Then people would start complaining about the op and how oppressive it is. People just wanna ez hit sites and don't care about counterplay. It's a silly complaint because fixing it would just introduce complaints on the other side. There are already plenty of ways to get an op off an angle now, so having a strong op agent is not that hard to deal with if you have a competent team. Complaining about how ops or chamber makes the game slow is just saying people are too lazy to solve a solvable problem with utility.

Interesting. Any idea if Bang will join them for the next match?

wait, they're not at bootcamp rn? TSM played really well though, can't even cap

Incoming banger. FNC 2-1

Yeah.... I thought they were finally investing in a long-term structured team that would grow overtime. But looks like I was fooled. They most likely won't last if they're just going to stick to short-term strategies like roster changes after expected losses like losing to Optic, the reigning champs. The Dicey and BabyBay duo can only take you so far against top, well-coordinated teams.

Didn't jack, c9's ceo, say that it was Xeta and Autumn who wanted to go to T1? This is probably some kind of long-term plan to build a top team from the ground up in T1 with a (probably) mixed NA/Kr roster for the NA partnership league in 2023, especially if you account for what Joe, T1's CEO, said.

I too am hoping once the league partnerships start in 2023, many more slots for the big events will be expand to include promoted teams along with partnered teams. These mid-size lans are making it hard for the fans to gauge the real strength of the international scene and a team's place in it.

it's still a qualifier group stage match in a challengers lol

nah, they looked just fine. especially when he uses them to get out of danger

It's also their map pick (by exclusion), so you gotta expect them to have a reason why they're letting it be the decider, and yet they showed us absolutely nothing...

Watching the impact a competent full staff can have on a team is insane rn. holy moly

Is there a site function that would let us enlarge the image that's embedded in this article? I just wanna see it a bit better without changing my browser's zoom settings.

• Edit: Also, I love this updated format. Gives group matches more meaning

wait, this is forreal? how do I find out?

oooh lol, I thought you saw that I edited my own typo within a few seconds of me posting that LUL (and I still misstyped "elim" as elin)

Reyna is not meta

PRX is actually coordinated with a natural raze player to piggy back off the Jett play

ok that's pretty funny, I admit

In 2nd paragraph, it says fnatic got top 4 in champions, but it's top 8

Interesting to see that throughout this tournament, they're mostly having trouble on the attack, which is an IGL/set tactics issue. There's actually hope for this team once they get the time in to build a reliable attack philosophy against good teams.

looks like you were wrong. Liquid didn't really qualify for this tournament and it showed in this match why they need to make significant changes. 2-1 Zeta against a champion top 4. Sadge

NOICE

they lost the map when it was a 10-2 half lol

Factually incorrect lmfao

Proof? 😜

Double Elin final playoff when it's ro8 (at 8 teams) and that's dope

"National team" is probably contributing to why so many people over there are seemingly over-invested in what would otherwise be considered harmless banter. While in reality, plat chat isn't making fun of Japan or the players, and just doing what's become common in the west: making up entertaining hypothetical placements based on previous expectations of a team in the video game.

But after they do better than expectations, it's being shared as if their doubt was somehow unfounded and a barely noticeable gesture is being taken as disrespectful to the entire country

Not only was this before the tournament, but it was meant to be entertainment, not a serious list. Whoever shared it, I question their intent. Also, Wyatt did praise Zeta's post plants and their set ups on their map picks, so the non-ranking segment did have positives

That's the thing though, who's limits? There's clearly a cultural barrier here cuz nobody in NA or EMEA would bat an eye to this kind of banter. This is only disrespectful if you don't know how entertainment works in other countries, so whoever took these clips to Japan and tried to make it look like they were being disrespectful mistranslated the shit out of what is otherwise a pretty entertaining segment, which is the only reason why plat chat makes these non-serious lists.

Maybe. But saying anything bad about any team can be deemed disrespectful if you care too much. Also, this isn't even a serious list. They only do these for the entertaining banter and hypotheticals.

He's still technically on Sen isn't it? Just inactive?

but still on a LAN network since they were local

W

Article seems to have incomplete info rn. I'm pretty sure Josh "sideshow" W is in Iceland as talent. Also, the schedule for many of the playoff matches have times on the main val esports site no?
Edit: All Good

RIP Finest :(

second map seems to be showing the wrong round history at least?

I think she could be a top tier 2 player on a good coed team and she could develop even further. idk what her ceiling is yet

Cannot mix lan and online. Competitive integrity

That obviously can't happen. They're competing against real teams who want #1 just like they do and wherever they place (poorly or highly), they would fully deserve the points from facing and beating that competition.

"What aboutisms" are no longer necessary after it's already decided that fpx can't make it. Just gotta move on from the unfortunate circumstances

Great recap! I fully understood what happened without watching the games. I'm hype to see the SA teams do some damage

This doesn't reward top seeds of competitive regions + it's a single elimination playoff bracket which sucks in Valorant to build epic storylines from.

This current format is the best so far.

G2 and fpx surprisingly in good form. Very exciting stuff

It could be because they aren't practicing their roles as regularly compared to other teams since TL change comps and maps every dang iteration of a match. Repetition is a key feature of good practice, and it's hard to see how they're getting any of that since in officials, we're seeing the most random team of all time.

It's not just a reward for besting their respective groups, but also, it's 1 game because EMEA has 3 teams going instead of 2. So being the very best right now is CRUCIAL.

For example, look at TL by contrast. We got team liquid still with the micky mouse comps that change every iteration of a map. Unlike the top teams that continue to get rewarded for good form, TL will keep struggling with more matches for underperforming.

It'll be earlier if the other matches end early.

V1 2-0 or 2-1 Sen. I'd like for Sen need to go out top 8 here so they can make a drastic change (hopefully for the better). The narratives will write themselves after that point.

Damn, you missed both teams lol

Great read! I think there are a couple typos and several remnant mid-sentence edits still in the article

I see, thanks. The EU brackets look so different and unfamiliar this year. So if they maintain their spots as 4/5th, they auto-qual for whatever stage 2 looks like? And everyone else (6th place and non-qualified teams) has to go through the VRLs and/or open brackets?

you're prolly trolling a lil bit, but I'm super curious what that team would look like Hmm

"Currently, BIG are the only team incapable of reaching the playoffs but are still fighting for their maintenance"

This is a new term for me. what does maintenance mean in this context?