MIBR Mazino is my bet

Will people EVER get tired of regurgitating the same copy and paste zekken glaze where they add precisely zero unique input?

Respond to any criticism of their favourite artist, movie. tv show, game etc etc with "it's popular for a reason" I will start tweaking the fuck out

A) Popularity = quality

B) The exact formula for something to get popular is for it to be inoffensive, simple to interpret and appealing to the lowest common denominator. Nothing that necessarily pertains to something being high quality, well written, thematically interesting

C) No one who says this could actually give the reason something is popular

This is especially egregious with the fucking troglodytes who say this in response to someone saying commercial pop designed to be radio hits with absolute minimal creative input and the most safe and generic tap water ass lyrics ever is bad. Like no shit it's popular you fucking idiot. It was probably written in a boardroom and regurgitated by the most generic, zero personality random ass artist who can't sing and doesn't know the first thing about using GarageBand let alone playing an instrument

If you have ever unironically said this I think you should never give an opinion about anything ever again

Your ears must get scared when you hear the words composition or notes

Cleared by anyone to ever pick up a guitar ever

Fucking who? Bro sounds like an xbox gamertag from 2009

How many SA players have to get subbed out because of VISA issues?

And bonus points for any Canadian/import players that need to be subbed in

Team Heretics
Team Heretics
Team Heretics

The species, he's somewhat of an autist enthusiast

He only posts when VCT broadcasts in some way mentions birds of prey, you wouldn't know him

s are birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. They are very widely distributed and are found on all continents, except Antarctica.[1]

The subfamily Accipitrinae includes goshawks, sparrowhawks, sharp-shinned hawks, and others. This subfamily are mainly woodland birds with short broad wings, long tails, and high visual acuity. They hunt by dashing suddenly from a concealed perch.[2]

In the United States, members of the Buteo group are also called hawks, though birds of this group are called buzzards in other parts of the world. Generally, buteos have broad wings and sturdy builds. They are relatively larger-winged and shorter-tailed than accipiters, and fly further distances in open areas. Buteos descend or pounce on their prey rather than engaging in fast, horizontal pursuit.

The terms accipitrine hawk and buteonine hawk are used to distinguish between the types in regions where hawk applies to both. The term "true hawk" is sometimes used for the accipitrine hawks in regions where buzzard is preferred for the buteonine hawks.

All these groups are members of the family Accipitridae, which includes hawks and buzzards as well as kites, harriers, and eagles. To confuse things further, some authors use "hawk" generally for any small to medium Accipitrid that is not an eagle.[3]

A Red-tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis), a member of the Buteo group
The common names of some birds include the term "hawk", reflecting traditional usage rather than taxonomy. For example, some people call an osprey a "fish hawk" or a peregrine falcon a "duck hawk".

Be so fr it's gonna be VIT, TH and GX from EMEA

TL probably gonna make Champs tho

FNC will still be the best performing EMEA team of the year somehow

They should form a team with Rossy and mitch and call it Washed Gaming and then win Ascension for the entire team to get picked apart

https://youtu.be/xseViI5d3_A?si=800II4HMzpg0vwYA

You rn

Gojo

L take but at the same time all the fun traditions around Guy Fawkes night were completely eclipsed by fireworks nowadays so I kinda hate them for that reason

Streets are saying Brazil but Argentina kinda clears

Gooning isn't automatically bad

Goonster

Well well well

Real ones still remember Asuna_Yukki

Ain't no way bro's going on stream and whining about how no T1 team wants him after not having put up any impressive tourney results or performances since 2023

For context, that's the same amount of time between Champs Berlin and when Demon1 won Champs

That's like if any of the Acend one hit wonders went on stream and started pissing and moaning about not having a team and how they're entitled to offers coming into 2024

Bro's going T2 or McDonald's

skuba bro is trying SO hard to act like he doesn't care

Internet Explorer looking ass

https://www.vlr.gg/pickem/427489a2

Real ones know about the 100T last minute lower bracket run, denying G2 their first international since 2024 out of nowhere with a steel chair

Americas

aspas - Primary duellist
zekken - Flexing between second duellist/second smokes
brawk - Scan
valyn - Smokes + IGL
Less - Sentinel

Before anyone asks why I didn't include more NRG players, they're a team of players mostly 2nd/3rd best in role in their region, only one on the team besides brawk who I considered was Ethan but he can't play second duellist so I went zekken instead

EMEA

Derke - Main duellist
Alfajer - Flexing between second duellist and senti
Boaster - Smokes + IGL
RieNs - Scan
Chronicle - Flex

Yes it's 2023 FNC with RieNs instead of Leo

Pacific

Meteor - Flexing between senti/second duellist
something - Flexing between scan/Yoru and Jett
f0rsakeN - Whatever the fuck
Munchkin - Scan + Viper + IGL
Mako - Smokes

Cursed fucking roles but we move

China

Zmjjkk - Main duellist
slowly - Second duellist/initiator
Smoggy - Smokes
happywei - Senti/second smokes
SiuFatBB - Scan + IGL

WE'VE GOT BABY! SIUUUUUUUUUUU FAT BB! I JUST DON'T THINK YOU UNDERSTAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND

Yh icl the Mazino and tex pick are kinda egregious

Mazino has been good but there's better, and more importantly younger options, and tex has been straight ass the past year. Both basically got picked cuz they're friends with aspas

Then there's the fact that we're not sure if zekken will be good on smokes, and Verno is still an incredibly unproven caller

I still except G2 and NRG to easily outclass this team, aspas and frod are the only pieces that we can be 100% confident in

Would've been better if they kept cortezia and tried to steal spikezin or blowz or something, a young aggro flex player that aspas can bait have entering with him and rely on to trade him off or get in positions to be traded

Atm it's aspas and friends unless the zekken to perma entry Omen transition pays off

Absolute Elsewhere by Blood Incantation
None So Vile by Cryptopsy
Human by Death
Blood Fire Death by Bathory
Descanting the Insalubrious by Carcass
Scum by Napalm Death
Altars of Madness by Morbid Angel
Into the Nightside Eclipse by Emperor

All insanely good metal albums that lean more extreme that I would recommend

Initiator, or second duellist/flex spot (aka Yoru)

The Exorcist fucking terrifies me but nothing else really, I love slashers and thriller horror like Se7en, the original Saw and Silence of the Lambs but I wouldn't say they particularly scare me

Luckily it never snows over here

Just pisses it down with rain

Oppenheimer, Godzilla Minus One, Killers of the Flower Moon

Indian, always Indian

Get a matcha latte for ultimate performative energy

It's better to piss in the sink than sink in the piss

I'm going Greggs steak bake, a lamb vindaloo, a pint of mint ice cream and a 2 litre of Dr Pepper

Jett ult clips are gonna go nutty

https://www.vlr.gg/510155/fnatic-vs-team-heretics-esports-world-cup-2025-gf
https://www.vlr.gg/482512/team-heretics-vs-team-liquid-champions-tour-2025-emea-stage-1-playoffs-lbf
https://www.vlr.gg/459857/fnatic-vs-team-heretics-champions-tour-2025-emea-stage-1-w5

All good

I have Stockholm syndrome from the 2024 chokes

Heretics win London because I will be there no matter what and will be roaming the streets looking for the members of every other team and directing them to eat at the most absolutely foul chicken shops with a 1 hygiene rating I can find

Naturally, FNC will be my easiest target

Bro thinks he has no enemies

Some people feel a very strong connection to the country within the UK that they're from, some just think of themselves as generally British and don't care that much about specific heritage and shit, though most people (at least here in Wales) who don't like to think of themselves as British and are super die hard about Welsh not British type shit are older

I just picked the Welsh flag cuz it's cooler

Buzz under termi = consistent top 5 duellist across multiple years
Buzz under not termi = bum who feeds his brains out and then tilts about it

HYUNMIN under not termi = ranked farmer and 120 ping merchant
HYUNMIN under termi = contender for best duellist at Champs

Termi secret goat?

Cook 🔥🔥🔥

Whenever Wolves uses their stadium money to assemble the avengers of Zmjjkk, SiuFatBB, Spring, slowly and happywei in 2028 after seeing Riot announce Champs is happening in Wolverhampton that year

Peak list but seeing one Emperor song right at the end separate from all the other Emperor songs triggered OCD I didn't know I have

I was going back and forth on Master of Puppets vs Rust In Peace but I think Rust In Peace has more outright masterpieces

Holy Wars, Tornado of Souls, Hangar 18, the title track and Five Magics are an insanely stacked lineup on top of the other solid tracks

MOP has the title track, Disposable Heroes and Battery and there isn't a bad track on the album but I think Rust In Peace is stronger overall

I was also thinking Reign In Blood as well but I think it has one too many filler tracks

Also I've heard good things about Agalloch, though thrash and death are my 2 favourite genres so I've been working through the list of recs I have with those first

Nah Iowa is better because it's just a death metal album in disguise as a nu metal album

Derke RBHG > 1
Jawg RBHG > 1

Sorry broski this debate will last for another 10 years at least

Slipknot, SOAD and Linkin Park are all better nu metal bands

So here's the best metal album of every metal sub genre (or at least every sub genre that has more than like 2 bands)

Trad Metal: Paranoid - Black Sabbath
Proto Metal: Rising - Rainbow
Speed Metal: Painkiller - Judas Priest
NWOBHM: Number of the Beast - Iron Maiden
Doom Metal: Nightfall - Candlemass
Stoner Metal: Dopethrone - Electric Wizard
Drone Metal: Monoliths and Dimensions - Sunn O)))
Sludge Metal: Blessed Black Wings - High On Fire
Thrash Metal: Rust In Peace - Megadeth
Crossover Thrash: Nightmare Logic - Power Trip
Teutonic Thrash: Agent Orange - Sodom
Hair Metal: Pornograffiti - Extreme
Death Metal: Human - Death
Melodeath: Are You Dead Yet? - Children Of Bodom
Tech-Death: Epitaph - Necrophagist
Brutal Death Metal: None So Vile - Cryptopsy
Blackened Death Metal: Demigod - Behemoth
Symphonic Death Metal: Communion - Septicflesh
Death Doom: Draconian Times - Paradise Lost
Prog Death: Ghost Reveries - Opeth
Grindcore: Scum - Napalm Death
Deathgrind: Monolith of Inhumanity - Cattle Decapitation
First Wave Black Metal: Blood Fire Death - Bathory
Second Wave Black Metal: In the Nightside Eclipse - Emperor
Meloblack: Exercises In Futility - Mgla
Atmospheric Black Metal: Bergtatt - Ulver
Symphonic Black Metal: Enthrone Darkness Triumphant - Dimmu Borgir
DSBM: Halmstad - Shining
Prog: Scenes From A Memory - Dream Theatre
Neoclassical: The Odyssey - Symphony X
Power Metal: Sonic Firestorm - Dragonforce
Classic Metalcore: Avenged Sevenfold - Avenged Sevenfold
Modern Metalcore: Post Human: Survival Horror - Bring Me the Horizon
Deathcore: The Cleansing - Suicide Silence
Groove Metal: Vulgar Display of Power - Pantera
Nu Metal: Iowa - Slipknot
Alt Metal: Toxicity - System Of A Down
Symphonic Metal: Once - Nightwish
Goth Metal: Bloody Kisses - Type O Negative
Folk Metal: Midnattens Widunder - Finntroll
Industrial: Mutter - Rammstein
Dissonant Metal: Ion - Portal
Djent: Catch Thirtythree - Meshuggah

I like it, it tastes like Fanta on MSG

I prefer Khaotic and Rio Punch tho