"Fluke" Tournements

#1

For me a fluke tournment is a tournment where the winning team has only been able to play at the top level at THAT tournment. I will use the example of EDG 2024 as it is very recent-EDG 2024 Champs (S1mon/Zmjjkk/Chichoo/Nobody/Smoggy) won china stage 2, won champs, then got 3rd at bangkok. That is not a fluke as prior to and after they still performed at the top level. If a team makes roster changes after a win and then falls off that is not a fluke-that is just a team being unable to play again.

The only 2 I would call flukes with confidence are:
ACE Champs 2021: FLUKE were not a top team prior (Losing to 100T with assuna nitro hiko steel? really?) and after were ass (when you have to sub in purpo you know the roster is cooked)
T1 Bangkok 25: FLUKE Did not qualify with the 5 who won, did not mange to replicate success after and bombed out of regional playoffs with a whimper

If you want my full reasoning for any other tourney they are behind the spoiler-the ones I say I find contentious (I dont think they are flukes but I could see the argument and could be swayed) are SEN 21, FPX 22, SEN 24,

SEN Reykjavik 2021: Not a fluke, domianted NA prior and after
GMB Berlin 2021: Not a fluke, were runner ups in Champs after
ACE Champs 2021: FLUKE were not a top team prior (Losing to 100T with assuna nitro hiko steel? really?) and after were ass (when you have to sub in purpo you know the roster is cooked)
OPTC Reykjavik 2022: Not a fluke, domianted NA and placed top 3 in every intl that year
FPX Copenhagen: Not a fluke, was good in emea prior and placed 4th in Champs
LOUD Champs 22: Not a fluke, only lost to 2 teams the entire year (KRU and OPTC) 2nd at Reykjavik and undefeated in Brazil
FNC Lock//IN 23: Not a fluke, won Tokyo after
FNC Tokyo 23: Not a fluke, won Lock//IN and domianted EMEA prior and got 4th in champs after
EG Champs 23: Not a fluke, got 2nd in Tokyo
SEN Madrid 24: Not a fluke, won kickoff and got 4th in champs after
GENG Shanghai 24: Not a fluke, got 2nd in Madrid prior
EDG Champs 24: Not a fluke (reasons why stated prior)
T1 Bangkok 25: FLUKE Did not qualify with the 5 who won, did not mange to replicate success after and bombed out of regional playoffs with a whimper
PRX Toronto: Too early to tell-->early speculation NOT a fluke

#2

AleAlejandro

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allat

#7

Hades_Loves_Rb

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shame to see that the new generation can not read past a 3rd grade level

#12

Jayde

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theres a difference between "can not" and "cant be bothered to"

#3

babysasuke

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allat

tokyo, madrid, lock in, copenhagen

#6

pokpi

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? #fazeup

#10

babysasuke

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idk I didn't wanna read what he wrote so I just listed the fluke tournaments to make it easier for everyone

#FaZeUp

#13

pokpi

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+LA champs

#17

babysasuke

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no that one was legit, demon1 popped off and EG hit full stride at exactly the right time

so good that Riot got scared and ordered them to disband

#19

pokpi

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then how is tokyo and lockin fluke?

#21

Effluxi

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specifically because he got personally owned by FNC players like 3 times

#24

babysasuke

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A B conversation bucko

#22

babysasuke

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how is the single elim no qual post-franchise roster explosion tournament a fluke

idk bro you tell me.

Better yet, tell me how a team with no changes won that AND tokyo and looked like they've never played the game before at Champs and have done nothing since

#25

pokpi

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teams fall off time to time its not new

#26

babysasuke

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you are the target demographic smh

#27

pokpi

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just say u hate fnc and ill be convinced it was a fluke

continue thread →

#4

Jayde

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dont care didnt ask

#5

Yistyy

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i don't think peaking at the right time and not finding the same success later necessarily means you fluked.

#8

Hades_Loves_Rb

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I think thats exactly what it means what the fuck else would it mean

#20

Yistyy

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its when you only won due to extreme circumstances or because a team had an unfair advantage, or any other asterisk.

#29

Hades_Loves_Rb

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I can see that argument-however I also believe that team form is what matters most, an argument im seeing is that Tokyo was a fluke because Something was unable to make it-however I believe since the winners (FNC) were able to replicate their success at the top level (not necessarily winning but still being a top team) that is not a fluke win since the team was still able to replicate their results elsewhere.

For that same reason I believe T1 to be a fluke as they had an extreme stroke of good luck of all their players hitting their stride at the same time and managing to win. T1 did not have any unfair advantage (unless you say the tournament format, as some are which is not an advantage, as every other team had it) but I would still call their run a fluke on the basis that they were unable to replicate ANY of their success (again, success here is not defined by winning but by being a top team where as this T1 after and before Bangkok could barely be called a "good" team)

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babysasuke

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allat

#53

serot

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You can't win valorant tournaments with pure luck alone. Lets talk about T1 this year as an example.

T1 playstyle was copied and done better by others later this year, but that doesn't mean they weren't one of the most innovative and strong teams at bangkok. While everyone was running util heavy tejo breach comps focused on set postplants and set retakes, T1 stuck with an aggressive double duelist style that fought up vs retakes and prevented spike plants. They found a counter to the predominant meta playstyle at bangkok, and that is why they thrived.

In stage 1 not only did they have internal team issues, but they also got their playstyle antistratted pretty hard since they basically made zero changes gameplay and comp wise. By playoffs they were unsuccessfully trying to incorporate tejo but the players themselves were clearly not comfortable with the agent. By stage 2 teams were already very familiar with how T1 played and yet they still remained stagnant strat and comp wise. They stopped innovating properly and failed to adapt to subsequent meta changes despite leading the meta early in the year. It wasn't luck they won, they just fell off after.

#9

seofps

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you're a fluke

#11

dimmed

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Anything pre-2023 is a fluke because no franchising
LOCK/IN is a fluke because single elim
Tokyo is a fluke because something wasn't there
Champs 2023 was a fluke because demon1 fell off after
Madrid is a fluke because SEN fell off immediately after
Shanghai is a fluke because TH didn't have miniboo
Champs 2024 was a fluke because EDG fell off in their region after
Bangkok was a fluke because T1 fell off after
Toronto is a fluke because TL didn't have nAts from the start

And champs 2025 will be a fluke because Gen.G aren't attending

#15

catNmouse

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Champions 2024 was a fluke because TH had miniboo* fixed it for you

#18

foythvlr

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Upvoted

#23

Yistyy

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so that means champions 2023 is the most legit tournament

#28

Effluxi

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unless prx win this champs yes

#33

T3WI

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Nah champs 2023 was a fluke because EG didn't have to play FNC

#34

catNmouse

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by that definition, toronto is also a fluke because PRX didn’t play GENG in playoffs

#36

pokpi

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yes it was

#51

king_bob

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EG didn’t have to play the 4th place team guys

#31

WINT0R

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EG 23 would have continued to dominate like PRX is right now if it didnt Disband you muppet, Made International Finals back to back and won one how is that a Fluke ?

#14

sexocum

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surely acend wasn't assfucking gambit and EMEA on challengers... right? Likewise 100T just pulled the "cned here? go to another site" strat, so it's quite like that. After that the team fell off, and they didn't quali in 2022 to any lan because they were the same chokers they were the previous year, just diff players replacing kiles and bonecold

#16

n1cf

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allat

if u won masters 1 ur win is fluke

#39

9wntr

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w

#40

tonyhart

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EDG is still fluke since all of china is eliminated at group stage, this is happen also to other tournament not just champ

#41

catNmouse

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geng fluked shanghai since 3 pacific teams including prx and geng got eliminated in group stage

#42

tonyhart

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no because master madrid

#43

catNmouse

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edg top 3 bangkok and wolves top 3 toronto

#44

tonyhart

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wolves is a fluke, where is they in champ then lol

all top 3 of tournament still qualify for champ, they arent even qualify for their region play off

#45

Shadow_Monarch

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Nah reading all the spoiler parts, it makes sense.
I agree Bangkok was a fluke, G2 should've won and not T1.
ACEND I dont think was a fluke, they deserved it at that time.

#48

tonyhart

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Ascend roster player didnt even relevant next year (2022)

while gambit player literally relevant to this day 2025

#50

Shadow_Monarch

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I agree but cNed was just too good.

#52

tonyhart

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his OP literally faded next year buddy

#54

sexocum

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it didn't, they just did not qualify to any lan. didn't you see him diffing people on op in big 25?

#55

tonyhart

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lmao flair, fluke champ

Gambit deserve the win with 3 hour sleep schedule even keznit admit it

#46

KGad03

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Acend got tactically destroyed by 100T, it was just an outplay

It was an ingenious strat that is still used today