thank you justforthis

That's bc Cloud is a top 3 initiator in EMEA along with Leo and Shao

Wild comps, good mechanics. Less impressive than Loud v Sen and PRX vs GenG, but more impressive than C9 v MIBR and Talon vs TS. I expect Fnatic, VIT, and Navi to look very good.

He really is. The Leo of EMEA.

I think he feels pressure to be a playmaker sometimes, which should def take him off this list, bc the whole idea is these are players who don’t ever make mistakes like that.

I don’t really watch pros play ranked at all tbh, but I get your points. I think my bias comes from his XSET days when he was always just frying. You’re probably right he doesn’t deserve to be up there based on recent performance, but eh I’m committed now

Mako deserves a spot here. Oh and Chronicle

I mean he makes mistakes, so does everyone on this list. I just feel like they’re pretty rare, and 9/10 times he’s making the right decisions.

k1ng is cracked for sure, but yeah idk if he’d fit here. MaKo is the only Korean (at this moment) I can think of who 100% belongs on this list

I considered Stax but lowkey I don’t respect his decision making as much as some other pros. I feel like he has a tendency to die first a lot.

He’s really good, he was saving sen on split, somehow converting unwinnable rounds

I wanted to add buzz, texture, Saya, but I feel they fell too much into the mechanically insane catagory

Tbh I used to be a huge c0m hater, but he’s definitely proved himself recently (since Tokyo really). Idt I’ll add him here but he’s undoubtably a great player.

If I was adding more tier 2 NA players, I’d also want to put Skuba and Verno, they’ve really impressed me. Skuba forever, verno recently.

I love both Prof P and Trent; I was the biggest guard fan on this site for a while, but I can’t add them yet bc they haven’t showcased their play on an international stage (I don’t count Iceland bc Guard in general just didn’t play as well as they could). I really want them to make this qualifier, tho Americas is so stacked it’ll be hard.

I actually love poised, huge respect to how far that guy came with his injuries. I was really moved by his story. He retired tho right?

??? He takes more risks that he doesn’t get punished for bc his aim is ridiculous. Think about every highlight flick (like that 2k on split). That’s not ‘perfect’ play but it works bc his aim is so good. This isn’t a ranking of the best players, it’s a ranking of player decisions. Alfa, Tenz, and something also take more risks just as he does, so they’re not here.

Have you ever watched him play lmaoooo

That guy’s decision making is ridiculous and he has the aim to back it up.

Edited: you right I’m putting him in

Cloud is a really good shout ngl, I did almost put him, but I don’t think he’s at this level yet. Once he gets onto another EMEA superteam it’s all over

Yeah probably, but I feel like he relies too much on his aim. I’ve seen him shoot his way out of bad situations he gets into, but I’ve almost NEVER seen Leo get in those situations in the first place.

Not a bad idea

I did consider him, but I think he makes too many 'plays' to be considered perfect in this estimation. It's good to have players that are able to take risks, but they're not who I'm looking at rn. Marved, Buzz, and Alfajer also fall into this category. Insane players ofc.

Less is a great shout, Saadhak has crazy games but often isn’t putting up great numbers, Alfa is mechanically insane but def puts himself in unfavorable situations (wins anyway bc his mechanics tho), cauanzin maybe in the future, we’ll see

It’s not to soon lmfao he’s been playing for 2 years in tier 1 valorant, and he’s probably the best flex in Americas rn.

And yeah I’d agree

These are not mechanical freaks like demon1, tenz, something, etc. These are extremely smart players who almost never make a mistake, and just play good valorant nearly all the time (based on my eyetest).

D4v41
Leo
Ethan
Aspas
MaKo
f0rsaken
Less
Shao
nAts

Edit: zekken removed by consensus

Add more in the comments!

I’m not saying they’re the best in the world, frankly I think Loud is just as good in the Americas, and PRX/Fnatic are probably a bit better worldwide. What I am saying is they showed no gekko, no yoru, and nothing particularly impressive with ult combos. I guarantee they have those prepped; after all, they have Chet and Tanizq. I think they will look a lot more impressive in this C9 game, but ofc I could be wrong.

They were saving all their comps lol, they played stuff from last year and won anyway

Really excited to see PRX tn!!

I mean Supamen was once top 3 smokes NA, he just got fucked over by Faze and put in contract jail. Derrek has shown he can be great, but had a rough season last year (partly bc skye dependence, and 100T vibes in general). Jawgemo is genuinely the best raze player worldwide rn that Jingg is gone. Nature is probably gonna take a bit to heat up, but he's shown potential, and Apoth is there.

I do too, but I KNOW Loud will be winning and I was wrong

https://www.vlr.gg/pickem/84aba03f

Genuinely both look really good, but SEN got boomed by the gigachad Saadhak and a completely new comp on ascent. 100T meanwhile lost a good amount to Aspas and wereclose to winning, but to me, that reflects more on Lev's weakness than 100T's strength. SEN should be favored but it could really go either way. Whoever wins here will probably play LEV next match, and they have a good chance to take it.

In short,
Loud >>SEN> Lev~=100T

Yeah they look really good ngl. G2 got outplayed completely strategically, they won both pistols AND bonuses and still got smoked. Icebox. was KRU supremacy all the way

I lied, only Kru looks better strategically

REAL

Both of these teams are gonna be wayyyy better than people think.

Ok ik you troll all the time but this is legit correct I think, except I’d say Aspas >= demon1 for duelist and Alfajer = Less for senti.

Benkai

Based on record, yes. He's had more longevity than Saadhak (until the end of this year), and he's the best midrounder valorant has seen. Saadhak has way better mechanics, and probably better teambuilding abilities, but its pretty even between them.

Yeah I mean since FNS is out, Saadhak is defacto the best igl in vct this year. Loud might lose some, but Saadhak is the goat.

But they’re not getting one bc loud is going through next match

That's incredible impact right there, literally turned an impossible round at 8-9 when they needed a win

Achilios is top 10 caster in FPS along with Ubershouts, Machine, etc

same LOL

weird

Yeah, I picked c9 but furia looks wayy better. This game is so so boring

bro 100t v lev is gonna go stupid hard too

No way the season was enough to bring us back lmfaooo

like bro if you spammed one smoke every round you'd get more than that

would go absolutely dummy stupid hard