I think this'll def be a humbling experience for him but he is for sure a top top tier player in every sense. Put him on purely raze and sova in VRL East next split/next year and he will absolutely farm. Look at what Musashi does for ACE, he plays the same agent pool but historically at a higher level. Make him the star of a T2 team(AGO or VP enter???) and let him play his comfort picks and he will be seen as a T1 player sooner rather than later.

He blew at initiators but he's never not been a fantastic controller player. Problem is he played with the only other competent controller player in EU and Boaster obviously takes first priority on FNC which pushed Mistic into uncomfortablity and eventually off the team.

Ya thats basically my argument, pretty much all the players that could be good on controller in EMEA don't even play it. Shao, Nats, Chronicle, Leo, even Jamppi

Starxo is the most underrated paycheck stealer ITW

Last time Mistic played controllers at the T1 level he was highest in rating, ACS, and assists per round among T1 controller players. He's currently the highest rated controller player in EMEA T2 this year and when playing on the role he has always been top 3 in EMEA. What's the actual argument against him?

Probably the single waekest role for one of the regions, kind of crazy when you think abt it but there really isn't one standout at all compared to APAC with Mak0 or NA with a great group of like 4-5 guys. If I'm counting only the players that play the controller role most in EU(so Shao, Nats, Atakaptan don't really count) I would say it's.

1. Boaster
2. Hoody
3. Nivera
4. Avova
5. ange1(?)

I honestly belive if Mistic were playing he would be top 2-3 lol. I'd be surprised if you could find a single role in one of the regions that's this weak tho.

Ya I think it's a pretty common take that to be called the best duelist ITW you need something other than Jett. Yay was obviously great but he was never asked to play Raze nor did he ever not need to be on chamber, which is why he was the best in the world during that meta but not this. Derke and Aspas are a tier above(tho aspas hasn't been playing raze he still can) because of their ability to play both agents. The main thing that'll hurt guys like Leaf(please don't try to argue to me that his Raze is good) and Cned is that they are great at Jett but not Raze.

corey is pretty ass at Jett he just has very good raw aim but its so much better for raze and sova type characters.

problem is Americas has a duelist problem

I know he's 1-3 as an IGL, but 2 of them were against 2 of the top 3 IGLs in the world, the other against LEV and 100T where they went 1-1. I feel like he gets so much hate for being not that bad lmfao.

Runi 2 Dephh 3 IDK how you can look at what Stellar and Boostio have been calling and say they're above the other two. I know its trendy to have a Dephh hate boner but he was 1 round away from 2-0ing the 2nd best team in Americas so far.

then who is better? I'm not talking about singular tournaments, I mean since VCT started who apart from crashies has consistently been on his level on those agents?

Even if he never IGLed he would be one of the best, he's still the best skye and kayo player of all time and is an early user of harbor, not to mention him being literally the inventor of how breach is played.

Stax should be there, not at the fragging power of any of these guys but if I'm building a team I don't think there's 5 initiators I'm taking over Stax.

They have a great core as well that will hopefully last. There arent many support trios in the world better than nukkye, cloud, and hoody. The only ones that I would fully take above them are teams that are already LAN winners or top tier favorites. Of those tier 2 teams no one can compete with that. Obviously a lot of pressure is going to come on Rhyme as an IGL and Fitinho as an entry, but atm even if they don't succeed this year they are built perfectly for the future.

cuz Nukkye is goat

ya boss?

Look at his games versus Optic and FPX in champs, or at Copenhagen, or versus Zeta and Optic in Reykjavik. In all of DRX's final two games since the start of 2022 he's averaging a .83 rating with 177 ACS while going -83(!!!) in 8 games. Zest isn't that bad, no one is that bad. I don't give a fuck if ur playing a bunch of roles, those numbers are nearly identical to current form tenz, brave and takej. If you were told one of ur 5 players were gonna play on that level when facing high level competition, would you keep him around? If you want something more digestible, why don't we look at these stats. Out of the 50 players with the most games played against elite competition, he ranks 46th in rating, 38th in ACS, 49th in KAST!!!, 44 in KD, a negative fk/fd, and 36th in assists grouped only with players that one trick duelists and 3 hard anchor sentinel players. I just don't get how some players get knives thrown at them for having one bad performance but RB gets away with doing it every tournament he plays in when it matters most. Obviously DRX's only problem isn't him but MaKo, Buzz, Stax, and Zest have never been this consistently bad.

My problem with him has never been in groups/quals or in mid tier matches. I'm not saying he's bad when playing teams like Talon or Zeta or BBL, my problem is that EVERY tournament they've ever played in they go far and plateau, and literally every time he looks bad. He doesn't make egregious game losing mistakes, but every single final match or second to last match DRX has played since 2021 at LAN he has been their worst performer. The problem is that he plays well and flexes a lot in APAC and in the early rounds so he has job security, but realistically their ceiling is lowered with him on the team.

He's been outstanding

I mean ya he's over loved for being mediocre

I have been downvoted heavily for presenting this in the past and people still call him a top 2 flex ITW

he performs awfully against any good team go look at it yourself

RB is mega overrated because he plays a ton of agents

Victor: Raze Skye Kayo KJ(suprisingly efficient on it)
Ardiis: Jett and something on fracture who cares
FNS: Breach and sentinels
s0m: controllers
Crashies: initiators and viper

Wow so hard Chet lol

Derke
Saadhak/FNS
Leo
Less
Mak0

Poised performance negatively correlates with how good he IGLs LMFAO

I'm taking Koala and Oxy over him over the last split+playoffs and I'm taking Yay and possibly Sym over him for the next split

Tex hasn't even been close to the best duelist in challengers while Ardiis spent all of 2022 fragging for a top tier team, I just don't get how this is even an argument lol.

They're a team filled of good but not amazing players at this point
Each of them has had their highs and lows but as we've got into franchising where all the top teams are 5 good players deep guys like Derrek and Cryo look worse and Stellar doesn't really look like the IGL that he has in the past. Pair that with not being able to respond properly from Sgares departure and you have a decent but middle of the road team.

Only three you can argue are Yay Saadhak Chronicle
Yay has had the best and longest peak of any player
Saadhak most successful IGL
Chronicle for winning two titles

IDC how much hate Ardiis gets no shot u guys want tex over him

actually u know what I think I'm wrong on the Stax pick, I'll swap for FNS even though NRG is struggling a bit. I thought abt it and with even teams I think FNS would out call Stax.

I'm a mega Rb hater if I'm being honest but that's a personal thing, I just don't think playing a ton of agents = better just because ur playing more. I'd take all three flex players over him in a heart beat.

It was a 50/50 for him vs Stax but he's been shaky the last few games and DRX has looked unstoppable in APAC. We'll see how it changes but rn I'm giving stax the very narrowest of edges.

Gonna set boundaries on criteria rn: This is not just based on lock in or the past weeks, it's a measure of overall consistency since champs and confidence in them in a Bo3 rn. I'm saying that specifically for my IGL spot. The potential top 3 isn't who I think is third best but who I think has potential to be in that discussion based on limited sample size and the coaching is not based on just results but how well they've made their team look so far which is why there is no Mini or Termi, etc.

Duelist:
Derke
aspas
Sayf
Potential top 3 by end of '23: qw1

Initiator:
Leo
Shao
crashies
Potential top 3 by end of '23: Cloud

Controller:
MaKo
s0m
SugarZ3ro
Potential top 3 by end of '23: tuyz

Sentinel:
Less
SUYGETSU
k1Ng
Potential top 3 by end of '23: Shyy

Flex(Must play 2+ roles and 3+ agents for their team):
Chronicle
Zekken
Leaf
Potential top 3 by end of '23: xffero

IGL:
saadhak
Boaster
FNS(edited was stax before but been convinced)
Potential top 3 by end of '23: kiNgg

Coach(focusing more on improvement than anything):
Onur
Elmapuddy
mCe
Potential top 3 by end of '23: Carlao

mummay snooze but Tigg is a good pick up

good to know man!

Unironically really love the role ideas for TSM even tho it didn't work out. Seven Jett, Nature sentinel, Corey Raze Sova flex (similar to Zekken) and Gmd Kanpeki flex around

Why there are transfer windows in a franchised sport that doesn't have academy teams will always perplex me.

It's too late to make changes but I just don't know how they blow up their team and still think Soulcas is the player to get instead of Cloud, Sheydos, Nukkye, Hoody or Trexx who all would've obviously taken the team upgrade and play his role but better and more flexible. Even Molsi as a project would've made as much or more sense.

Not my point at all. He's number one in K/D, rating, and top 2 in all fragging stats alongside Derke among all duelists in the world yet gets no recognition in these discussions. His team obviously has talent I'm not arguing that but if he was on a team as respected as Loud or FNC he'd be in that convo. Just saying he's getting underrated because his team hasn't been that good and he's never been on a good team.

Sayf would be in this discussion if he was on a team of the level of Loud Fnatic DRX

Sacy just blows on Viper
Pancada looks good on his role and Sacy always performs on Ascent omen, they just need to find a balance where he isn't asked to play viper. Maybe Harbor should be his secondary champ?

Saadhak
Aspas
Kingg
Zekken
Less
Leaf
S0m
Victor
Khalil
Dgzin

Dephh did well map 1-2 but Sykko letting Pearl slip and running that comp was hysterically bad

Pearl is LEV's best map, it should be one of the two banned. That's on the coach. The comp was a troll, Viper Harbor Skye is full meta on the map now and not running it is bad. The comp that they used was what the original Harbor comp was in response to. I really don't care that much about the role swaps apart from Sacy viper but everything about Pearl was awfully thought out by the coaching staff. Ya Tenz has played like ass recently but Sykko needs to be better at things that are pretty easy to understand

Optic was the best pre franchised team and SEN had the best pre franchised tournament by a team

You gotta remember that 2 of the 3 best players in NA from last year aren't in franchising and a region like EMEA had so many slots that players like FUT's roster or Twisten wouldn't have gotten a chance to show their strength if their region only got 5 teams. The fact that Trent or Nismo or Zander haven't been able to play in franchising has sucked for NA

The first two maps were the best theyve looked all year why do people want to backseat "fix" a team that just improved even if it was a loss, and either way its more on Sykko letting Pearl slip through to literally a top 3 Pearl team ITW