could argue XERXIA was the SEA masters 1 winners bc of former x10 lineup, so ig theyre here

i assume open qualifiers for the main challengers event are getting fully removed? and new teams will have to qualify through VRL qualifiers, so stage 2 VRL winners this year will get immediate spots in next years VRL? not sure

meta changes are good sometimes but having such a large change that takes one of the most played agents nearly completely out of play and implementing 2 others again MID WAY through an important qualifier is not good, teams had to play right up to meer days before the switch. its just not enough time for teams to adapt and makes results too random imo. big meta changes should be in off seasons where teams have more time to figure out new comps, then teams who are actually good will obviously adapt and teams that arent wont.

too much stuff to say 🤗

👍

additionally g2 look in form after signing hoody + meddo, nukkye is going crazy and you could argue he is the best player in EMEA right now. gambit (now going by m3c) had a rough loss against fnatic ultimately losing 23-21 after being 00.02 seconds away from qualifying which eventually led them to being knocked out by g2 in the lower brackets. FPX had a clean run throughout playoffs, 2-0 TL 2-0 FNC 3-0 G2 but sadly due to 3 of their players not being able to travel to iceland they can not attend and Liquid who were knocked out by g2 in lower semis will take their place. (FPX have been given their 200 base circuit points for qualifying to playoffs) (FNC will also have to play with 1 sub due to similar issues.) On the topic of Liquid their comps have been very strange again which probably led them to losing originally but multiple of their members have said they are fixing their problems and will come back stronger. in NA there is a new uprising team called The Guard who after losing to C9 in the group stage and Optic in the upper semis beat C9 3-0 and Optic 3-2, possibly looking like the strongest NA team currenetly especially with Sayaplayer and Trent on their team - Optic still look clean though and are definite contenders. Sentinels will also have to go through open quals for next NA challengers after immediate knockout in playoffs. KRU qualifies for another LAN after losing to Leviatan then beating them later on, they still look reasonably strong. brazil has a new superteam LOUD who looks incredibly strong and has alot of high expectations. DRX (fomerly Vision Strikers) still look clean and will hopefully have a good run. other than that there is just a lot of roster changes happening, especially in NA after teams such as 100t and Rise fail to qualify and begin to rebuild or drop their rosters.

world champions acend drop half their roster after failing to qualify for the first LAN of 2022

beautiful

probably, nats said on his stream the other day they are still scrimming 6-7 days a week i believe. not sure if they are scrimming with masters teams but last thing i heard was them and guild were "scrim partners"

he is the 4th one i think, he changed his name to something random on valorant

id like to think liquid could make it out of groups but it really depends on whether or not they decide to go with some crazy comps, though vs kru it will be hard anyways - imo anyone from group b can make it to playoffs, just depends on the day. maybe optic slightly more favoured tho. group a will be strange for fnatic with probably 2 subs, definitely gives drx and more so nip more chances. groups feel reasonably balanced this time so im excited to see who makes it!

personally i dont think they will have a roster change, no matter how good/bad they do at masters. if they do end up dropping somebody i do think it will either be l1nk/soulcas since scream and nivera are great players and sliggy has said multiple times he thinks jamppi is a super valuable player so i dont see him going anywhere. if anything liquid just need a more solid igl, doesnt seem like they have a main person making calls - obvious person for igl is bonecold and he could take smokes over link

i think people forget liquid were one of the favourites moving into champions, obviously they faltered against acend in the semi finals and then went on their weird comp tangent again but they always look strong when using meta comps. hopefully they dont fuck up again this time, its their prime opportunity to prove they are a top team and honour fpx

gambit/m3c had it hard but that doesnt take away the fact fpx and g2 are some of the top emea teams right now, theyre proving it right now. just gg go next, gambit can qualify again in a few months.

yeah, you can only take teams off guard and surprise them so much at this level then you end up shooting yourself in the foot if you go too far. hope this is the wake up call they need

yeah.. hopefully after this theyll see their meta comps work a lot better. the players seem a lot more confident aswell

true, i think it definitely helps to have one person making big calls

i understand some of their "fun" comps work but they always seem so strong using meta comps i dont understand why sliggy or any of the players keep trying to reinvent it???

they made it to and won masters 3 and were finalists at champions last year, im sure theyll live. just give them time

really lost to 00.02 huh

sliggy has said a few times on stream that they share igling since he thinks it is more affective

jamppi isnt actually liquids igl, theyve said before him, soulcas and scream share the role sortof

he entries and makes space for his team, frags dont mean everything. replacing him wouldnt help much since one of the reasons gambit is so strong is because of their chemistry and team play because of how long theyve been together, adding a "top 5 jett" wouldnt immediately make them any better

their mental is something i could only ever dream of having

deffo arc in iceland incoming fr

they played super well and looked very strong during lcq and the beginning of champs last year until they fumbled against acend, they definitely dont look as strong anymore. considering they were favourites going into champions now its doubtful if they'll even make it to the first LAN this year, their only shot of qualifying is beating fpx IMO or theyre going to have to do some serious work

everyday is a new day to be disappointed by liquid Sadge

W take

definitely top 5 igl imo, his gameplay has been looking super clean recently aswell

yeah. they got a really tough bracket, maybe they can prove themselves

if gambit fnatic qualify its impossible for guild to also qualify because theyre on the same side of the bracket :^(

was agreeing with your point i think its stupid not to invite 2 of the best casters but no need to shit on people your own rank🤷‍♀️

was agreeing with your point i think its stupid not to invite 2 of the best casters but no need to shit on people your own rank🤷‍♀️

riots "LAN" events havent been so great so far anyways, cant believe theres no audience this time either

yeah... maybe next challengers😅

it only matters for maps won/lost for the teams in the tie break, not overall so liquid is -1 in 2-3 w/l

ah makes sense, its looking like this could be another close game maybe liquid will get lucky lol

i thought the tiebreaker was h2h?