val is actually really balanced compared to a lot of other games.

People will never be happy tho, just want to be mad at the game.

actual pot calling the kettle black moment

Ok, let me break this down for you. Valorant was not taking a bunch of money from Saudi before and now they've caved. People are sad about this.

And on tourism, why do you think these events up tourism? Could it be almost like... marketing the country? No way.

Honestly, I'm far from the biggest detractor from this decision. I don't like it, but I don't think it's as big a deal as a lot of people. But there is OBVIOUSLY many more reasons to dislike this decision and the EWC than being xenophobic or racist.

Uh, no. My biggest reason for not watching the EWC is just because the fact that they threw a ludicrous amount of money at the game to force a big tournament despite the wishes of many fans, players, and talent left a bad taste in my mouth. It's also not going to be a particularly good tournament.

I like Valorant so I consume it. Doesn't mean I have to like everything about it.

I think it's pretty obvious his only issue isn't solely when they host an event in China. Them hosting an event in China is just enough to get him not to watch.

So your argument is just "Everyone is hypocritical so fuck them?" It's incredibly difficult to completely untangle your life from unethical or exploitative consumption. If people were perfect, maybe they'd make more of an attempt. However, that doesn't make criticizing decisions that lead into more unethical consumption to be bad.

I don't personally think that everyone who watches or wants to watch EWC is a bad person. I won't watch it, but you're right I'm probably hypocritical in a lot of ways and not watching it is a personal choice. I also think, however, that this shouldn't have been allowed in the first place. Not for practical or business reasons, but moral ones.

First: Obviously from a business standpoint Orgs are incentivized to accept Saudi money, but I'm simply stating that they don't NEED it, and that if the EWC never happened they'd still exist and be fine.

Secondly: Covering up bad PR is definitely a reason why they are doing it. Part of the reason they need to increase tourism is because their PR isn't great. I don't see why [ointing out that a country is still bad despite this and actually you shouldn't visit is a problem.

Thirdly: Again, nobody is excusing specific countries. I criticize the US a lot, I criticize China a lot, Saudi is in the air-waves less so I criticize it less but it's not above critique either.

And, newsflash, a lot of gamers and the general public don't care about these issues. This is why people aren't constantly and publicly shitting on riot and Faceit, and when their ownership is displayed front and center it becomes more of an issue for the average person. That doesn't mean that there aren't still people who take issue with these things or would if they weren't ignorant.

The biggest real difference is one is happening right now. People do take issue with countries like China being so heavily involved in Riot and esports, but EWC is just a more recent example. Another is that women or LGBTQ people attending events in Saudi is a much worse and more dangerous experience than in China.

The franchising orgs do not need Saudi resources to keep the lights on. Maybe the T2 orgs, but not the franchising orgs. Also if the US attempted to buy out an esport for publicity and cover-up humans rights abuses people would absolutely care. Many people who are critical of this are also critical of America, Europe, and other such countries as well.

Whataboutism also just isn't helpful. There are definitely cases where people have let similar things slide either out of ignorance or lack of care, but that doesn't change anything.

mid off

alright then, back to not caring.

Is this content creation or actually on the team?

me when im dumb

G2 number one.
2G, Furia, EG bottom 3,
Random number generator for the rest

Can yall take us over instead?

honestly not a lot of people actually say it, but it's silly so it's peak

dont worry I prejacked the disappointment. I'm expecting win against only 2G and maybe EG. No way they do worse than that... right?

wait I just looked it up NRG didn't apply either? Is this a rare NRG W in 2025? I thought I'd just be getting disappointments all year

you aint normal buddy. ur ass is on vlr

he wont get arrested or charged for it, but people don't have to like it lmao

what?

I love the content of the Re:Zero webnovels a lot, but holy lord is it sooooooo slow. They be dropping 1 million words on one arc that could've been a fourth of the size

its a 2 sentence twitter apology, that shit takes nothing to do. prob just him and the org want to put up a more professional front and not drop pseudo-slurs on a podcast.

every team except t1 is bad, actually.

very normal forehead actually

what you mean?

You're taking shit way to seriously bro. You're writing literal fanfiction about them wanting to clown on every player.

They spent a lot of time gassing up T1. More than G2 that episode, actually. They just also think G2 looked really good and was the best team over all at the event. They also think T1 is clearly at least second best team and is also really good. They are allowed to have opinions.

damn you cooked him

its his cachiest tho

It's kickoff. Regions always feel weird in kickoff. Teams will probably get a lot better and a lot more even as the year goes along.

I just hope 2G and Furia stay the same. They're funny

If you're gonna bait at least make the bait readable. This capitalization is hurting my eyes

Most of the time they only criticize the team as a whole, and when they do call out specific people for poor performances they aren't actually that harsh about it. They don't act like some people are "absolute shitters" and I have no idea where you got this idea.

Let the analysts be a little bit candid. It's refreshing. You're giving way to much special care to the players. They're public figures, they can take some criticism on their gameplay.

"Also, it annoys me when platchat nerds present 'Oh, sideshow said this' as a shield to their argument." Has anyone ever actually said anything like this? Most of the posts I see are always clowning on plat chat preds on this site.

They're podcast is made to be entertaining and talk about the game they are invested in. They've always openly said not to take their predictions or power rankings too seriously and that it will all probably be wrong. They also often call each other stupid for wrong takes like this. And, I mean, if you don't judge teams based on what you analyze or see in the moment then what is even the fucking point of predicting?

Also, we forget that Trace was literally in 7th but Bren single-handedly put them in 5th because they decided to let him have a free spot change because he got something right in the past.

OW too, and a lot of fighting games (especially in the past)

I also don't buy the Korean eventual domination narrative, but they still do notably well in a lot of esports.

nah. Grand finals may be boring, but most matches were pretty entertaining.

they dominate in way more than 1 esport. Just not as much in fps games.

all of them

I was on ur side then I realized u might actually be racist.

I don't think the crowds are as hype, but everything you talked about still happens in non APAC crowds. I like this current one better than most tho

i mean any team can get burnt out, but also this core has been steadily improving for so long we can probably afford them some faith to not fall off like some others. who knows tho

your looking at the wrong viewer numbers friend

The Guard is one of the few orgs G2 can claim they actually have better management then

me when i spread propaganda

surely we're not deadass right... he PROVED he was the best in NA last year...?

brother, you have to at least make the international stage to prove anything.

cope

hey man i didnt call anyone from nrg "best in americas". im just a fan

our teams are both trash buddy, i'm just self aware

and thats all hes ever done. exist. lose in group and exist

jerking it

grand finals today

fax. Neon was peek. I need my duelists to be hopping around and doing silly shit.

(It's a bad take I know)

very melodramatic, but ok