anti-strats alike. Therefore you can't deny that he doesn't do his part to help the team function. And I think it's the same way for vanity on C9. Sure, he doesn't tap someone every time he peeks an angle, but if he was more focused on his gunfights than his IGLing, C9 wouldn't've gone 5-1 this split, I'll say that much.

If the map change comes into effect on the 11th of June, like you're assuming, then we can look to the Premier schedule for some hints. The 11th of June would be 4 weeks into the rotation, which means the week 5, 6, and 7 maps (Breeze, Split, and Icebox respectively) are NOT getting rotated out. That leaves only Bind, Lotus, Ascent, and Sunset as the candidates. Sunset is the newest map and Lotus got changes just four months ago, so it's most likely Ascent and Bind getting taken out of the rotation.

As for what's being put in, it's 100% going to be the new map + one other map. If we look at the maps currently out of rotation, the ones that've been out the longest are Pearl and Fracture, so we're most likely getting one of the two back alongside the new map.

TL;DR it's most likely Ascent + Bind OUT, new map + Fracture/Pearl IN.

A custom 3v2 with a few friends, February of last year. Crazy how far I've come.
https://imgur.com/a/Uag2KSK

They were bottom of the group. Then they 2-0'd TEC. That put them at 2-4, tied with Bilibili and Wolves. They ended up qualifying on round differential.

I wouldn't base my predictions off of betting site numbers. That's just me, though.

Never doubt the power of nAts go lurk.

I get told I have the mind of a radiant and the mechs of an iron. Currently working on the latter 😅

Thank you btw

If you'll let me give my input on Harbor:

1. tuyz
2. Mazino
3. f0rsakeN
4. JitBoyS
5. xccurate

I fully agree with tuyz at #1, he's undoubtedly the best Harbor in the world right now. I'd actually put Mazino at #2—I don't know if you forgot about him or just left him off, but he's been playing Harbor amazingly for Leviatán and he's been a decent factor in the strength of their Icebox. Then I'd just move f0rsakeN to above JitBoyS, just because he has a lot of experience with him, which he's shown this split (e.g. his cove placement in Paper Rex's Bind games).

Great work on this post, by the way! Pretty solid takes all around.