Yeah but last year teams from Tokyo automatically qualified to Champs and had a month off to work on things. Right now teams that make it to Shanghai might have a tough time to even make champs, let alone do well. Especially in super competitive regions like Americas and EMEA.

Only 8 rounds is crazy

Damn is CASE giving up entirely? That's kinda sad

I feel like most people agree Imagine Dragons is kinda mid though. They have some bangers, sure, but they also have some absolute shockers and a lot of music thats just kinda boring and generic as well.

Idk Giants could challenge TH for that third spot in group Omega I think. Team Liquid has no chance though, even BBL are above them rn.

Yeah no one expected KC and TH to be as good as they were in kick-off. TH was actually considered as potentially the worst team in EMEA before the start of the season. I do hope they keep up the good performances because 6 strong teams is much more fun to watch than 1-2 good teams at any given point during last season.

NaVi because

1. SUYGETSUUUUUUUUUUUU
2. Ange1 is clinically insane and I love it
3. Shao is hot and a godly gamer
4. Ardiis is hilarious and his bromance with both Zyppan and Ange1 gives me life
5. They genuinely have a cool and distinct playstyle and ideas when it comes to the games
6. I like their colour scheme and the org name (though I was already a fan when they were still FPX so this matters less)
7. Erik and EmiL's shenanigans are great especially cuz Erik keeps winning when their teams face eachother
8. SUYGETSUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU

I also like Oxygen because:

1. Skuba, I like his username, I like seeing him play and he has a cute elephant plushie with him during every game. He's probably the main reason I became a fan start of last season.
2. Verno might be the future G.O.A.T. of this game. He is absolutely insane and I can't wait to see him in tier 1.
3. Reduxx might be the future G.O.A.T. of this game. He is absolutely insane and I can't wait to see him in tier 1.
4. Dapr is Valorant royalty. He was my favourite player on that old sentinels team and I love it when engages in some shithousery.
5. Mitch 1v5 clutch against TSM in the 2023 MSI (yeah take that N4RRATE, this guy is the OG 1v5 clutchmaster)
6. BONKar
7. I like the org name/aesthetic

Plenty of other teams I like but these are the two that I love. Also: SUYGETSUUUUUUUUUU.

I don't think calling it a tier 2 / tier 3 team is entirely fair tbh. Guess this year will show us how good all of them are but to me it feels like Jawgemo is the best player on his team, Ethan and Demon1 are frying on NRG atm, Boostio feels like he's exactly what 100T needed and C0M is holding his own in a quote on quote superteam.

Overall the player quality that EG had last year feels higher to me than what Acend had in 2021.

I kinda agree but I think there is some players who have been insane for a very long time as well, not quite Aspas level but people like MaKo, Buzz, Jingg, f0rsaken, Less, Kingg, Derke, Shao and a lot of others have also been at the top of the game for a long time putting up crazy numbers year after year. I agree Aspas is probably the best looking at all time but I also don't think he's not miles ahead and if he has one bad season somebody else would take that crown.

They should get an actual sentinel main imo

Kingg was the reason they even got into overtime, dropping 30 kills in regular play. Unfortunately he was also the reason they didn't win the game in the end, not dropping a single kill in the next 14 rounds of overtime. Still though, overall him and Aspas had insanely good series once again, don't think their individual skill should ever be in doubt.

message#29 - you claim NRG make it to Tokyo (league position not specified)
message#44 - you claim Sentinels make it to Tokyo (3rd in league)
message#67 - you claim LOUD make it to Tokyo (2nd in league)
message#67 - you claim Furia make it to Tokyo (1st in league)

Damn how did Americas league scam their way into a 4th spot at masters? Was it favoritism from riot? Are the people mad about it?