Dexter I will join

I predicted Guard to win from the beginning, and wrote a good post about how I hoped they would win the final (which sadly they got demolished in), but eh it happens.

Here it is: https://www.vlr.gg/129401/the-guard-storytime

I guarantee you I was here. And if I wasn't, it's because I was travelling or got busy with finals.

I think with their chemistry, they definitely have a good chance. I don't think it's a shoe-in for them by any means; M80 in particular will likely be a strong competitor. That being said, I think Trent + Valyn are the best initiator and smoke igls left to play in ascension, so that's gonna be a big advantage. Losing Saya and mCe was obviously a big blow to them, but I bet Tex and JoshRT will fill their place pretty well in a month or so.

Damn you missed out on my LCQ storytime I'm sorry for you. That was a truly epic post.

LMFAOOO I was literally the guy mCe called the last guard flair on VLR during that masters 2 challengers split. Of all the people to accuse of being plastic fans, I ain't one. Ask any of the older members.

Go check MCE's vlr responses, I'm very much not a plastic fan and I don't pretend like I speak for all guard fans. I've always only spoken for myself.

Go spread the word about TGRD on HLTV then, have fun there

Exactly, that's what I've noticed

You don't think Tex/Valyn have the ability to be godlike players?

Some of the things he's said recently after guard does well:
"really expected result, unsurprising tbh."

(The Guard unveil 2023 roster, adding tex, JoshRT in News)
"shits gonna be free"

(NEW GUARD ROSTER ESTA AQUI in General Discussion)
"I’m gonna blow my brains out if the guard somehow doesn’t win ascension"

I'm not trying to gatekeep being a guard fan bc I love the team, but I'd prefer to be associated with people who don't make other fans hate TGRD's fanbase

Ayyy good to see you supporting Guard again Luck :)

What is it with you and "truths". 90% of the comments on this site are dumb opinions. Also if you want examples gimme a sec.

Boring + badly made analogy. Go back to calling them Gourd or something.

Dude I took a break from this site and as soon as I get back, I see that guy posting the stupidest shit with a guard flair. Like acting arrogant and all this stuff. Made me pissed ngl especially since he was nowhere to be found during all the downs of TGRD last year.

Exactly! Plus they didn't have anywhere near the coordination they showed in masters 1 and LCQ last year. I bet they'll be able to reach that form again if not better with sentinel actually being meta again bc that suits their original composition a lot more.

He doesn't look great tbh right now. A lot of crouch spraying and stuff. But he was an insane player in OW where aim is mechanically harder imo, so I bet with enough time he'll be able to adjust.

:((((

Yeah this is a bad bait sorry

I don't claim gamr, the rest of us are alright. It's just nice to feel vindicated after I had so many people last year shit on me supporting them.

I agree but people were still hating on them after their LCQ performance (which was pretty damn amazing I'd say). It made 0 sense.

You can shut up once and for all about this, yeah?

What have I been saying literally since their loss at masters 1. People KEEP UNDERRATING THIS DAMN TEAM AND THESE SICK ASS PLAYERS.

Ps. don't give me the practice excuse, Trent on LAN got 39 kills against a team with fucking Sacy, Pancada, Zekken, Tenz, and Dephh on it (and a decent portion of those kills were unsupported). You can't still be undermining this guy's talent.

pps. that typo in the title will haunt me for 3 million years

As you should!

bump, love this stuff

You're not getting my point; I don't care about the semantics of this argument. What I care about is making you understand that it's ok to be impresed by and happy for some people who achieved something without always comparing them to other people's achievements you view as better.

I loved the guard run and I love this run. I appreciated the hard work of the guard players and MCE then and I appreciate the hard work of the dsg players and Ocean now. That is all.

Exactly, he did it because he cared! We need more people like him in the valorant scene.

Dude look at what you wrote. I said, "I'm super happy for the players and ocean, they did great!!", and you went "nah ocean's scouting wasn't great, besides everyone expected them to win, it's not that impressive"

Nobody likes that energy, I hope you don't bring it irl.

Mjtchell you KNOW I respect the hell out of 100T. They're an awesome team and MikesHD is one of my fav coaches. I know they're gonna do great things in VCT. That being said, they just don't quite get my fire burning like TGRD used to and DSG just did!

But! If they play amazingly at kickoff and are the last NA team standing (and aren't against paper rex or someone else I love), I will wear their flair with pride for the rest of the tournament.

I could bother arguing with you, but I'm trying to be positive here and support the players and staff who just went on an awesome run I didn't expect. Also realize the pros read this every once and a while and I'd rather they come away happy than sad. You don't gotta hate on shit for no reason man!

It's not wrong to root for someone in t1 over a challengers team? Also I really like MCE sooo

Why :( !!

I forgot how baity vlr can be tbh. Ty for reminding me.

Love you too Mjtchell!

Probably C9 because Yay was always one of my favorite players and MCE is obv my favorite coach. But I'm not entirely sure yet, I'll need to see some more at kick off before I truly decide. In the Americas t1, I also really like Zekken, Sacy, Ardiis (bc he's funny af), BCJ, and MikesHD tho. Oh and Sayaplayer in T1 naturally (excited to see them THIS WEEKEND WOOOO).

ok mr debbie downer over here. Scouting isn't just identifying good players; it's also convincing them to want to join the team (which Ocean DID). More than that, are you really telling me steel, exalt, xxif, and gengsta were even considered in the conversation for "best in their roles" in NA before this qualifier?

? What's your deal?

In fact these runs are even better because they don't jeprodize the tier 1 scene by havning more flukey teams make it! And I'd say the hype behind this qualifier was just as much if not more than that around the orginal tier 1 NA open qualifications for the group stages last year.

Between his decision to take the leap, Ocean’s incredible scouting, and the hard work of all the players (Exalt, Gengsta, Xxif, Clear, and Steel (god I never thought I would be praising steel but this dedication made me like him much more)), it was an amazing cinderella run.

Remember when people were going on about how we would never get exciting open qualifier runs anymore in franchising? Huh.

I mighttttt have to support DSG in ascension. TGRD will always be my true love, but the DSG run was so fucking awesome to watch. Watching a group of motley players no one expected to even make challengers qualify SECOND out of all teams in open quals? That's my kinda cinderella run! I don't think they'll win ascension, hell I think it's likely they'll get slapped around, but I'll still root for them :)

Also it was awesome to see Toast get so excited and proud of his team. We need more people like him in the Valorant scene (and their viewership plsss).

Zexrow KJ on Breeze is cracked out of this universe. Unbelievable scenes in the BoomTV tournament!

This game is kind of banging tbh

But we don't know valyn's going to eg right? Pretty sure there was a chance but it's not confirmed or anything. We'll have to see.

Yeah he had one shit play lmfao, what's your point? That one play is all that matters? People can't get better? Absolutely braindead reason to shit on a player.

Yeah but the rest should've been dropped for free agents imo. Like why wouldn't you want Trent over C0M and Skuba/Supaman/Zander over Apoth?

We've known that Valyn's cracked, but ppl like to discount neT's team impact too

JonahP was pretty crazy too, good on Chamber/Smokes/Initiators. The only role he didn't quite pound in was that awkward jett entry time when Saya was on Chamber.

Exactlyyy

Even ignoring his great sentinel performances (which will be far more important after the chamber nerfs), if you listen to tarik's team comms, he's super active as a caller and emotional support guy. He brings a shit ton of energy in addition to his play, and tbh EG completely whiffed by not picking him (and some of the other guard boys, Trent, Valyn, and JonahP) up. Really hope to see him playing in franchising someday!!

She's incredible, can't wait to see her in main VCT

IMPORTANT EDIT: False alarm!! I'm an absolute moron, but tbf they framed it confusingly. They put knights weekly 14 games and called them knights weekly 15 games.