At least on KOI it makes sense with Koldamenta as IGL, and Fit1nho is fine and has potential. Mixwell feels like clout pick, but maybe he brings in something else as well.

I have 2 wrong, NRG vs KOI and PRX vs C9(originally had C9 rip)

Actually kinda reminds me of their LEC roster.

True as well and it suck. Scream is one of the best players in terms of mechanics and Nivera is good enough to be on top team, but now both of them are in team with no seeable future.

KCorp could be ok with Enzo, but even still its all down to how well Enzo can IGL and its hard to rate it based on Apeks' games alone. XMS was doing really well in French VRL, but he was playing Chamber for most part. Also they are super limited if they want to stay French speaking and its going to be hard to change language if/when it happens.

Yep the bottom teams kinda trolled with their rosters. BBL got eliminated first in LCQ and they still stick with most of the same roster only adding like Sounchi and Brave. FUT's biggest achivement so far is winning Ascension and again decided to stick with same roster. KCorp wanted to be full French speaking, so again they were forced to sign some weaker tier 2 talent (Shin was good tho) and kept ScreaM IGLing. And Heretics for most part signed players who had weak 2022.

1-3: Fnatic, NaVi, Liquid (hard to rank even tho TL likely 3rd)
4-6: Giants, KOI, Vitality (hard to rank)
7: Heretics
8: KCorp
9: BBL
10: FUT

If you look at the rosters and their perfomances so far, legit ranked them the same before the season.

Heretics is like #7 best team in EMEA so chill for moment

Boo one of the best actual IGL fraggers IMO

keloqz peak is super high but sadly inconsistent. Hopefully that won't be issue on Heretics.

I have EG winning, but I do believe TH's peak is higher at least currently. Just depends on their individual form today.

Omega 100% for me. Fnatic, Liquid, NaVi and Vitality. Alpha only has(had) KOI and Giants and that's kind of it. No expectations for other KCorp, BBL or Heretics.

KOI easily. Wolfen, Sheydos, Koldamenta and Starxo are all decently tall and decent size.

Heretics players have been way too inconsistent in the past, so its really 50/50

Fnatic or NaVi - my quick take

Fnatic - Insane roster. Really stacked on every role, especially having Derke and Leo on this meta is so good for them. Has IGL that is native English speaker making calling way easier. Concerns: choking, Boaster's calling on high stake games.

NaVi - Really good roster. This meta will suit them really well with Jett, traditional sentinel and initiator dominant one. Also one of the best anti-strat teams out there even though it won't help much here. Also has shown the ability to switch up comps and styles a lot. Concerns: can cNed flex if needed, and how he overall fits to this team like resource taking, comms in and out of game etc.

Liquid - Good roster as well. They finally got a proper IGL and nAts is one of the best sentinels even though we likely won't see much of Cypher. A lot of flexibility. Concerns: Redgar's IGLing overall(wasn't biggest fan of M3C calls) and him having to do that in English. Possible role conflicts between Jamppi and Sayf. Like who plays Raze if needed etc. Also maybe bit inconsistent on higher stake games in players like Jamppi and Soulcas.

Zeek and Avova are inconsistent as well. Inconsistency is big problem among Heretics players, but have to hope they will become more consistent on this team.

He was staying in different country(Serbia or Turkey I assume), so he likely flies alone.

Yeah they are constantly taking up fights. Like when most other teams get a kill they fall back to play for man advantage, but when PRX player gets a kill they will instantly re-peak and completely lose good positions. I guess its their thing that partly made them good, but it has started to really cost them. We already kind of saw this in Champions.

Expected, but understandable as well. Like why would you go to stadium to watch match between 2 teams you don't care about?

True, but also Souchni(IGL) is still new with BBL and they had some good reads already. Given more time this team could be decent. But I do wish they made some changes though.

Turkish teams and players should just learn English and become international

BBL Acsent has always been really good. Turkey is like South America when it comes to Ascent. Its their map.

I'm fine with Turkish team, but 2 is too much IMO. But this has nothing to do with this game.

I wasn't impressed by them. They played no duelist comps. From individuals Nivera was doing well and I really liked his Omen play (+oping). Pretty expected from guy of his level. Shin was positively surprising as well. His fragging and utility usage was really nice for guy coming from tier 2. Scream was pretty good even though his calling wasn't the best. FPX also played bit weird stuff, so maybe they were caught off guard.

true BBL will 13-0 DRX

its terrible legit looks like white t shirt from distance. White and gold in combination doesnt work and looks cheap.

I think DRX and PRX will make it out, but PRX is close one. DRX should win even though I think it will be closer than some expect.

More like Riot is smart. Chinese teams will just get free slots and then Riot milks the money

KC looked bad, but Shin played well for most part. His fragging and utlity usage was really impactful.

Towards end Nivera wasn't that great on Liquid. And they definitely upgraded their roster for this season.

Enzo is mid mechanically, but he could easily take IGL role from ScreaM so he can focus more on individual playmaking. Also his calling has been nice to far in Apeks even though the competition isn't tier 1.

KCorp is trolling. Didn't sign Enzo for IGL/Initiator, didn't sign TakaS for duelist. Playing no duelist ScreaM IGL.

that looked so bad from KCorp

Maybe, but again same as with Wolfen this was his first tier 1 game in long time. Guys like him need more time. But yes this team is good, but unfortunately everyone is just talking about bad DFM looked instead of giving Giants any respect. Have to wait for NRG vs GIA game.

One of the best for sure. He has everything you need. Tall, athletic, beard, nice hair, you can see the confidence etc. I hecking love Scream!

Likely not for some time, but nukkye's Breach has been really good so far. He seems doing well on flex role. And I actually think that role could suit him because I feel like he used to have tendency of being bit disconnected from rest of the team in the past, but now he is setting his team up so it will force him to be more with his team and he still has ability to make calls for plays. Maybe its just me, but that's how I see it.

It is worrying, but at the same time Liquid never had proper IGL and still did well. Of course Liquid's roster was better than KC, but its clear that Scream has some ability to lead his team. Not good enought to win vs top teams, but passable vs weaker teams. Unless he switches to like controller role or something where he can't frag.

And the teams that have placed in top 4 at least once:
EMEA: Fnatic, Liquid, G2, Gambit, Acend, FPX
NA: Sentinels, 100Thieves, OpTic(/Envy), KRU, LOUD
APAC: Nuturn, Zeta, PRX, DRX

Even as Killjoy player I like the kj nerfs. Turret is such a good ability and her ult is really impactful as well. Raze nerfs make no sense to me though. Especially because boombot goes straight meaning that it bounces from wall to wall usually so you can't even clear that much with it compared to like Fade prowler etc.

ok

So NRG is that weak? I guess Americas will just be dominated by BR and LATAM then.

True. I know its too early and maybe overreaction, but I agree that KOI are kinda griefing with these roles. Like why have Sheydos on sentinel holding flanks when he has proven to be really good flash player and trader. You could play Trexx and Sheydos in either info or flash initiators. Starxo overall just feels bit off on this roster, but as I said its too early.

Starxo is really flexible actually. He had played Omen, Astra, Raze, Neon, Skye etc. But you are right though that either Sheydos or Trexx would likely have more impact on starxo's role.

GIA 2-1 NRG

Their Haven already looked good in G-Loot. Just have to hope they are ready on other maps as well.

Too early to tell how good his IGLing is, but his fragging is really nice for an IGL.

tbf this is first Valorant tier 1 tournament after months and first franchising era tournament

Fnatic or NaVi

Fnatic's roster is stacked and if they get out of their bracket they will likely win unless NRG starts rolling. Also they won first LoL Worlds so the stars are aligned for first franchising era Valorant title.

And NaVi is mostly their core + cNed who will excel on this meta. FPX were also known for having multiple comps on different maps and changing of playstyles and I think that's going to be really effective here, ofc they lost their ability to anti-start that they are known for.

s0m played well here, but people are comparing him to Marved and those are some big boots to fill.

True, they just need more time. Also if I'm not wrong they might be the team with least practise time together outside of like Talon who had to replace Patiphan.