Stage 2 Challengers 2 Discussion Thread

My Takes on the upcoming Challengers:
I lowkey think LG are pretty bad. I know they couldn't prepare for Noble like Noble could prepare for them, but Noble didn't have a ton of prep time like the other upsets (SEN, FaZe, GENG). I think LG have fallen off, aproto looks like of rusty and isn't as clean as when they were beating SEN a while back. thief isn't as good either. I remember seeing the thief clip on icebox against SEN and thinking "this dude is actually insane" and I guess that was his peak because LG keep putting up worse stats. I also think FaZe is going through some things right now and they just don't look as good as they did in Masters and CH3. They are kind of going through an identity crisis, and I'm not sure if they can fix it. Also, SEN getting into S2CH2 is almost completely dependent on if they actually have TenZ, which I don't know if they will. Considering all of this, I'd say the most likely contenders for CH3 in order are as follows:

1. Gen. G (Easy call for first, they barely lost to C9B who kind of anti-stratted them and just overall looked better on the day of)
2. Cloud 9 Blue (Looked really good against teams like IMT, V1, 100T, and GENG, and their ceiling is massive with their current lineup)
3. NRG (Barely missed out of going to S2CH1 because of XSET, who made it into CHFinals. Also will improve with new roster and tex, not higher because they might get hit by losing out on Chet, their coach.)
4. FaZe (Might be higher, but identity crisis hitting them hard with Zach and others role swapping, but they're still FaZe, and only just lost to V1)

Top 5. IMT (I feel like, in a strange way, they almost look better with rossy instead of nature, and stani on the jett. More firepower, less brains. Don't know what's going to happen with the roster if NaturE comes back. I feel like they are teetering on the edge of getting into S2CH2 either way. Will depend on how easy their bracket is)
?. Sentinels (With TenZ, they're first. Without TenZ, idk, maybe not even on the list)

Others close:
Soniqs: Say what you want about them losing to RNG and SEN, this team is still good. They have the firepower, but I don't know if they have the strategy to match it yet. A little more adapting and they'll be top 10 for sure.
TSM: Literally don't even know anymore. Don't even know who's going to be starting. Total coinflip/wildcard at this point.
T1: autimatic and curry just don't seem to have that much impact. Skadoodle and DaZeD need to improve or they will be dropped. This roster is a mess, even though there is a lot of talent. Management issues I guess. That said, they still have a ton of potential and I think they could be a dark horse to make it.
LG: aproto and thief. Where are they? If they are found before they stray too far into the woods this team might survive.

Upset picks:
Andbox: Still a good team, even if they had an easy path to S2CH1 and still lost.
Noble: Can be a sly pick, zekken is a beast
Rise: Tons of firepower, but can they become consistent?
RNG: Seems just consistently average. Not sure how high their peak is.

Honorable Mentions:
beastcoast and BBG

Let me know if you agree/disagree and what your takes are!

TL;DR

you forgot 100t 😀

for me it goes imt>nrg, gen.g and c9b are looking great, except for the head to head where gen.g didn't look how i'd expect, but I think they'll bounce back. For NRG, tex does bring more firepower to the roster, but they are getting outstratted very hard and are looking very easy to read. Also with NRG, chet leaving will probably affect them, I don't know if it'll be good or bad, as they do have the CS:GO style brought by chet and daps. I still don't think daps will change that, as we saw with his opinions about sova on fl0m's stream (i might be overreacting to this). LG is still a good team for me. The noble game wasn't pretty, but I still think that they can succeed and are a much better team than nrg, t1, tsm. We'll see how it ends up, I might be eating my words lmaoo

~~There is a good chance C9 has to face at least one of Geng/SEN/Faze/LG/T1/NRG in qualifiers ~~

Misunderstood the bracket system

my picks are C9B GENG FaZe and LG or SEN

I’m hopeful for nrg, I believe in GenG, and think that FaZe and Sen both make it.

For T1, the only question I have for skill is dazed. The team is hampered by their roles. Ska was a top 10 Jett na when he was on it, idk why they ever took him off it. Ska on Jett, and the team goes back to being contenders, whoever is against the ska Jett on the team needs to be cut.

ramb split ways

Think about this though, if you are sentinels your only choice now is either now buying TenZ or extending his loan. cause if they have a new fifth, they already need to be in prac with the fifth. I don't think they can go so far with a brand new fifth without any prac like TenZ. My assumption would be they try to extend the TenZ loan or they already have their new fifth. If they get a sub last minute and it's not tenz I wouldn't put them top 4, they could still challenge for the top 4.
TLDR: no tenz ---no top 4 without prac.
As for the top 4, Gen.G and FaZe are no-brainers. then NRG and it's gonna be close between LG, SEN, and IMT.
RNG though is on the come up, they have such insane potential, they get unlucky with the brackets often. They definitely have the upset potential. if they get someone like TSM or T1, they definitely get into the closed IMO. We have definitely not seen their best, while LG is already past their peak.
Gen.G (if tenz is there) Gen.G (no tenz)
FaZe FaZe
NRG IMT
SEN NRG (could swap LG )