This is a project I've been working on for a while, and with the prerequisite stuff for it being wrapped up, I feel like now's a pretty good time to share what I've got.
There's been a ton of conversation over the past couple years about what a potential VALORANT world cup could look like, especially with EWC around the corner (I even made a thread about the idea myself back in October). But who would actually win a hypothetical tournament?
To find the answer to this question, I've created 32 teams (with help from many of the active users of VLR, in two different Discord servers) that I feel best represent their nations at this tournament. The rules for these teams are simple:
- The roles must make sense (every team has at least 1 player for each role, plus an igl)
- All players should be participants of either tier 1 or tier 2 (no retired players, but it's fine if they're a sub or something like that)
- All players must use that country's flag on VLR (e.g. I can't use jawgemo for Cambodia, nor ardiis for the UK... I will allow international flags to play for their previously used flag, though, such as SUYGETSU)
- Maximum 3 players who currently play for the same org can be on the same team (e.g. I can't simply use EDG for China... nor can I use DRX for Korea Republic)
With that out of the way, here are the teams I've created (igls are noted with asterisks):
🇦🇷 Dantedeu5, nzr, rubkkoide, Cebando, Saadhak*
🇦🇺 SWERL, Maple, pl1xx, Minimise, Autumn*
🇧🇾 SimonD4rk, zeddy*, 7ssk7, Winteryrook, diseased
🇧🇷 aspas, cauanzin, artziN*, pANcada, Less
🇨🇦 mada, eeiu, TenZ, Zander*, JonahP
🇨🇳 ZmjjKK, Kai, slowly*, Smoggy, CHICHOO
🇨🇱 keznit, suther, Mazino, kiNgg*, Shyy
🇨🇿 marteen, Ambi, MAGNUM, Jesse, Minny*
🇫🇷 TakaS, nataNk, CyvOph, sh1n, K4DAVRA*
🇫🇮 Derke, Famsii, H1ber, Jamppi*, hoody
🇩🇪 Click, tex, xanarchy, Felix*, al0rante
🇭🇰 riyabtw, coconut, SiuFatBB*, YOU, heybay
🇮🇳 Jerrwin, Venka, Lightningfast*, sacred, Paradox
🇮🇩 Famouz, Kushy, f0rsakeN*, Monyet, Lmemore
🇮🇹 bipo, N A I S, Z3RO, caydeN*, Tag
🇯🇵 Meiy, Xdll, CLZ*, gyen, SyouTa
🇰🇷 t3xture, stax, Munchkin*, MaKo, Meteor
🇱🇹 MiniBoo, Destrian, Boo*, ceNder, vakk
🇲🇽 Mephisto, Peloncito*, otaQ, solution, seven
🇲🇳 consz, MnFeaR*, SkyIsBlue, nex1SphiX, CXIX666
🇵🇭 Jremy, JessieVash*, PatMen, Papi, invy
🇵🇱 kaajak, kamyk, MOLSI*, PROFEK, westside
🇵🇹 tomaszy, Addicted*, Fragger, starkk, Fizzy
🇷🇺 Jemkin, Shao, Chronicle, vo0kashu, nAts*
🇸🇦 ExiT, KHaaLiD*, Moh, Fighter, Elixllo
🇸🇬 Jinggg, nephh*, STYRON, Juicy, Deryeon
🇸🇪 Zyppan, Leo, Creamydreamy, Sayf*, Meddo
🇹🇼 Spring, Nicc*, S1Mon, BerLIN, happywei
🇹🇭 Primmie, cgrs*, Killua, JitBoyS, Laz
🇹🇷 Wo0t, MrFaliN*, RieNs, Ruxic, yetujey
🇬🇧 Keiko, Lime, aNguiSt, Boaster*, benjyfishy
🇺🇸 zekken, trent, N4RRATE, valyn*, leaf
That's not the interesting part, though... this much has been done many times over. What I'm going to do is sort these teams based on projected strength, sort them into groups, and run a 32 team tournament to decide who the best team is. I will be using Valorant Simulator (thanks juni!) to simulate all matches, and the tournament will use a FIFA World Cup / VALORANT Champions hybrid format, with 8 groups of 4 teams feeding into a two-sided double elimination knockout bracket.
The plan is to simulate these games over the course of the next couple of weeks. Hopefully I'll be able to give frequent updates on how this tournament is playing out.
If all goes according to plan, the next thread will be the group stage draw! I'll be power leveling these teams and sorting them into groups in a FIFA-style draw.
That's all for now! If you have any suggestions or concerns, please let me know. 🫡
Discord