APAC - Cypher

Read the article again. Braveaf's benching is primarily due to uncertainty regarding him being available for bootcamps and Fnatic being able to pay him due to sanctions.

There are people who hate Boaster because he's goofy. I'll never get those people.

That aside, H1ber and Fea were absolutely amazing over the past two matches, massive props to both of them.

But now that FNC's gone, APAC HOPIUM BABY

Then again, they're playing with 2 stand-ins, which isn't easy at all. Not to take away any merit from NIP though, they played absolutely beautifully, and had the coordination well drilled in them as well, but maybe if Derke and Braveaf were here it wouldn't have been a 2-0 wipe. Seeing their performance yesterday, I wouldn't have been surprised if NIP managed to beat FNC even with Derke anr Braveaf.

*তাই

A rare PrTsty L, which seems to be turning more common

If NA casters cast, I just mute the stream or switch to a watchparty, cuz they literally put me to sleep, along with the deep bias towards the home region. EMEA casters are the goat (with an honorable mention to India's local talent, sieh and nekrou).

I'd much rather prefer two round robin groups of 6 teams each and the top 3 of each group going into 6 team single elimination playoffs. A1, B1 get a bye, A2 play B3, A3 play B2, winners play A1/B1, the winners battle it out in grand finals. The whole tournament can still be wrapped up in 14 days, 10 days for groups (5 game days for each of group A and B, assuming 3 games per day), 1 rest day, and then 3 days for playoffs (#2 vs #3 games, semis, finals). With the added benefit of significantly more action and interregional play, with every team being guaranteed at least 5 games.

That guy is from India

The brackets were randomised + losers of UB 1 and UB 2 meet in LB 1 anyway

Technically EMEA didn't really lose any slots, the 4th slot was basically Gambit winning Masters 3. Masters 2 winner should've directly been invited to Champions, and making JP/KR share a direct slot, and the second one via APAC N LCQ.

Promotion/relegation is definitely gonna make the Group stage much more engaging to watch, as every match matters, even if you don't qualify for the playoffs.

The current APAC region in Valorant is essentially "APAC South" from Apex

+100 social credit

Tokyo is EU cuz Vladivostok gaming

"papersex"

VLT Asteria did do pretty decently in GC as well though

Fnatic Davidp??????

On a fucking Omen too.

Aren't jokes supposed to be funny?

Obviously not. That's too stupid to even fathom. APAC probably gets 3-4 slots for Masters.

JP and KR have their own masters slot (down from 2 to 1 each), function the same as last time.

SA+OCE+SEA would probably be a new APAC region (this is speculation btw) as OCE tour announced qualification to "APAC playoffs" that act as a qualifying process for Masters (this is official btw).

In EMEA, MENA teams can now play in any of the EU/CIS/TR qualifiers and qualify to Masters directly via the EMEA circuit.

and HK/Taiwan too

Cuz SEA+KR+JP had a total of 6 slots in Masters? If JP and KR get only a single slot each, it can point to the remaining 2 APAC slots being transferred to SESA-OCE, to keep the Asian representation equal.

Although if SESA+OCE becomes a reality, there's no way that region's getting only two slots. It's humongous.

Eh, doable ig. Global eSports moved to Chennai to play in APAC LCQ, they usually get 30-60 on SG.

I think it's like a bunch of amateur local leagues where you get circuit points based on your standings, and the team with the most CP wins it all.

I think so. Apparently JP and KR send only 1 team to Masters each, which leaves the possibility of South Asia, SEA and OCE being incorporated into a massive APAC circuit and sending even 4 teams, the bare minimum being 3, through that a possibility.

A huge bonus for the overall competitiveness of the region, can be a logistical nightmare though (unless the OCE teams bootcamp in Perth? idk what ping they get on SG from Perth)

KR, JP getting only 1 slot each points a lot to an expanded SEA that could harbour even 4 teams by taking in South Asia and OCE with offline challengers playoffs, that's what I speculate.

MENA now competes through the EMEA circuit though - they can choose to participate in either of the EU, TR or CIS circuits

EMEA is now a single consolidated region, with MENA being able to participate in Challengers tournaments as well

NOOOOOOOO :(

Nah it's KRÜpium now, no more SEA or Fnatic to support anymore

Nothing really. They've to work on their map pool, is all.

I'm a bit disappointed tbh, given the coordination they showed I expected them to win it all. Didn't check the vods yet (the game happened in the middle of the night for me), but if this is what KRÜ's capable of, I'd love underdog champions run.

Roster changes? Absolutely not. They did recover well from the disaster that Stage 3 was. They're easily the best Fracture team in the world in this early meta, and can't wait to see more from the bois next year.

Don't let this distract you from SEA>NA tho

everyone except sick

man literally died to the spike with a rifle picked up during a thrifty win while tbagging

Port Blair/Dhaka servers hopium

I wonder what stops the region from making a single open to all Challengers circuit, like how NA works, and allowing mixed teams, instead of splitting into several subregions. The ping difference between HK and SG isn't that terrible.

I've x10 and TS winning their quarters games; x10 is more hopium but TS is very much possible

Fewer teams at Masters than Champs? Shouldn't it be the opposite as Masters is a qualifier for Champs?

The lack of flexibility from the duelists, especially not picking Raze when needed, seems to be biting teams now. SEN, NV had the same problem and they've suffered. Also, given how the tournament has progressed, Breach's value has increased exponentially at the highest tier. SEA teams qualified significantly off their Breach's impact.

Cuz Phoenix can't aftershock a KJ ult

I honestly don't know, that group is so chaotic

NV stomp x10, VK technically did beat ACE, and then ACE proceed to crush NV and x10 destroy VK. I have absolutely no idea how this match will go

It's better to keep them separate then, as smaller subregions (like how LATAM sends only a single team to Masters)

APAC gets 6 slots in Masters as of now, and that's without China, India and Oceania competing

This is no pizza slice that everyone gets an equal portion, you've to distribute proportionally according to the playerbase count and the number of competitive teams. NA getting 3 slots is already generous enough, 4 is absolutely stupid given their current performance.

isn't VK already a superteam of sorts? They did prove their capabilities vs acend tho, just the whole situation was unfortunate

that region alone would need like 7-8 slots then LMAO

VS did play very poorly though - I was watching Lothar's vod review streams (the FNC game) and the glaring mistakes in their approach were being highlighted. In the Breeze game today, there seemed to be a lot of wasteful util usage - sending a Skye dog AND a Sova drone together in several attack rounds, for instance. Buzz not even waiting for the Sova drone only to get killed by a corner-camping Mitch. Something you just don't expect from a team of VS' calibre, rather from any team on this stage. The other SEA teams truly impressed however, with their on point util usage, and proper discipline.

Waiting for the sigma variant

I'd consider the acend game as a VK win though. The cam barely had any impact on the game, VK simply outclassed acend, both in the first game and in the rematch (discounting the 7-0 lead ofc)

You mean 2nd best