EWC TRUTHNUKE

Ewc is not comparable to vct events

1. 2025: bo1s, single elim, played on ping, variable qualifiers (pacific had bo1s) (prizepool smaller than enc so by that logic enc > ewc and the invites are earned through points awarded by performance, similar to champs points for champs, are those invites mickey?)

2. Player perception: to say opinions are purely pr based while they have much more to gain by praising the event (money incentive) is an unsound argument
   Benjyfishy: I’ve been in esports for about seven years, and I came second so many times. So finally winning something was very special.But for me, EWC is not the same as VCT. My ultimate goal is to win an international trophy, or at least a major regional one. Those remain my biggest ambitions, and I’ll keep working step by step until I get there (```
   https://www.sheepesports.com/en/all/articles/th-benjyfishy-bbl-played-really-well-and-i-feel-like-we-kind-of-forgot-how-to-play-a-truly/en

Keiko (nrg mvp): it doesnt count in terms of a big event (https://youtu.be/jtM85wipVa8?t=1041) 18:09 if you dont want to listen to whole yap

Prioritizing it over other events: (result of bad scheduling)
FUT Vlad: So we decided we might as well just get ready for London instead of spending everything on EWC qualifiers, because it was going to take so much time and we had so little spare time to do anything from scratch. So we decided to start the last week of May with the new comps and everything and just get ready for London. (https://www.hotspawn.com/valorant/news/fut-vlad-interview-valorant-masters-london)
Frost and Valyn: we aint got time for that bro, we got champs to qualify for (https://youtu.be/IRzgEDzRU50?t=1738)
We care little about a washed pro’s opinion when they are paid to say what they say and when they began competing their salary was deadass 5 bucks and a new mousepad

3. Viewership: 453k peak for EWC 2025, 165k avg, LESS THAN HALF Toronto Peak, with Toronto’s avg being 474k (higher than ewc peak)
   2025 Kickoff: ALL had higher average viewers, America's higher peak (553k)
   2025 Pacific Stage 1: Higher Peak and Avg Viewers
   2025 Americas Stage 1: Higher Average
   2026 Pacific Stage 1: Higher Peak and Avg Viewers (533k peak, 167k average)
   2026 Pacific Kickoff: Higher Peak and Average (GE vs PRX higher peak)
   2026 Americas Kickoff: Higher Average
   source: escharts

4, Incentive:
No champions points, even the china off season in 2027 is going to have them 🥀🥀, Champions points allow for teams to get closer to qualifying to Champions where you get an increased share of the champions bundle, increased prizepool, increased viewership, increased exposer, etc.
No in game recognition: Bundles do not pop up in the MAIN Store page, bundles do not get added visuals in the next year (even regionals get this), the vct esports in game page does not show this event, the game does not in any way recognize or put importance to this event other than a tweet on twitter
Money: money is quite literally the only argument as to why this event has any semblance of worth, but at the end of the day it is still an offseason. If two players put up 500k each for a 1v1, sure it can be a 1 million dollar match, but at the end of the day it's still just a 1v1, same with an off season event.
In 2025, EWC’s 4th place teamed earned less than Toronto's 4th place despite having a bigger pool, and although the 7-8th placed team earned 5k more, single the event has single elim playoffs, there is no distinction between 5-8th, therefore the 5-6th place team earned 10k less.
Also, 500k for first place, split by 50% for an average org share gives you 250k for players and staff, with an average of 7, gives 35,714 to each player, and after taxes gives us about 25k for each player, which is great, but for most players, this is a couple months worth of salaries, nothing life changing.
In 2026 the prize is bigger for first, but i wouldn’t be surprised if players got even less of a share of the prizemoney than before (new contracts might give more prize money to orgs)

5. Extra: As a result of the bad scheduling and online qualifiers, great teams could not attend. In 2025 there was Wolves who despite being terrible in stage 2, we couldn't see the downfall between toronto to ewc, to stage 2 as the qualifiers were before toronto, in 2026 we have great teams like FUT and Lev, the literal champions not attending because the qualifiers for the event were held BEFORE the event before it meaning we didnt see how current lev would've done in ewc. To have qualifiers before the event BEFORE your event is genuinely idiotic as the progression of events is not linear
   Single elim is not mickey: genuinely idiotic argument, comparing to other games and sports in not a great way to support your argument as they are different games and sports, valorant has a ton of variables like abilities, map gimicks, etc, and with single elim a team could get lucky on the day and go far (edg would have been 2nd (or possibly first) at london if it was single elim)
   Also, terrible teams like 100t, bbl, m8, kc, rrq, etc. managed to qualify as a result of poor scheduling, format, and online qualifiers, 100t had to beat furia and loud to be here (both first round exits of stage 1 playoffs btw)

TLDR: bad format, low viewers, winners and generational players agree it isnt comparable, people prioritizing events over it, lower viewership, ONLY incentive is money (lowk not a lot compared to others), lev (masters champions) not attending because of non-linear online qualifiers which allowed for mid teams to attend by getting very easy brackets or by being onliners

edit: i forgot to add that the argument "why care its just another event, be happy, etc.", the main reason for the discourse around the event is because people are trying to compare it to real events, if you agree its just an off season then nobody would care/argue about it
also, i wouldnt be suprised if the viewership skyroccketted and co streamers start getting thousands in gifted subs and start breaking their viewership records, just look at these comments: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeO8-KpxHzs

waiting for sentinelmain

thats a lot of words negl

salty s0n fan

The simple reality is that it simply does not have the legacy of a Masters or a Champions. When a pro player looks back at their career, they will look things like Masters or Champions. No one is going to go "oh I won EWC." EWC's prize pool is significant, but I suspect many of these people are getting paid very significant amounts of money. Sure, does that mean teams won't give it a try, no of course not, but they are not going to ever put as much focus on it as they do Masters or Champions. And ask any player, "would you rather win Masters or EWC" and they will 99% of the time say they would rather win a Masters, even in a fluke format like 8 team masters.

LEV wasn't that good before masters and there are only top teams here ngl, except KC that wouldn't have qualified if it were the regular VCT format

Remove the prize pool for EWC, then its pretty Mickey. But better than nothing for viewers at least.

You articulated it well, it's just a fun tournament that some people can earn a lot of money at. Just looks goofy when people try to claim it as a trophy that matters lol

2 Million prizepool with almost all tier S teams , to be considered mickey mouse by the Fan Base , this game truly deserves the worst

thanks for the ted talk mate, I still don't consider it mickey

if anything I'd put it above Masters. For me it's Champs>>EWC>Masters

EWC averaging under 200K viewers is so funny. they really got some dogshit over there

The only thing I disagree with in this thread is you said 100T was terrible. They finished 4th in Americas Stage 1 with Timotino showing off his true potential and Asuna actually being serviceable. Otherwise, this is a good read with good points.

wasting energy on nuking mickey ahh tournament

wasnt first match delayed like 20 mins or sum shit

Ofc its from sen fans