patitek has also now attended multiple internationals and if sen is top 5 then is liquid as well

I still think its Heretics. I think they have likely the highest individual peak of any team. Even Boo can frag well when he is on.

NAVI because I think their peak is higher and I overall have more faith in them. GiantX has been playing well but I can't ignore their past.

True. But in all seriousness like I said he did his supportive job on Acend and he didn't have to do much more. For example Acend used to be kings of Bind during their time and Kiles played pretty big part in that with his Viper play even if he wasn't fragging hard.

Fnatic - likely tired players, studied by other teams, bad map pool rn.
Heretics - very on or off team, looked good in groups but in playoffs have looked weak individually and their map pools seems bit bad because they force Icebox while looking bad on it.
BBL - top 4 EMEA team for most of the year and on good form right now, good individually and good calling/strats.
NAVI - on good form as Ruxic and Hiro are frying rn and Alexiik is performing as well. ANGE1 still good calling.
GiantX - on good form, every player is carrying their weight very equally, if im not wrong they are strong scrim team and its showing

so yeah both Fnatic and Heretics seem to be on weak form with issues with individuals being off and having weaker map pool while the underdog teams are finally looking like proper teams and on good form both team play and individually.

Americas? G2 and SEN show and even out of those SEN hasn't done anything for a while and G2 no trophy and top 4 in Toronto. Americas haven't done much vs EMEA for while if anything they have gotten eliminated by EMEA. On top of that EMEA team has been in the finals of last 3/4 international events. APAC I get, but Americas no way.

Hard to say. I always thought he had a lot of potential but was kind of on that same tier as many duelists rn where they might have good performances but not super consistent highs like some of the best. That type of tier where you could find duelists like Ara, Alexiik, marteen etc. So maybe still in Vitality or maybe in tier 2 who knows.

Likely Kiles. If I remember correctly he was pretty much always their worst performer, but he played his role and usually stepped up when Acend was doing well. But even back then he was pretty mediocre player individually, but good team player.

baldurs gate 3: i had never played this type of games before but it was really good and genuinely game that is fully worth the price

Fnatic and Heretics shaky form in playoffs but also teams like BBL, NAVI and GiantX are good and finally on good form.

Fnatic are not on good form right now but yes. EMEA is in very good position right now. Its actually the classic that has repeated since the start of times when there's upset in EMEA = they lost because they are bad, upset anywhere else = they lost because the other team is good and competitive. Right now EMEA is very competitive and honestly has been for whole split at least. Even M8, Apeks and KOI won/had close maps vs many of the teams.

EMEA used to be very mid with controllers (mainly due to IGLs playing it) but now we have Keiko, Ruxic and even Profek. Its looking good.

Don't really understand why Vitality kept him. He plays what team needs, has decent utility and comms seem good but his fragging and decision making/positioning is pretty bottom tier

Guy is working overtime, kind of feel bad for him. Doesn't help that Vitality had such high expectations, multiple roster changes and trying to make it to Paris as French org.

Sweden, but Swedish is so close to English that decent chunk sound like native English speakers. Its like they either sound super Swedish or (almost) native. Partly reason why there are many Swedish artists, actors even content creators who speak in English.

Yeah Fnatic are not playing at their best, but my point just being that BBL is somewhat underrated and Fnatic with shaky map pool is completely beatable by BBL level team. While Fnatic even in this form would beat pretty much anyone who isn't on that level. BBL is good enough to punish.

BBL has been good this year. Top 4 regionally and internationally beating Sentinels (BO1) and DRX (BO3) in EWC. Fnatic map pool is also bad rn but they are still very good team.

BBL has consistently looked like the 4th best team in EMEA this year and close to Team Liquid. Why? I don't know seems like they work well as team, have nice plays and individuals are actually surprisingly good.

Leo has been insane since 2021 what are you talking about? Back when he was on Guild many in EMEA were considering him as one of the best. Fnatic was just first team that he managed to win with.

BBL over Vitality any day. But bait aside EMEA is very strong right now and I don't think some even realize it. Likely the best top 3 out of any region right now considering their past performances, experience, players, potential etc in Fnatic, Team Heretics and Team Liquid. And teams like BBL have constantly been fighting for the 3rd spot and have looked close to Team Liquid. NAVI are on good form right now as well and have pretty decent experience. Karmine Corp isn't that bad either if they are hitting.

BBL would be fighting for top 3 finish on all the other regions no joke

oh nvm they didnt go to that event due to visa issues iirc

Yeah I think so. Like I said they have often lost against the best teams. And even these top teams can have off days. With some luck in bracket/games I think they could have made it pretty far. Even more with this current roster where they replaced their weakest link with player of insane potential.

Bangkok: had relatively close game vs EDG (at least the first map). Eliminated Sentinels that some were rating as top 4 team heading into it. Eliminated by G2 who were arguably the best team in the tournament minus the finals.
Toronto: no nAts vs BLG and still close. Rolled MIBR. Close game vs PRX and almost eliminated them and barely lost in the overtime (even if PRX was chocking).
So those alone show that they are international level team. They are consistently beating or having close games against decent teams. And I think you could even argue that they would have been fine in playoffs as well, but have faced strong teams or just got unlucky in groups.

On top of that they now have Trexx instead of kamyk/Serial. That is a big upgrade in floor and ceiling. Liquid roster is actually pretty damn stacked. Keiko is on insane form, Kamo can pop off and is flexible, nAts IGLing is pretty good and his firepower/impact is very high, Patitek has been playing pretty well and Trexx is very good player in many levels.

I'm not saying they will win Champions or make it far, but they definitely have the potential to do bunch of damage and go for a run. I believe that Liquid wouldn't be underdog vs anyone outside of like the best team of each region.

True Liquid has good mix of players when it comes to leadership and mental side. Seems like chill team. nAts leader like, Patitek vibe guy and Keiko/Kamo seem chill as well and good coaches. But yeah reminds to be seen when they start losing. Guys who tilt can drag everyone down fast and people underrate that

True but it doesnt help to have players that tilt. For example in one of the Vitality vlogs you see Trexx just sitting alone quietly after losing map instead of taking part in team talk. Like how is that helping. Idk how he often is obviously, but that is just an example.

IMO Trexx is one of the best players in the world but if you have player that tilts easily and doesn't take part in team talk but instead shuts down when things are going bad its not very good for team environment and could be worth replacing

Vitality has one of the best ultras in esport but that's mainly in CS, but their Rocket League and LoL also has them sometimes. Not sure of Valorant but I would imagine if they made it to Paris.

yeah thats the thing. You need these software for mouse to work properly and then they suck. Also hate when some try to force you to make account and log in to change DPI like wtf

Use to have this issue once in a while when I used Logitech mouse. I think only reinstall helped or I had to delete G Hub agent thing, can't remember. But overall all these peripheral control apps fucking suck. Logitech = ass, Razer = ass, SteelSeries = pretty ass

Yep. Honestly I think BBL > NAVI > GX/KC > VIT rn but anything could happen and will depend on matchups

because EMEA has the best top 3

Yes but teams and player usually make callsigns for different stuff. Just how there at least used to be "G2 plant" on Icebox A because G2 used to plant near gen and then play away from site. Its just easier to name stuff and I would imagine there being a reason why its called Vision Strikers.

Yep. You can literally look at any game that has similar aiming mechanics like COD, Apex Legends(obviously higher TTK) etc. Those benefit people who play on higher sens and who rely on micro adjustments at the end. And you don't even need to be that good at micro adjustments.

Like again if you look at CS most pros play on low senses because it fits that game and pros that play on higher sens like s1mple are not that common. Its not forgiving enough while Battlefield is. And when you have very fast and flicky aim it looks like cheating for super casual players. And even in CS you have some pugs demons who hit insane clips just to get farmed by actual pros. Thats why its annoying why those clips even became a thing, just person who tryhards some bot lobbies on casual game and now gets nice ego boost.

Those clips aren't even that impressive. Sure good, but its Battlefield ffs. Aiming is easier, ADS (that can also be used to slow aim down), low recoil, no real punishment for movement/spray, flick keybind possibility, bad players with zero awareness and everyone plays braindead as its very casual game etc. Its just some high sens clip farmer sweating on casual game. No difference to the outcome of the match.

If you walked to A site on Dust 2 and flicked to 5 guys' heads in 2 second I would call that cheating, because not only is the aiming harder and punishes you more but also players actually position themselves better and expect you. Equivalent to BF is like walking behind 5 enemies standing still while all of them are staring at the wall.

Its not same as major VCT event but it wasn't mickey mouse either. You think barely 20 year old dudes wouldn't care about winning crazy lot of money? Anyone who is saying that the teams or players didn't care is lying to themselves. Plus I think that the fact that we got TH, FNC, GENG and PRX as the top 4 is quite telling (especially considering that G2 had a sub), that's likely the best top 4 you could get.

And for TH, their good form is still top level. That roster reached international VCT finals twice and qualified to Toronto even if their performance there was underwhelming. They are contender for Champions.

Yeah because TL is abusing all their weaknesses with strong anti-strat + aim diff rn

Yes and Boaster is overall the better IGL no question. Valyn wins in fragging, Boaster on anything else relevant.

Still Boaster clears. He has been top 3 IGL since 2021 and is still calling his team to finals. Valyn is better fragger, but Boaster is arguably the best IGL of all time in terms of calling and career.

Boaster best IGL this year and its not even close. His fragging and individual playmaking is questionable at times but his calling has been easily the best out of any IGL

Imagine comparing Sayonara to kamyk. Sayonara is like the most hyped up prospect vs kamyk who was decent tier 2 player.

I don't know what happened to them from last split. Feels like they are playing so dumb in their last games and no wonder they are about to be 1-3. Just bad individual decision making.

yeah they are playing bad but still Viper ult is such bs ult

viper pit such op ult

Magnum is good but holy fuck are BBL players making bunch of individual mistakes that cost them the game

Its fun, but IMO maps are kinda ehh and not the best. All of them feel small and its just flying debris everywhere. Also really hope there's way more guns and especially gadgets in full release and hope there's more larger maps. All of the classes, guns, vehicles etc feel balanced right now and feels like you can play anything and any style like how Battlefield should be. Overall very solid experience and has been living to the hype IMO.

Pretty well optimized as my GTX 1080 is able to run it like 80 FPS. And the settings feel bit confusing anyway there's like so many options and takes time before everythings in check.

And who Americas got 2G? G2 core were tier 1 proven already.

one time i bet against them they decide to stop choking but there is still hope

We have literally seen them in internationals and they have always done fine. They have won against teams they should and have had relatively close games or at least maps against teams that on paper are better than them. They are good, but not event winning level (just like most of the teams). And with Trexx addition their ceiling and floor should be even higher even if they've looked bit shaky rn.

I would even argue that they are strongest "3rd best team" of any region rn (with their form before trexx).

Yep. Obviously we can't ever know reasons like budget and what happens in scrims/trials etc but Apeks roster building in tier 1 has been ass. Florescent was very risky signing even if it ended up working, batujnax never really made any sense as he was mediocre in tier 2 and the core was quite bad. Apeks seems like good org for most part, but I'm pretty glad that they are getting replaced. At least GentleMates tries to build competitive rosters.

Poland is one of the strongest Valorant countries no doubt