Fnatic is the Team of the Year. Making three finals > winning one final
NRG is great and played really well, arguably showed the highest peak of valorant this year. However, the Team of the Year is the team that was consistently great throughout the year. Otherwise, you might as well call it Team of the Month, or Team of the Tournament. NRG came out of nowhere.
Take into account: I am biased 😛 but lmk if and why you disagree with this take
i mean the reason PRX won that Grand final was because they had the 2 maps bans, FNC could've won it if it was 1 to 1 or 0 to 2 bans to them. EWC they threw against Heretics after going up 2-0 or Heretics just stepped up. And the same can be said about Champs grand final. So, yeah I would say they stayed roughly the same. FNC quite literally only made champs through champs points, and EMEA teams knocked them out in stage 2.
I mean thats not the point I was making tbh. The point was about how FNC's peak during Toronto was that high that they were able to stay roughly the same, without making major changes in play style/comps throughout Toronto, EWC, and Champs. Like yeah, they lost to PRX, TH, NRG deservedly. But, In both the PRX, NRG game if FNC had the map ban advantage or if it was even like lower final. It would've went FNC's way. Because FNC were that good. Not trying to dismiss the other teams wins, just saying that logically it makes sense to assume FNC would've won against them in a fair setting. Like EWC, and stage 2. If FNC went against an EMEA team in champs they most likely wouldve lost to them, because EMEA teams clearly figured FNC out after Toronto.
It wasn't originally about format. It was me replying to them saying "if fnc stayed the same they wouldnt have got 2nd in ewc, champs" I basically said FNC were good enough to stay the same during Toronto, EWC to champs, and thats literally backed up by them losing to team heretics in EWC GF and them getting knocked out in stage 2. They literally didnt change things and stayed the same, and got smoked in the stage 2, and reverse swept in EWC, because EMEA teams knew how to play against them. NRG obviously figured this out during champs and managed to beat them in the first bo3 which gave them the 2 map ban advantage. FNC throughout Toronto to Champs didnt change majorly and stayed consistent, while other teams like PRX declined quite clearly or you can say that teams just figured PRX out faster than they did FNC.
Did you not look at the thread? I am confused. FNC lost deservedly. NRG figured FNC out, and beat them. I didnt say NRG/PRX never deserved the win, all I said was FNC could've won in a fair setting, thats all. And that was just to back up my statement that FNC stayed the same throughout the year till champs.
If we are not just talking about tournaments, but the performance over the year overall. Wouldnt it be G2 in that case?
fnc won stage 1 but they played the first and last regionals very poorly
take into account that I definitely prefer fnc over g2, and I'm a mega prx fan. just wanted to hear ur take on this
They have a very similar trend as Fnatic the difference is Americas is a lot more free compared to emea, especially stage 2 the difference was wild with bbl and GX making insane runs. Plus Fnatic won a regional and made 2 international grand finals (3 if we count oil gaming) which is > G2's one grand final. I was also rating the 3 regionals highly till I realized the lower half of the american teams are just absolute ass and you realistically only have to beat 2 or 3 teams to lift that trophy.
It's a competition, you can't be the team of the year if you haven't won anything.
You can argue that NRG isn't the team of the year seeing as their roster/staff were very different from the start vs end of the season, but if not NRG then clearly it's PRX. Would you take a Masters trophy and 2 top 4 finishes or 3 runner up finishes? Ask any player and they'll say the former.
As a supporter I would rather 1st, 2nd/3rd, 4/5th. Over 2nd, 2nd, 2nd. Just because of how the game is. It can change in an instant. Meta's introduced make insane teams into bad teams. Outside factors can also crumble an org. Like gambit, optic, acend, fpx, and eg.
Also. I think its obvious that FNC were the best team of the year. Being that consistent throughout the year, when there is so many changes in meta's, and map pools is just insane. If FNC had gotten to grand finals in both the PRX/NRG games through uppers they would've 100% won both matches. Sadly they got dusted. GENG beating FNC to put them in lowers in toronto, FNC could've won but had tech issues that stopped momentum on haven, and had to face PRX (who I would say had the highest peak of the year) on Sunset, and Pearl. Then having to over come the mental damage done by getting reverse swept in albeit a minor tournament still another grand final, then having to deal with a play style they hadn't come up against before, and having to make on the go anti strats against said style would just be exhausting, plus losing in OT on a map they shouldve won btw. EASILY, they lost a 1v4, and 3 or 4 1v1s on Ascent. If that match got to map 3 I think FNC would've took it, but they failed, and NRG just had all the momentum on Abyss. Literally if 1 thing changed for FNC in any of those matches they could've won. NRG in the grand finals completely destroyed FNC, I do think FNC changing comp on sunset is what fucked them. They had so much pressure on them to do the reverse sweep, and were heading to map 5 which is their weakest map, and they come out with a new comp with Alfa on Neon which im pretty sure hes not even comfortable on (they just looked at the comps NRG lost to before and used that ig) yeah that didnt really help them. I think they could've maybe won against DRX on sunset if the round didnt get roll backed. So, I was confident they could win against NRG, but Ethan didnt want to lose, and FNC were throwing so many rounds.
tldr: I would rather 1st, 2nd/3rd, 4th over 2nd, 2nd, 2nd, due to how different factors inside & outside the game affect teams. I think FNC were the best team this year. FNC couldve won both vct grand finals if they just won a single round & got unlucky some times. (player health issues, tech pauses halting momentum, pressure. etc.) PRX had the highest peak of this year. FNC threw changing comp on map 5 sunset.
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