I'm doing alright, I'm going to play some Valorant today and go out for a walk tomorrow. What about you?

Hello tomato!

Hopefully not. I'll be out for almost 5 hours lol

i forgor D:

Very brief this time. ASE did not play well against RA, but part of that was due to RA players just being good tbh. Getting 13-1'd on your map pick though is not ideal for anyone, and I am curious to see how such a loss effects ASE mental. Regardless, I hope hfmi impresses again because the rest of his team was just non existant at times against RA.
As for DRG, I think the main focus this match should be to keep up the good form we saw when they played NIP. Of course, vo0kashu was great as always but TvirusLuke really stood out to me on Haven. I think another thing they have to figure out is who to start between Zeno and YuChEn. I think that although both players aren't the best mechanically, YuChEn's utility usage is better than Zeno's and has produced better opportunities for the team. Therefore I think they should start YuChEn instead of Zeno in this upcoming match.

I think this will be a solid ASE 3-1.
Regrettably, I won't be able to catch the match live :(

Thank you!

Terbium? That's around half of the periodic table and it's a good start!

With all due respect, I disagree with both of your claims.

1. This was not one of my worst takes of all time.
   The path of reasoning I was following when it came to making this DRG-NIP prediction was: DRG new roster, looked bad against ASE and RA, looked quite shaky against 4AM (team they should be beating without issue). NIP looked good against NWG, and although lost to ASE they had many redeemable moments. Therefore, NIP win. I thought it was a pretty good take, in fact. DRG simply outperformed my expectations and that happens often in esports, especially one like Valorant.

If you're interested by any chance, here are what I think are my worst takes of all time:
https://www.vlr.gg/274413/trace-esports-vs-rare-atom-china-evolution-series-act-1-variation-lr3
https://www.vlr.gg/279105/attacking-soul-esports-vs-trace-esports-china-evolution-series-act-2-selection-ubsf
https://www.vlr.gg/279107/trace-esports-vs-edward-gaming-china-evolution-series-act-2-selection-uf
https://www.vlr.gg/285025/top-esports-vs-titan-esports-club-china-evolution-series-act-3-heritability-lr2

2. I don't think my conversations with Fayde had anything to do with my decision. Sure, it's both flattering and pleasant to speak to someone like the NIP coach, but I can hardly imagine myself predicting DRG to win had I not spoken to him.
   It just doesn't make sense to me how speaking to him would affect my decision making at all in this series.

I do appreciate your comment though! I'm always glad to converse on this platform.

Hello since beta!

Valorant is my favorite game ever. I love playing it, I love watching the Esports. However, I lose often and I am not a very strong player mechanically. Despite that, my motivation almost always stems from my raw passion and love for the game, so I don't think I can give any good, objective advice to assist you in your Valoranting endeavors.

I will say, that playing with me lads and lasses always improves my experience.

Good luck,
geospliced

Absolutely. I think they stand a chance if they perform just as well in their next match.

The language changes but the voice stays english.

Interesting! Thank you for telling me :D That's actually one of my favorite animes lol

I mean, there are many factors but Valorant do be like that sometimes.

It's hard to predict the future, and I think that is part of why I do this. It's exciting, to see your prediction turn out correct, but at the same time, somewhat disheartening when you get it wrong. It's like playing Valorant itself without actually playing. You never know what happens!

Yeah

Thank you for the suggestion, but that would not be in my best interests. I was simply wondering when the global client will get CN voiceovers. I apologize for being unclear.

Yeah!

It happens to the best of us tbh. It's unfortunate but sometimes things just don't work out the way you intend for it to.

What about me? (curious)

When do we get CN voiceovers?

Absolutely. We'll see how the new one does today....

Edit: They did very well! TvirusLuke especially. He popped off and was a wonder to watch!

My day is just about over, so I'll try to have a good sleep!

hi benjy!

I wish we had another LOCK//IN with more teams but I know the schedule is kind of crunch atm.

You guys having given me so much support and I really can't express how much I appreciate it. Have a wonderful day Zastio <3

I mean, it'll be hard for him to find a roster by the time the Ascension tournament is over. Best thing right now seems to be: stay at RA as coach, find new job next season.

True!

This is a pretty good take. I actually think it's fair to put SEN in top 3, but whether they are above LEV or not I cannot say for sure.

There will be 12 teams total for Masters Shanghai.

Thank you for your work. This is great!

I average around 85-90 if I really need to type fast for whatever reason.

There's definitely a chance, but we haven't seen some of these other CN rosters so I don't know if we can say for sure.

I'm pretty sure they have plans to move yoman to a coaching position.

Honestly, I just found this thread, and your comments have made my day! Thank you so much Zastio 😊

If they want to do that they better start signing. There are lots of good org-less CN players right now and I'm sure that if Wolves decide to go into the market for them, then they'll have a decent team that could challenge the more established teams.

EMEA only get two slots for Madrid.

Americas: NRG, LEV
EMEA: FNC, TL
APAC: PRX, T1
China: EDG, FPX/TE (too early to tell imo)

As for Shanghai:

Americas: NRG, SEN, LEV
EMEA: FNC, TL, FUT
APAC: PRX, T1, DRX
China: EDG, RA, TE

But to be honest it's too early to tell.

There are going to be two teams from every region for Madrid. Here's my take for that:

Americas: NRG, LEV
EMEA: FNC, TL
APAC: PRX, T1
China: EDG, FPX/TE

Also, you might want to be a bit more respectful towards the CN region because they have some great players. (just a suggestion)

The things lazy creatures do...

It'd make sense tbh.

This is definitely a series that could see a repeat in the grand finals. Both are strong contenders for the Ascension slot, and this series will definitely be very entertaining. While I would value both teams on a similar level on a regular day, if hfmi0dzjc9z7 doesn't return (which he might very well not), I think the edge goes to RA. A large part is due to how good Viva and stew looked in their most recent match against DRG, and I think YiHao's utility usage looked decent as well (his KD doesn't tell the whole story). Despite that, I think ASE stands a good chance at taking a map, especially if monk pops off again and gets those important, clinical kills that made him stand out on Breeze. Overall, this is looking to be a great series to watch.

Somewhat similar to what Yasuho predicted in the comments above, I think this will end up being a 2-1 win for RA.

I think this is looking to be an entertaining match to watch! I think both teams had players who played well in their respective matches, and it will definitely be interesting to see who can keep up the good form and who cannot. Of course, I acknowledge the fact that both NIP and DRG have just came out of 0-2 losses against ASE and RA, but I still think these teams have more to show us. Although I do believe this will be a close match, perhaps a 2-1 win for one of the teams, if I had to pick one of the two I think I'd go with NIP. The fact that Spring and JayH can perform consistently imo will definitely give them an upperhand in this series, and we've seen how DRG can crack and crumble easily against a team with high momentum abusing abilities, and although I don't think NIP is on RA's level in terms of that specific aspect, I think we've definitely seen some amount of snowballing ability from them on maps like Ascent and Bind. As for DRG, I hope vo0kashu continues to impress, and if TvirusLuke gets into it then he too can perform at very high levels, which is very cool!

Overall, I think this will be a tough match for both teams but I think NIP will win 2-1 against DRG this time around.

Oops! You're right, I was referring to Counter Strike without the GO. I'm sorry for the mistake!

But still, by 2015 Counter Strike would've been 15 years old.

Edit: CSGO -> Counter Strike

Couldn't have said it better!

That game against 4AM really was a strange one.

We're getting Masters Shanghai.

Man I can go on about those (sorry for the language) braindead people for probably at least 10 minutes. I mean, why are you watching the match in the first place if you can't enjoy it?

Well, it should be a city in Asia because the only regions we haven't had a Champs in are APAC and China, and it'd be strange to give it to China instead of an APAC city. Therefore, we can assume that Champs 2024 has a high chance to be in APAC.

I think part of it has to do with the fact that CS has been around for a long, long time.