Now that the event is over, I want to hear what the general community thinks of the EWC event. What did you not like about it and what do you think was good?
Me personally I wasn't a very big fan of the format. Best of 1s and no lower bracket in playoffs (except consolation 3rd place match) wasn't as fun as normal vct events
Format and production were my biggest issues but I think the event felt too low in prestige to be hyped over. Matches came and go and while I understand the financial benefit it brings to players and teams, personally as a viewer it just felt like every other big off-season tourney (ex. SOOP, Radiant Asia, etc)
Frankly my dear. I believe you went into this event with this perception (and wanted to have that perception). Therefore you interpreted everything you saw in that regard.
I thought it would be more mickey mouse than it ended up being. But seeing Kaajak and Boaster crushed. Benjy crying , the rest in ecstasy.... I cant pretend this didnt matter a lot. The gameplay was accordingly high level.
I dont know what offseason events you watched where all the best teams in the world at their peak level duke it out at 100%. I wish those existed
Damn wish i could see that if only observers decided to actually capture any kills while observing , These games wernt even on LAN so at the end of the day you can get insane plays or whatever in any form of valorant doesnt mean thats the only thing you should judge whether the tourney is good or not.
Yes my dear, you might just be the reincarnation of Sherlock Holmes, for it is true! The fact that none of the teams I support won/made deep runs means that it will be but a faded memory with no positive emotional attachment to. The CN teams bombed, Jamppi didn't make it to the finals, and NRG didn't pull off a funny. Life is tough sometimes.
TH boys winning a trophy was nice and all but it's all subjective and it is with sorrowful acceptance that I think of what could've been Fnatic's 3rd international trophy. Still a fun tournament to follow and watch.
I dont know what offseason events you watched where all the best teams in the world at their peak level duke it out at 100%. I wish those existed
The EWC!
Its probs gonna be EMEA , G2 or GenG since theyre long overdue but its valorant who knows whatll happen
too low in prestige
And especially this
personally as a viewer it just felt like every other big off-season tourney (ex. SOOP, Radiant Asia, etc)
4 T1 team dollar store events without qualifiers and unfinished rosters.... Really?
Now you admit its just about:
The fact that none of the teams I support won/made deep runs means that it will be but a faded memory with no positive emotional attachment to.
+
The EWC!
Your teams didnt win and you dislike the saudis. Fine i get it. Didnt say it had to be your favourite event of all time. Or that you had to like it at all. But that doesn't mean we need to be delusional about its legitimacy.
Yes my dear, you might just be the reincarnation of Sherlock Holmes,
What have i done to get this attitude? Expected more.
they are coping, why care?
if this event was hosted in the USA as a CIA project to drive tourism (WC2026) they'd love it but its hosted in Saudi as a project to drive tourism
I'm coping because my teams didn't win, not because it was hosted in Saudi
Okay I feel like we're not on the same wavelength here. I never said I dislike the saudis and I didn't say it's not legit, I even admitted it was a fun tournament to watch. It's the first time the Valorant EWC has been held and it's not part of the official VCT circuit; I am not the only one making the claim that it has low reputation (despite high prizepool)
I posted a regular comment as I usually do and if you start your response with "Frankly my dear", I am 100% going to try to match your energy. Did I overdo it with the Sherlock Holmes comment? Maybe, but I only meant banter and no harm, I'm sorry if I overreacted.
Format and production were my biggest issues but I think the event felt too low in prestige to be hyped over. Matches came and go and while I understand the financial benefit it brings to players and teams, personally as a viewer it felt like any other big off-season tourney (ex. SOOP, Radiant Asia, etc)
If they fix some few things the event will be a fantastic addition to the calendar from a competetive standpoint.
Production & tech issues cant stay like this. Also qualifiers should see a bit more effort from organizers next time around.
However its the best teams in the world clearly giving it their all (benjy even cried after winning), high level gameplay, super entertaining.
The saudi issue remains the saudi issue. They own the entertainment world these days. Simple as.
the amount and duration of the tech pauses would kill my patience if i was there. Thankfully i was watching the games while doing something else
Redbull HomeGround tier tournament with unlimited funds. Didn’t watch any, not because of any Saudi stuff, just has zero interest.
format was bad, it being online is bad, even worse that the stages didnt have equal ping, observing was bad and got a little better over time, replays were AWFUL but were kinda ok towards the end, casting was incredibly inconsistent some was good others was bad, like saying analytical stuff that would only need a basic knowledge of the game to know its wrong, desk felt ok i think but i didnt watch too much of it, i hate double streams, kinda ok for groups i guess but first round of playoffs also being double stream sucks, it being a patch old also super sucks, seeing corrode would of been an actual draw for people to watch the event, tech issues were literally only better than the singular stage of EMEA before the pcs got replaced, basically nothing in terms of the production was good except crowd mics i guess? didnt really care about the whole key thing? walkouts were good and hosting on the floor was good, but thats really all the positives i can say about it, it was VCT teams, a big prizepool and TH won, so its like 3 or 4 / 10 i guess?
the tech pauses were dumb. scheduling was horrid. other than that, not too bad.
Dope to have more Valorant S tier tournaments through out the year. Production was far from perfect but people will still find a way to b*tch about it one way or another.
i definitely see the value in having an extra tournament per year, but it should absolutely not be hosted by EWC going forward. the tournament organizers are blatantly incompetent and tech issues are rampant. EWC hosts too many tournaments in a short period of time for them to dedicate the time and resources a valorant major needs, it'll always have bo1s, single elim and concurrent games to compensate for that, none of which have ANY place in a valorant major under any circumstances. people point to the prize pool, which is great for the orgs, but i don't think it adds anything to the prestige of the tournament when the tournament has the competitive integrity of a coinflip with bo1s and single elim. if you enjoyed watching EWC, great! i'm sure you'll agree with me there's no harm in having a 3rd party tournament run by a tournament organizer who knows what they're doing next year instead.
also the saudi elephant in the room, partnering with EWC is completely unacceptable from an ethical standpoint. I left that till last because I wanted to make it clear that regardless of that, EWC has no place hosting a major for this game because they're incompetent hacks and there are plenty of other tournament organizers who would do a fantastic job. Also, because of those ethical concerns, tons of production talent will never attend the event which is another reason the event will continue to suck.
Discord