xSaneZ [#419]
Yep I have serious hope for this team, I think they could even by secondary effect help develop the rest of the CN region because atm no one else is really punishing the bad fundamentals of a lot of the teams - I can see AG becoming very dominant in CN with the kind of support system they have in place and the lessons they have learnt from this masters, I just hope they don't default back to the usual CN slop and stick to what they know is right (even if it doesnt work at first)
I'm not sure if you've seen the VALO2ASIA conference after AG's loss, but K1ra shows that he understands exactly what they need to do and what they've done wrong, he honestly seems like a very good IGL and tactically understands the strats that other teams are running and WHY they do them.
Probably why they developed him into an igl and scrapped deLb. K1ra is very moldable and is obviously intent on absorbing as much practical knowledge as possible. The project is grassroots in terms of how they're trying to uplift their own domestic talent from the bottom-up, and it's cool to see it in action with the very players on the main team focusing on improving their floor.
It's a trap that a lot of CN teams fall into after improving imo. Trace, Wolves, and FPX all tried to double down into strategies and habits that allowed them to reach the heights they did. However, they all didn't seriously try to clean up the aspects of their gameplay that made them fall short in the first place. Whether it's from a lack of understanding or tunnel vision idk, but (at least from what we've seen) AG do NOT intend on making those same mistakes.
They understand that the first step in improving is to not make mistakes, and that's something EVERYONE saw in their game-by-game improvements. They went from not being proactive, to being proactive, to then making mistakes from that resulting proactivity (Pearl is a big example). It's going to be a work in progress, but (hopefully) they know that and are focusing on trusting the process like they have been for the last 2 years.
I don't expect them to light the world on fire at London, but just seeing them improve and take complete advantage of their opportunities is all we need to see that they're going to be DANGEROUS in the future