I have subjected myself to every game played this year. What do you want to know?
13
AMA About the Crazy 2026 Season
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Valorant Discussion
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Probably top 4. I think having a superstar who loves the OP puts you in a really good place right now and Primmie is in ridiculous form.
if envy keeps playing the wacky comps they did
where would they place in americas
Do they need fixing? No shame in losing to the new king of Hell and Yoru's GOAT
who goes london and who has the best chance of winning from each region (missed the masters lmfao)
was g2 actually making the 'prx style' work, or was it just surprise factor and individual talent from valyn, leaf and trent that let them make a somewhat respectable run at santiago? also would dropping jawg/babybay for a t2 aimstar fix anything?
I think they were definitely forcing it a bit, but it wasn't that bad. They are definitely best playing G2 Valorant though
What's your though on Mibr after today's match against Envy. Why do you think Mibr were unable to counter the slow heavy contact play style.
I think it's more about them kind of expecting teams to respect them because of the names on their team. Both C9 and ENVY completely disrespected their setups and basically said fuck you to their attempts to control the pace of the game.
Hard to say, they have a serious mental block at internationals. I ran stats on them and they are the worst international team in history. Which is crazy because of how good they are regionally
Do you think their triple senti comp on Lotus would work internationally ? In China it seems no one is heavy fighting them for space and allowing them to get into sites too easily.
Unlikely. I think they could beat some teams but better ones will counter it.
Is the Mibr loss a fluke or actually indicative of an underlying issue they need to fix before trying to make a london run (if they qualify)
They definitely need to fix stuff. This happening twice vs bad teams just disrespecting their utility shows that their setups and plans have real gaps
I don't know. I think There is a decent chance they do but I am also unironically looking at EDG
KRU, G2, NRG? Americas is crazy right now. LEV, 100T or even LOUD might be in the top 3
are americas and pacific really that much better than emea or is emea getting underrated?
The thing about EMEA is that they are trashcans against aggro teams while Pacific, Americas and China can all handle it. The meta is aggro.
is the average chinese team worse than the average team from the other 3 regions?
Dude so hard... Probably FS, EDG, KRU, G2 and whoever wins PRX vs T1. GE is like #6 or 7.
Which teams do you think have the most creative/innovative ideas for each map?
do you think 100T will qualify for london? do u think furia and kru had an off game against them?
No, 100T is good. They are a bit inconsistent but their prep and plans are good. I think it depends on their playoff bracket.
what are your current thoughts on drg, are there any major flaws in their playstyle?
Yes, Life is a walking ult orb like 80% of the time. If both Spirit and Vo0kashu are not on A game they will get smashed internationally
yea, i think Life lacks alot of discipline, but i guess it can be occasionally rewarding when he overpushs.
thoughts of sen this stage compared to kickoff? also thoughts on sen vs nrg for the last playoff spot?
I'm not rating SEN until Stage 2, they have had way too much roster chaos to tell. But they will probably be decent
If you had to pick the 3 most likely teams to make London from Americas who would it be?
I really like watching Eternal Fire. Echo might be my favorite player right now. KRU has also been fun to watch because I think Saadhak's calling is super dynamic and sometimes literally unbeatable.
What are your thoughts on players like demon1, cryo, etc, aim gods that can't play meta agent pools, do you think they hold the team back or just untapped potential with the right system?
They definitely restrict what you can do but I think it's possible to work with any group of players if you figure out a comp that plays to their strengths and people buy in to playing it.
Do you think the cryo cypher recently is a better idea than keeping him on chamber which he is kind of known for and will probably frag better on
I have not minded his Cypher or Viper. Honestly, I'd love to see him bust out the OP on them sometimes. Having a little variety in your agent pool is good
From what I understand they are trying to recreate their 2024 roster without the players to do it. I think they need to find a new identity and yes, probably make some roster moves.
thank you elevated i still think about your sage iso chamber comp on icebox
I need to know what's wrong with FNC? Was it just new player disadvantage vs vitality? And where do they stand in ur rankings? And do you think they make london?
Also unrelated but it's funny how it took vitality four former fnc members to beat them
Winning with a rotating cast of stand-ins is hard man. Veqaj was on pace to be a top 20 player in the world this year too. idk what else there is to say.
Raw mechanics he has to be like top 3. Decision making is probably bottom 3 though
Seems like you have a lot of faith in NRG, when at best they will start as fourth seed. I don’t think any fourth seed team has ever made it to any internationals iirc other than maybe PRX run to Toronto?
I don't necessarily have faith in them to make it but I think that they have figured some things out and have potential to be one of the best teams. I rate champion mindset and experience very highly. If they started in the upper bracket I think they make it 100%.
I think they over-indexed on double duelist. They should have kept some variety in their comps instead of just playing the same one on every map imo
How would you rank all 4 regions head-to-head? Do you think teams like PRX, NRG or G2 not making to London hurts the regions' dominance, or do you still have faith in the newer teams (GE, FS, maybe LEV, KRU, etc if they make it) to remain competitive internationally against other top teams (like FNC)?
CN over EMEA is very interesting. I suppose EMEA is too top heavy compared to other regions, with only few teams dominating as contenders. I haven't watched much of China tbf (but really like Vo0kashu as a cypher main), but hope they're competitive in London.
His stats suck but he's also made a masters and a stage playoffs. Seems competitive
favorite team to watch and favorite team to hatewatch? also you fuck with navi?
Favorite to watch is probably EF, KRU, and pre Yoru nerf NS. Hate watching any team that is just copying other teams stuff on every map.
bipo or s0pp as a bait entry
also can fut make masters playoffs if xeus is comfortable again
They could make like top 4. But I think it will take a lot of things going right.
Yeah there are some good tier 2 players. dfm looked okay this year. For a team like zeta I think they need to pick up the 5 best mechanical players they can find and teach them valorant instead of whatever they have been doing
What bottom teams in each region can you see making a run in stage 2? I like cheering for underdogs
do you think fs can go far in london? i kinda wish they do but a little concerned about their experience since most the players only has like 0-2 international appearances.
Where would u rank zekken in top duelists in amer and the world, based on mechanics, decision making, moevement etc. ? Also how well has jerrwin been in trying to fill the duelist role since zekken left??
He's consistently in the top 10 all time. Jerrwin has been doing pretty well all things considered
im wondering, are datapoints like these i compile with my program important in some aspects in tier 1 and what data points do i need to add to make it more significant?
The stuff i refer too is in this thread ⬇️
https://www.vlr.gg/651575/vct-teams-lifetime-data-part-2
It's hard to do long term data for teams because the rosters change so much.
1) Seven
2) Seven
But actually if we are talking about recent/current form
Americas:
Trent, JohnQT, Mada, Babybay, Cryocells
EMEA:
Derke, Marteen, Kaajak, Ruxic, Wo0t or Riens
Pac:
Jinggg, Munchkin, Primmie, something, iZu
China:
ZmjjKK, happywei, zhe, vo0kashu, WsLeo
if vit goes back to group stage form and ef wins over th is emea cooked? will it do worse than cn?
So that would be FUT, EF, VIT (but bad)? I mean it's hard to trust China so I don't think so...
Opinion on Heretics? Whether it's strength of players, any strats/maps you like etc
I keep believing they will get back to Riens farming and Benjy and wo0t doing their handshake after rounds. So far it's been disappointing but you can see glimpses of that team in there.
What potential do you think XLG have if they play up to the expectations their domestic performances create?
It's honestly hard to say. I was looking into XLG because I was curious. They are literally the worst team ever at internationals. 2-13 in maps or something like that. 38% round win rate. Like insanely bad. And yet they look quite good in China every stage. Until they do something internationally I am not a believer
Usually yes, this year I am waiting to see. But likely by the end of year if he stays on recon agents
I have. Honestly, it's a bit hard to say. They were just insanely inconsistent early on but looked a lot better once they put stew on smokes. I suspect that there are some comms issues between stew and the team. Also their "support" roles have been under performing individually a lot so if zhe and stew don't go crazy I think they get out shot a lot
Do you have any wacky comp ideas?
Like on Breeze could quadruple controller work? Omen (Duelist), Harbor (Flex), Astra (smokes/anchor), Viper (Smokes/Anchor), Sova?
All I have are wacky ideas haha. In the current meta I would love to see some teams leaning into some more combo stuff now that Yoru is gone and there is a lot of "grounded" duelists being played. Deadlock Tejo, Fade Raze, anything that can stick you in place and some damage util to dump on top should go way up in value.
I wanna know if Neon from LEV is all aim of just overall a better player. I never watch Americas because timezones.
If yoru gets buffed again, do you think eggster would ever return to pro play? :(
edit: also where would you put tyloo? I really like slowly as a player, and I was hoping they looked good lol
I think pretty unlikely. It didn't seem like Eggster loved playing pro. I keep hoping TYLOO will be good. They have a lot of talent. I think they need some more structure though, right now it's just a lot of zooming around and shooting.
This year or ever? I could see it happening at least one more time at some point before he retires. He seems to really love competing and has been such an adaptable player over the years to elongate his value to teams.
What are your thoughts on Sentinels? Do you think they can maybe make a late run in stage 2 to push and qualify for champs with their current roster? (Similar to how NRG did last yr)
Yep, Ewok does good work and I think they have some very good talent on the team. I think this team is built to take advantage of the next month of off time.
It's nice seeing Saadhak call again Americas. Socialblee's calling style has suited the meta really well so far but we will see how he handles changes in the meta. Then you've got Munchkin, Crws and Xavi all calling well and shooting in Pacific.
Somewhere between mid and amazing. With potential to become great and less potential to also become shite.
What is a Chinese superteam that you would build for ENC (or theoretically speaking)
If it's for ENC then I can't use happywei or nephh who would be on it otherwise. All Chinese would be, ZmjjKK, CHICHOO, WsLeo, Slowly and Zhe or AAAY. I don't know who IGLs or what the roles are lol
Beautiful team! Although I think WsLeo would have to represent Team Taipei
how would you bridge the gap between china regional dominance (outside of edg) and international performance? why do teams like xlg fall off so much when they step onto the stage?
Honestly I don't know what the deal is. I think it must be partially not getting practice against other regional styles, part just total disruption of their comfort but they definitely handle it worse than any other region consistently so something is going wrong in their approach to these events.
Is reyna viable now? i think in the "comfort" discourse right now it's really the perfect time to bring it out. It's an agent that benefits greatly from taking fights in a meta where a good fake can leave your opponents util starved for the rest of the round. The dismiss has also been buffed since it was last seen popularly in pro play. I think she can be a good agent for aim demon type players where they are expected to just fight everywhere. (please I just want to see something reyna again before I die)
demon1 did it on the ranked team surely its not cope to think the other crazy nutcase team can pull it off. at least against some of the shittier teams it should work. Besides the now that you need a strong oper in your team your options are either jett or waylay (technically neon too but idk how bad she'll be post nerf in pro play). Reyna lets you dismiss away after an op kill in a way that none of the other agents can. As long as you are confident you'll get the kill you can get out. Heck you can even do weird shit like dismiss back through a main deadlock wall.
The problem with Reyna is you essentially have no abilities. Eye is only good if you combo with another flash. Pro players insta break it compared to what happens in ranked. I think she is interesting in theory on some maps but realistically doesn't have a reliable enough escape to be worth it when you can just play chamber or Jett and get more value.
Ngl I forgot chamber is actually decent again since we don't have any chamber abusers anymore. But fair enough. Out of curiosity what would the maps that Reyna would be good at, I assume maps like sunset maybe?
what do you think about TH and EF? Who is the better team so far and who do you think has a better chance of making a run at London?
Logic says TH should win the second time around but EF keeps making me believe they can do it. I think both would be fun to send to London.
Do you think C9 have potential for stage 2 or do they need to make further changes to qualify for champs (for example coaching change or igl change). It feels like depending on who replaces Xeppaa they could have the firepower to match good teams.
Secondly, what have your thoughts on Zellsis as an IGL been? Personally I dislike his slower rounds because they feel so panicked when time gets low. Also, do you think his calling is the reason why they have lost so many ecos throughout the season?
Sorry for the long question btw
Whats your next moves if you are team secret coach? Roster changes?
Also zeus potential is high no?
In one of my recent podcasts I talked about how I would probably not make any changes to TS and just let them ride it out with their roster to get experience. All of them can shoot and Zeus is really good. There is maybe an upgrade to Vash out there but I think at this point it's time to grind some reps.
How do you feel about Trace Esports and what changes would you make?
I think they should
-Abo
-Xlele
+FengF
+Coco/Z1yan
Basically keep the goat (Viva) and bring GoatF back to play Raze and stuff
Also which CN teams make champs in your opinion?
My bets are on EDG, XLG, and two of DRG, AG, TYL, JDG and TE (copium)
BLG are sadly hot trash
idk, Trace had like one promising match in Stage 1 where they looked like a good team and then they started running it down and playing like bots. I think they don't believe in their own identity unfortunately and are trying to just follow the meta which doesn't suit their players.
EDG and XLG for sure, I think AG will make it as well and then the last slot does probably go to DRG but could also end up with TYLOO or maybe a BLG if they can figure out their roster.
For stage 2 Pacific
in your opinion
Which teams would be in alpha and which teams would be in Omega so that it's more competitive?
How far do you think c9 can go now with all of these changes. who do you think will replace xeppa and any hopes for stage 2?
I won't be a C9 believer until they do anything significant. I think they probably need a dedicated lurk with strong communication and force Zellsis to play aggressive initiators with the pack and to potentially run in with OXY. Unironically, Inspire would be a decent option from a purely player archetype perspective. Other options are zaj and Wildfire
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