Mistic clears

Thats my best case scenario if they do keep the three, obviously like I said I rate boostio<Dicey but that team with Valyn is def best case scenario if they don't get marved.

After the current leaks and signings, it looks like c9 and 100t are full teams while nrg is rumored to be sticking with s0m and signing ardiis. That leaves 2 sen players and anywhere from 0-5 EG players(it seems like they'll keep boostio c0m and jawgemo rn tho.) For those last spots who is most deserved?

For me I'd put
Marved
Bcj/Trent
Valyn
Tenz/Dicey

IMO the best case scenario is marved/trent and tenz on sen and EG having Valyn Jawgemo Dicey BcJ and Trent/Marved but most likely scenario I think will be SEN Tenz and Marved with EG Jawgemo Boostio c0m and someone like BcJ and a controller who is an unrestricted F/A right now. That would be disappointing though as Trent and Valyn and Dicey are assuredly franchising level players and it sucks that with imports and unexpected roles like Zellsis on c9 and s0m on controller/ardiis importing.

Nismo Bdog and Babybay as fraggers and Wippie, Jonahp, and Moose as supports also intrigue me but at this point I don't see a path into franchising for them unless as a 6th man.

There was a point in stage 1 where V1 looked like easily the best team in NA, obviously the inexperience showed again when they bombed out but lets not act like his original v1 team before the wippie/wardell situation wasn't one of the best teams in NA

I was thinking one of him, Poach, screwface if he's still igling, or Nature as they all have igled at a t1.5 level at one point but have kinda gone downhill recently and idk how many of those 4 are gonna be igling or even playing in t2 next year

I'm pretty obviously referring to 2022, as much as Shaz will always be able to hold best IGL in the world for a period of time I really don't care about what he did 19 months ago. This year specifically those two have had fantastic calling games and streaks which Shaz never really had, obviously their problem is that they are streaky and inexperienced in comparison.

Dazzle had a much better overall year, plus they had so many fucked up things happen before LCQ I don't hold that against him. The tiers are more of groupings than hard rankings. The T3 ones can be better for certain teams that have plenty of fragging but are all young and unproven, but most teams would rather build around John and Zander who have had higher highs as IGLs than Shaz and frag better with more set in roles.

Just speculation but from everything i've heard Boostio is going to stay their IGL. If Valyn replaces him put Boostio in the second tier and its about the same.

Tier 1
Valyn, shouldve been in franchising

T2
Poised, Johnqt, Dazzle, Zander
Good igls who brought their team success and are very likely the up next kind of guys or are already solidified as good but not great

T3
Hazed, Shaz, Steel
Older players who have peaked but are still going to be good igls in the second tier because of their experience (shaz winning a Lan, steel getting to one as well as first strike, Hazed having his best IGLing year last year)

T4
Trick, Frosty, Paincakes
Young guys who have either brought their team to success but fell off(Frosty) or are doing an amazing job in the T2 scene rn(Trick, Paincakes)

HM: Subroza and Ayrin I think are both going to be IGling in another region but they would be here.
Oderus, Vice, and Dazed are also HM for me as I think all 3 have had really high highs as IGLs but haven't quite been a good one in a while but will likely return for franchising.

I like this in general, Munchkin once sentinels are back in the meta will be the guy to play it but I'm not sure if forcing Xeta off of Breach is a good idea. On maps like Haven and Fracture I'd pref him on breach with either Saya or Munchkin on Omen/Brim

Ban: Awper with flex capability
Jett/Chamber Sage Kayo/Skye

Lakia: Very likely just a fade player with some kay/o mixed in
Fade/Kayo

Munchkin: Entry and smokes combo
Omen/Viper/Brim Kayo/Raze

Saya: Full duelist with a bit of omen
Omen Raze/Neon/Jett/Chamber

Xeta: Full support
Sova/Breach also learning Brim/Astra for Bind and Pearl

IDK who IGLS but if they can all learn a few agents (Ban Kayo, Lakia Fade/Kayo, Munchkin smokes, Saya relearn omen, Xeta smokes)

do we really want soulcas as our entry player in 2023? Feels like for a team the level of TL, who should be a top 4 team in EU, throwing out soulcas as your entry when you're facing the likes of alfajer, zypaan, and nukkye it seems like a pretty bad matchup.

3/4 of xms' most played champs are smokes characters what?

kada>bramz

I mean as a core what do you prefer? Nats Redgar or Scream Nivera? IK they haven't played internationally this year but the answer is obviously Nats and Redgar. Pair them with jamppi, Nukkye/Molsi, and any of Shao Leo(I think they're on navi/fnc tho) Sheydos or Soulcas for fade.

Moose seems like the perfect fit for c9. The team needs another viper, cypher, and sova player, and Moose is arguably a top 3 sentinel whose best 3 agents are those 3 i mentioned. Plus he can play other smokes and a bit of breach

can't lie don't know much abt dobsha

Are there 10 true initiator players better than him tho? He's obv fallen off but as a 6th man for a team that wants another initiator he's still quite good at breach kayo skye and sage. Better than Jonahp atm imo

IMO he's the best non taco replacement for Nagz. He's one of the few standout LATAM plays all year, awps better than Nagz and has a bit of flexibility. With the changes KRU are making i'd love to see them grab him instead of Nagz

Is there? In my opinion it's kind of the opposite. EU's peak igls are probably better than Na's, I'd probably take Ange1 Redgar Bonecold Boaster Koldamenta over FNS dephh Valyn Stellar and Vanity. On the other hand, NA has Zander, Stellar, Valyn, Johnqt, Boostio, and there are a lot of guys in T2 like Trick, Paincakes, and Runi who seem to be on the come up. In EU it seems like Boo(who isn't really young I think he's vanity's age) and then like Foxie and Hearthbeat from T2 but after that I can't really think of anyone.

Dicey and Tenz>s0m and marved valyn zander supamen zander>s0m on controller. He works well as a 6th man tho

I agree that ardiis is more flexible but Valorant is a team game. You can't compare two players based on the results of their teams, that's just not smart. Yay is a better awper and more of a star player but ardiis is more flexible, both can be true. Yay would fit worse on FPX, Ardiis would fit worse on Optic, that's just the nature of each team.

Well that's probably not the best example seeing as Yay was better on chamber and overall while Ardiis' team was obviously better Yay carried his team whilst ardiis' support players were fragging better than him. I'm fine with you saying they're close but this is a pretty idiotic way to prove your point.

Not really, ik Xeppaa has a high 90 day Raze acs when u click on his profile but that was at an amateur LAN. In VCT this year Zellsis statistically and eye test wise outperformed both Leaf and Xeppaa on Raze, as well as Xeppaa being the best skye player of the 3.

Ascent:
Leaf Jett/Raze/Neon
Vanity Omen
Xeppaa Fade
Yay Chamber
Zellsis Kayo

Bind:
Leaf Viper
Vanity Brim
Xeppaa Skye/Fade
Yay Chamber
Zellsis Raze

Breeze
Leaf Jett
Vanity Viper
Xeppaa Sova'
Yay Chamber
Zellsis Kayo

Fracture
Leaf Neon
Vanity Brim
Xeppaa Fade
Yay Chamber
Zellsis Breach'

Haven
Leaf Raze
Vanity Omen
Xeppaa Fade
Yay Chamber
Zellsis Breach'

Icebox
Leaf Sage
Vanity Viper
Xeppaa Sova'
Yay Chamber
Zellsis Kayo

Pearl
Leaf Neon/Viper
Vanity Astra
Xeppaa Fade
Yay Chamber
Zellsis Kayo/Viper'

'= would have to learn new champs
IMO the only agents they lack are Breach(which I think Zellsis can pick up) and Sova which I think Xeppaa can pick up since he already plays a good fade.Leaf may need to learn kayo and/or get better at sage and viper but in general they only have 2 agents they CANNOT play

FNS
TIER BREAK
Valyn/Stellar
Vanity/Dephh

These should be the only IGL's making franchising and are clearly the 5 best.

SEN:
Zekken
Tenz(still holding out hope but if not then Dicey)
Dapr
Trent
Valyn
Sick 6th man.

That's a fire ass roster right there

I hope s0m is replaced, love the guy and would be a good sixth man but he's not a great awper or entry. I'd prefer they get an awper like Dicey, Tenz, or Bdog and then sign a controller player like marved, supa, skuba or zander with s0m on the bench

I hope they can get Marved as well but if not then Dicey/Tenz and Skuba/Supamen/Zander would be a cool core

Oh dang thanks for the heads up!

Is that confirmed? doesn't really make sense with EEIU there but i guess its an upgrade, if that's the case then Zekken and EEIU instead

Jawgemo
Crashies
Victor
Dephh
Wippie
c0m 6man
Potter

Samsi is holding ACE back so much

It's the correct move but man you gotta feel for Will. On the bright side for him there's probably many ascendant teams that would value him as an awper or an entry and is probably one of the better jett/raze players not in franchising na. Saya and Babybay are the only guys who I'm not confident about getting into franchising that I'd prefer to have as my entry but not chamber duelist.

Well objectively are dephh and Valyn whove made LAN's so far this year not just better? Like ok NRG was a top 6 team without a star but does that really outweigh how good Valyn or dephh have built up their teams since last year?

IMO Ethan is still better than V1c and Zekken should be there instead of Zellsis for their main targets. Zekken>Zellsis on entry and he plays initiators better. I love Zellsis but Zekken, who wont be on c9 and 100T, should be the top target for NRG. Dicey I like and Chet I like but keeping Hazed instead of Valyn, FNS, or Dephh would be a mistake. Add Valyn instead and keep Ethan and the comps make sense more, are better, and would make more sense role wise.

Ya if I was doing overall flex over multiple roles Jonahp would be higher, guys like bang would be here, jawgemo, moose and zekken would also have spots but rn I think of specifically their play on initiators Asuna trumps the other two.

Ethan has just as wide an agent pool but plays kay/o and skye at a for sure higher level and though he didn't play it much this year we know his sage is top tier. If we're talking overall flexibility jonahp is above the others mentioned but I'll take Ethan's kayo skye breach over Jonahp's, alongside that EEIU and c0m are top tier on breach(they might be the 2 best in NA with his utility and self sufficiency) play really good sovas and fade, EEIU is obv above c0m on those agents but IMO they're so good at the 3 they play more than the 3 jonah plays. Again though this is a subjective list and I think after my top 4 I'm up for argument.

I understand that but the difference is Asuna played his majority of the games on those initiators, while also adding fade to his agent pool. Nismo only played Kay/o as an initiator this year, and Zekken played the majority of his games as an entry even though he does play kayo and sova. At this point they're all flexs but Asuna is for sure more of an "initiator player" than zekken and nismo are.

Nismo only plays Raze and Kayo, which he's insane at both at don't get me wrong I think he and asuna are the best raze/kayo players in na, but he only played those two so I can't put him as an overall initiator He also plays skye but hasn't shown it in a while and in general is just an entry that plays kayo as a duelist.

he's top 5 in rounds played in t1 na games on kayo and skye, as well as having played fade before derrek took it up on 100t. He plays 3 initiators at a proficient and t1 level, he def deserves to be on the list even if he's also insane at raze.

IMO he's a jack of all trades player but as a pure initiator doesn't jump off the page on any agent apart from breach and sage who isn't an initiator. His kay/o and skye are fine but IMO subpar, and his stats are inflated by him playing a bit of duelist/chamber for TGRD this year. Having lan experience is a big plus but if you notice most of the guys above him are all good fade players which he hasn't shown. If he develops a good fade alongside his Lan experience he's def t1 level, but IMO he's best suited as a 6th man on a team rn.

Also gonna add my own comment but I think people are really underrating moose. He was SR's only good player apart from Bdog to close out the year and has been insane ever since shifting over to full time smokes(IMO is a top 5 viper and brim in NA, he just hasn't played astra and has less time on omen than the avg controller but in his little time playing it he has been good.

Personal order for me

First Tier: Trent
Second Tier: Crashies Xeppaa Derrek
Third Tier: BcJ EEIU Asuna Ethan
Fourth Tier: c0m
fifth tier: jonahp (this 10th spot was hard, was also thinking effys, genghsta or sick as HM but jonahp has a shit ton of flexibility)

IMO the first 3 tiers should be locks for franchsiing, c0m and jonahp also IMO deserve it with the 6th man rules coming in.

Zander
Skuba
Moose(he's a controller sentinel flex but atm it seems like hes leaning towards controller)
Supamen
aproto

IMO it seems obvious that Vanity and Valyn for IGLing and Marved and Bang for being insane are going to be 4/5 franchised controllers, but who of these 5 would you most want as the 5th controller in franchising?

Zander had a higher peak as an IGL but he lost his spot as his teams igl by the time V1 was competing again at full strength. I also think Dazzle and Poised run very different styles but poised has done better and for a longer time with his teams.

He's probably like 6-7th best, id still comfortably put FNS Dephh Stellar Valyn Vanity Poised over him

if they kept s0m instead of Zekken it would be a tragedy.

I'd argue that he is def still a t1 player, he just might not be in the best region for his playstyle. Non sova/fade initators are big in EU and APAC but in NA teams rarely run them. IMO Ethan is still a top 10 initator player and deserves to at least be on NRG or EG. I really don't see who is an upgrade over him. He isn't a high acs kind of player, i believe he avg abt 200, but when it comes to initators most teams will run two, and I doubt he will be left out. IMO the initators above him are
Trent, Crashies, Derrek, EEIU, BcJ, Xeppaa, Zekken, Asuna, sick*
So there's for sure a group above him IMO, but that's 8 players and most teams will run with 2. I think Trent and Xeppaa end up on c9, Derrek and Asuna 100T, Zekken and EEIU on NRG, leaving SEN and EG with BcJ Crashies and Ethan all needing teams. In that case , he at worst screams a 6th man to me.

• will he play?

Trent or Marved make more sense than Zekken. I'm fairly sure he's gonna go to NRG