CN Kickoff Group C: Bilibili Gaming vs Wolves Esports

BLG Brief Information: Having established themselves as one of China's best teams coming in and out of Champions LA, BLG was expected to perform at high levels in the China Evolution off season tournament, which they did not. BLG failed to finish top 4 in all three acts and lost many series to less experienced and new teams such as TEC. They have since replaced rin with B3ar who will replace Biank’s duties as main caller/IGL.

WOL Brief Information: A newly formed roster of 8, Wolves Esports have expanded into Valorant by picking up a large amount of prospecting talents as well as established players such as aluba, yuicaw, pl1xx, and Spring among others.

BLG Players to Watch: Biank and B3ar are my players to watch during this series, as Biank is no longer on IGL duty and might be able to play a bit more freely than he did in Champs and CN Evo. B3ar’s IGLing skill will also be available for evaluation in this match.

WOL Players to Watch: For me, it’s really fair game for any of them. They have all proved to be great talents with high potential and it’ll be interesting to see how they work together as a team.

Prediction: On paper I think Wolves have the stronger players but BLG are clear favorites to win. I think Wolves will do well to take at least one map. 2-1 BLG win.

CN Kickoff Group B: Dragon Ranger Gaming vs All Gamers

DRG Brief Information: Having won the Ascension tournament, DRG has become a strong team with the ability to defeat teams such as Rare Atom, which is definitely something to boast about. They have great players and having added nizhaoTZH to their arsenal of talent, they’re looking to be a competitive team.

AG Brief Information: Having built a new roster with sword9 as their IGL, AG is actually a team that I believe is getting slept on. sword9 was one of the coaches for EDG and if he manages to integrate EDG tactics into the AG team then who knows what could happen? Additionally, monk and bunt are experienced ASE players who also happen to have international experience.

DRG Players to Watch: For me, I’d say that the three players to watch are TvirusLuke, vo0kashu, and nizhaoTZH. All three of these players have built up reputations for themselves in one form or another, and I think they will play a big part in determining the outcome of this series.

AG Players to Watch: Being a new roster, I can’t really pinpoint one specific player, but I would like to see monk play as well as he did for ASE and also how deLb fares.

Prediction: DRG 2-0 win but I expect a good fight from AG.

CN Kickoff Group B: JD Gaming vs Titan Esport Club

JDG Brief Information: ⅘ Rare Atom core plus jkuro. Very strong team, definitely top 5 in China. They were favorites to win Ascension but fell short to DRG. They’ve also 2-0’d EDG which is an achievement.

TEC Brief Information: A team that has the potential to be great. They were created recently and beat BLG within a month of playing together. Abo is a great IGL* and having signed Rb from DRX, they’re looking to be a force to be reckoned with.

JDG Players to Watch: Always watch stew and Viva, but it’ll be interesting to see how jkuro gels with the RA core.

TEC Players to Watch: Rb. Who wouldn’t? Abo as well.

Prediction: JDG will probably win 2-0 but it’ll still be an interesting series to watch.

edit: IGL*

CN Kickoff Group A: Funplus Phoenix vs NOVA Esports

FPX Brief Information: A top 5 CN team at the moment, FPX has made drastic changes to their roster from Champs and have established themselves to be a top contender in China. With the addition of Autumn and Life, it’ll be interesting to see how they fare with the role inevitable role changes that come with having two duelist players.

NOVA Brief Information: Mid team, didn’t do anything off season, only signed GuanG, but he can’t carry the team.

FPX Players to Watch: Definitely Autumn and Life. It was discussed quite a bit but they’re probably going to have Autumn play a non-duelist role. It’ll be interesting to see how it plays out if they do and also if they do not and decide to field two duelists.

NOVA Players to Watch: GuanG? None of the other players on NOVA have given me any strong impressions.

Prediction: Clean FPX 2-0 win.

CN Kickoff Group A: Trace Esports vs TYLOO

TE Brief Information: TE has established themselves to be a top 4 CN team, having finished there in all three acts of the CN Evolution tournament. In the first act, they even beat a BLG fresh out of Champions. I can see TE being a contender for a Madrid slot.

TYL Brief Information: Not a whole lot to say about the TYL core and their lackluster performances during off season. They were very whatever in contrast with their showing in the Champions qualifiers and I fail to see them winning this even with the addition of hfmi0dzjc9z7.

TE Players to Watch: Main player to watch would probably be FengF. He was a great initiator/duelist for TE in the off season and it would be great to see his good run of form continue.

TYL Players to Watch: Alphabet man has to be the one to watch. Ninebody might’ve been as well if this was two years ago but I feel like most of the TYL core are more washed than they were a year ago.

Prediction: TE should be able to take this 2-0.

Well, that's subjective and to be expected considering how you support NRG.

Yes NRG took a piss but that doesn't matter. It was fun to watch and still is.

Hey conut! Not much is happening tbh. Just been a bit tired recently is all.

Those two games are indeed great to rewatch lol

AG does have a chance.

Holy cow I was almost right!

https://www.vlr.gg/298328/potential-cn-kickoff-groups

edit: actually now that I look at it again not really

That is amazing

TEC Abo plays Raze

Custom teams broken?

Magnum Opus

What types of hobbies do you like?

Folk music is amazing and Galen Crew is a great folk artist.

He's a great initiator overall.

Fair enough. Those are all great choices

I'm getting better!

I agree with your dragon fruit statement. They are like no other fruit in terms of deliciousness. 🐲 🍓

What is your favorite fruit?

If this is true it would be absolutely horrendous.

Pomelos are one of the best citrus options available.

As they should tbh. They're a great team.

CR7 or CR9?
I prefer Messi over CR7 but CR9 over both.

Probably indie pop.

No, I'm more of a jetpunk guy

Food Wars

Same 😓

I too love Valorant! 😀

What if they have their own format? I think it could go something like this:

Group A
TE
TYL
BLG
AG

Group B
JDG
TEC
DRG
WOL

Group C
FPX
NOVA
EDG

They deserve it!

https://www.vlr.gg/298312/kick-off-china-bracket

What do you think about the bracket I made?

Yeah I commented this on another forum but I'm pretty happy with this and I'd like to hear your thoughts on it!

Here's what I think the groups will be assuming they place the teams in groups according to CN EVO points. Matchups seem fair and highly likely (from my perspective):

Group A:
TE
TYL
BLG
AG

Group B:
JDG
TEC
DRG
WOL

Group C:
FPX
NOVA
EDG

These matchups ensure that no team that performed well in CN EVO tournament gets left out and has the opportunity to get the 2nd seed in their respective groups.

Here's what I think the groups will be:

Group A:
TE
TYL
BLG
AG

Group B:
JDG
TEC
DRG
WOL

Group C:
FPX
NOVA
EDG

If so, Group A will have TE as first seed and BLG as 2nd.
Group B will have JDG as first seed and DRG/TEC/WOL all have good chance at 2nd
Group C will have EDG as first seed and FPX as 2nd.

FPX will emerge victors of the 2nd round and join TE, JDG, and EDG.

Ultimate I think EDG/JDG and TE will make it to Madrid.

I don't think I said anything wrong/overly robotic did I?

Welcome back! There's going to be kickoff tournaments in each of the four leagues during mid-late Feb that will qualify teams for Masters Madrid.

If you feel like you should, then go ahead. Ultimately it's your decision.

Don't see why not.

That's wonderful to hear!

Probably will split 10 teams into two pools of 5 and seed them into the three groups like so.

I can see the effort you put into it and while I can't really agree with any of them, good job with your post!

I like to write stories and sing songs. Also, I like to study geography trivia.

Well, the sea level has risen and it can be seen in places like Venice, but it only rises by a tiny bit every year so it'll take a long time until they'll actually be flooded.

If it was me making a list like this I'd just fl...

Tough choice but I'd have a potato au gratin any day of the year.

Nope!