Based only on games played so far.

1. NRG - too solid fundamentally and strategically. Proven vets all around and s0m is slotting in nice with the team.
2. Cloud9 - Great first game against a tournament favourite. They look strong but haven't been tested against a top 10 team yet.
3. Loud - Lots of potential. Main concern is mental, discipline, and being able to close out easy wins.
4. DRX - Same story as last year, potential to win it all but they never are expected to.
5. EG - Surpassed my initial expectations, look solid fundamentally. who knows what they're cooking?
6. Giants - played a bot team first round and ran out of steam against NRG. I'd say they sit just outside top 5 EMEA.
7. Talon - decent showing against a mediocre team. EG will be thier first real test against a well coordinated team.
8. GenG - From what I've seen, they don't look too bad. Maybe they win their first game if its not against LOUD. I still they beat PRX though.
9. KC - Showed a decent performance at this tourney. xms is a liability though and Nivera and Scream can only carry a team so far
10. Paper Rex - I can't even say C9 fairly beat them because its more accurate to say they beat themselves. This looks like a ranked 5-stack more than anything. But they still run it down over anyone below them on this list.
11. KOI - Showed promise on the first half of the first map. That's it
12. Heretics - Put up a decent fight against what everyone thinks is the worst NA team. I have a hard time putting them above KOI.
13. BBL - Took a map off the best Pacific team but I didn't see anything crazy out of them.
14. FPX - They ran it down harder than Paper Rex. The game was only close because KC played horribly too.
15. MiBR - crowd buff, cracked aimers, but they still can't take a map over ex-Xerxia. disappointing performance.
16. Detonation - 2-0d by a mid team and it wasn't close. gg go next.

I'll edit this list as i see fit.

lmao im just having fun. i downvoted my own reply too

dont disrespect my boy trembo. he said Loud would lose, not when they would lose.

yeah i think so too. But if sentinels beats fnatic, ill turn this into a laugh thread

bros delusional. did we watch the same game? Loud gets smoked by NRG even with NRG's slow starts

not wrong. all emea teams were dog, and drx is the only competitive apac team left on this side of the bracket

yeah. So many rounds came down to 1v1s, I counted at least 3-4 on each map

The talent in the region is spread out and the region is top heavy. Semis in the other bracket will probably have at least 1 EMEA team

definitely missing the polish that the old roster had. But this new roster has the same potential as the other one

C9 vs DRX and EG vs Talon are gonna be dope games.
my preds: C9 2-1 and EG 2-0

underrated IGL. Loud has a lot of potential for this season

probably 5-6 in EMEA

not an upset. nobody expected these teams to reach semis

gg

yeah. NRG is now a team of proven vets. They need to be able to close out game because NRG will do it for them

calm down buddy, RRQ hasn't played yet

we know. anyone who thinks these guys are top 5 EMEA is delusional.

bro thinks he's babyJ

you had to have been there

both teams are definitely top 4 americas. both these teams will probably make tokyo masters too

bro must be new here

ratio + chick-fil-a better

yeah they played no duelist for thier first match against fpx too

they've always had the best aim. No idea why that is but its fun to watch so im not complaining

cosmetic abilities lmao. just like raze ult

kc doesnt look too bad on the first map, but they look lost on split

actually valid. im done doubting loud. they didnt fall off at all

im sure the top 6 players from mena can come together to form a globally competitive team. the problem is that there is no mena players in franchising right now and there are too many emea players in franchising

he is him.

there is a slight blindspot in the aftershock when you throw it at an angle. Ive used that before too

simply better

mena is middle east and north africa. Also im not saying to give emea extra slots, im saying to take 1-2 from emea and give them to mena

use the oil money to bring together a mena superteam instead of buying out foreign politicians. win-win for me

i think i agree. Give a slot or two to mena. The talent is spread too far out in EMEA. They don't have this problem with bot teams in NA or Brazil

real. There are so many people that judge people based on stats from a single map. In reality, nobody is 100% consistent. The best duelists can bottom frag, and the worst controllers can top frag.

idk about nivera's cs career too much. im just a lil zoomer from NA that plays child game

cool story

the boss is a busy man, ill see what i can do though

nt you cant get rid of me that easily. But i was unironically born in Ohio

never underestimate how hard EMEA fans can cope

if i see one more person saying ohio as a punchline, im actually going to end it.
Also, the kids bring vandals to school now, not deagles

lmao. its almost always like this in brazil. Better get used to it

actualy close. but we all know i would've won that

bro's Argentinian now

unlucky he was always in screams shadow. But hes doing well this event

Nivera unlocking his true potential...

least passionate brazilians

that had to be 00.01 left

==

I had my doubts about Loud but they're proving me wrong. LOUD vs NRG will be a great game