They got second to Sentinels before Berlin.
Second to the Guard before Iceland 2022
Second to XSET before Copenhagen
Now Second to LOUD.

Optic/NRG always finishes second in domestic events.

T1 has slowly crept up into that contender position imo.

2-0

Not over yet.

Saadhak needs more love here.

If EMEA was just NAVI and Fnatic every week, you'd have a point. But minus those two teams, EMEA looks pretty poor imo. Especially if you count Lock In where everyone but NAVI and Fnatic looked pretty bad.

kru was in the same boat with roster changes this week lol

Starting the league off with a double header doesn't help Fnatic either. Both teams will be zoned in looking to take that EMEA crown from them.

Yay is probably a better IGL then dephh, just pick him up.

7/10 being first rounded is a tough pill to swallow. I don't think the region is bad. PRX and ZETA have shown they can compete at a high level. GenG looks like a contender in APAC. And even GE pushed Vitality to a 3rd map. I just think the performance wasn't worth the C. I do not think APAC is bad though.

I'm not being serious. I think talon and TS are very good. GenG looked strong in their loss to LOUD, but I don't think we can say they'd clear anyone yet.

I'm joking, NRG is clearly a top 5 team.

ok

How about
Fnatic - S
LOUD - S
NAVI - S
DRX - A
Americas - D
EMEA - F
Pacific - Super F

Americas - B+
While it wasn't a perfect performance by the Americas, especially against the 2 EMEA super teams, the Americas still had 4 teams make it to the 3rd round, and had the least amount of teams eliminated in the first round, and outside of the 2 Talon upsets, American teams generally didn't lose any games they were favored to win.

EMEA - C+
It was really hard to grade EMEA. NAVI and Fnatic looked so good that they could dominate every LAN this year. But outside of the top 2, EMEA fell rather flat, having 8 of their teams go out in the first two rounds (4 getting first rounded.) I think EMEA is going to be dominant internationally, but domestically, it's shaping up to be a snoozefest.

Pacific - D
DRX looked great. Talon and Secret looked solid. If I could grade them alone it's easily an A-, but SEVEN teams from APAC got first rounded. The only saving grace for the league not being as lopsided as EMEA is that we have seen how good PRX and ZETA can be at peak form.

Bonus - China
D as well imo. Can't really give them an F because they were competitive, but they both got first rounded, so rip.

I think you need to change this to people on vlr lol. Generally, all my friends that watch VCT don't root against regions, but against specific teams they don't like (usually sen or fnatic lol). I am a NA fan, but have watched NA, LATAM, Brazil, and EMEA leagues since the inception of the VCT. I just root for good games and parity, unless it was the team I specifically root for.

Well s0m 1v5s FNC

s0m could 1v5 Fnatic.

fixed

paladins esports was the first esports I watched. I new about frz, but not saadhak

Wait, Saadhak played Paladins? LEZ GOOO

Pretty sure he beat Tenz' performance in 2021 Iceland

LOUD's trophy should go to Liberty then. Thanks trem for your infinite wisdom

Americas league is gonna be so much fun to watch for both the main stage and ascension. There will be teams left in the ascension tourneys that could arguably be at the top half of the main stage.

I'd say LOUD is the better team between the two because of consistency. ignoring the fact LOUD won champs, Optic has some ugly losses to Xerxia and Guild, not to mention their inability to win their own region. However Optic is still the only teams besides maybe FPX that can claim to be at the top.

Fixed!

Record for the year : 30-4
Records vs each region :
Brazil : 21-0
LATAM : 1-1
NA : 3-3 (All Optic)
EMEA : 2-0
Japan : 2-0
Korea : 1-0

Map win record for the year : 68-14
Map win record against each region :
Brazil : 46-2
LATAM : 3-2
NA : 9-9
EMEA : 4-1
Japan : 4-0
Korea : 2-0

LOUD RECORDS WITHOUT OPTIC :
Win Record : 27-1
Map Win Record : 59-5

Loud is clearly the best team in the world right now, and only Optic has stood in their way all year. LOUD is basically Optic if Optic never played down to their competition.

We're all in the same region now.
Americas 3
EMEA 3
:)

Top 3 minimum. They'll play the winner of the lower bracket semis and lose that at worst.

More scared of icebox. I personally would have let it through since it's a good 100t map as well, and furia beat them on it, but it's still fair to just say no.

Liquid domestically vs. Liquid internationally

BCJ has the power of fried chicken on his side. They winning Champs for sure.

Maybe that's why DRX always stops at top 6. They're scared of that second place curse hurting them in Korea.

To further hit on the second place masters curse:

Masters 1 2021 runner-ups
FaZe - NA
Team Heretics - Europe
BBL - Turkey
forZe - CIS
GL Blue - Brazil
Wygers - LATAM
NUTURN - Korea*
Absolute JUPITER - Japan
Team SMG - SEA

*Only Team to make a masters event, making a top 3 run in Masters 2 Reykjavik. However they never came close to matching their early success and failed to make Champs.

Yeah, I would've added more, but wanted to make it short and sweet lol

FNS must've sensed this and told optic to throw vs. FPX to guarantee a solid Champs performance.

True, I forget they had a "M1" that was just regional

Performance of each second place team after each international LAN

M2 2021 - FNATIC (fails to make Masters Berlin)
M3 2021 - Envy (Gets grouped in Champs)
Champs 2021 - Gambit (Failed to make a single event in 2022)
M1 2022 - LOUD (Gets grouped in M2)
M2 2022 - Paper Rex (Gets grouped in Champs)

Get second at your own peril.

Thinking : LOUD, PRX, 100T, FPX
Wanting : ZETA, Liquid, 100T, KRU

I hope so, would love to see both kru and Levi in playoffs.

No EMEA team won their group, so all 3 EMEA teams are at risk of being grouped.

FPX vs KRU rematch
FNATIC vs 100 Theives rematch
Team Liquid vs. PRX

I think EU goes 1-2 here. Fnatic hasn't looked great in their 2 games, and PRX should be able to beat Liquid. KRU has to win their map pick above all else to have a chance.

Same place as fnatics 😎

100T would run EMEA, they've never lost a game to them after all.

Fnatic has yet to win a title despite being overhyped coming into every event they play.

Anyone saying prx is bad is an idiot. I'll give a bit more leeway to fnatic, only because there is no excuse that they should have been struggling with the roster they have. Before Copenhagen they were the favorites to dominate the whole year, now they might get grouped in Champs. I still think they're a good team, but they fail to live up to the hype.

If anyone says FPX is bad, I have no words. Even if they managed to get grouped here, they are still a top team in the world. XSET on the other hand needs a lot more than 1 good win to prove they are top 5 team.

Finally Leviatan. They proved themselves in Copenhagen imo. Going back to even their 3-1 win over kru it led to some of the best valorant by a latam team yet. Kru, DRX, XSET, Fnatic, Liquid, and PRX as their last 6 games is a hell of a gauntlet of games to face and they are 4-2 (11-6 on maps). They are a legitimate contender to win Champs.

Stinger is arguably better than the spectre up close. It's real advantage is price though. It's more consistent than the Marshall except with top players, it's half the price of the spectre, so it doesn't break the bank, and it is only 100 credits more than a sherif.

Kru beating an NA team to make playoffs in Champs. Wait I've seen this before.

Mazino better than both.

Keznit has a higher ceiling, but yeah consistency wise, mazino isn't just one of the best in latam, but one of the best in the world.

Nah, mazino is so good too. He should definitely stay on the roster