g2 vs drx/edg
vit vs drx/edg
get the western teams in playoffs first.

china is their cashcow and the region they truly cater to. even if china sucked (they dont) riot would never do that.

-trent + xeppaa
-valyn + meL
-leaf + neT
-jawgemo + jerrwin
-jonahp + sinatraa

trent is the NA leo verno was supposed to be, 22' trent with music is back

i want to see g2 looking like the perfect valorant team again, if they keep up their form should be 2-0. trace would have to change a lot to get a map/win but they did have more than double the prep time since riot caters to china so we'll see.

lowkey it looks like the 1st seed of every region is their "last hope". just have to see if g2 and trace do the same thing. Every 1st seed has won 2-0. DRX looks miles better than T1 and vitality looks better than TL. i am sure G2 will look way better than sen.

i agree

I think people have a hard time moving on from when certain regions were basically just fodder. Up until franchising apac outside of prx, latam, JP, china, and brazil outside of LOUD were always free wins for the bigger regions top teams. The skill of top teams from all of the regions are a lot closer than ever before but historically it makes sense to underestimate certain teams.

I do still expect SEN to show another level. It's disappointing if they don't play to their potential. Right now they are a lot less than the sum of their parts. Which is just sad because the roster has a lot of potential. It looked like they did nothing on Lotus when they knew it would be their pick. Not sure what they've been doing.

Great analysis. I agree 100%

what mid table teams would be the other mid table teams? specific teams? because that seems baseless to me

sen played like shit, way worse than what we saw vs mibr or g2 in GF. but he's right SEN is not on G2 or VIT level right now. IMO so far it just looks like the 1st seeds are 1st seeds for a reason.

TL 2-1 EDG
SEN 2-1 DRX

Sen is on the upward trend. They always turn up for international events too. Look at SEN vs 100t last year vs sen at champs. I think they have another level they’ll show everyone at Bangkok

LMAO. Can’t wait for masters to start. I’ve been an EDG fan since east Asia LCQ before champs 22. But realistically EDG is REALLY being overrated. If GenG was here and had all 5 from last year, id rate them along side vit and g2. But they didn’t stick together. APAC looks a bit weaker than last year (will find out). And China looks a bit stronger as a region than last year. Like I think trace is the best 2nd seed chinas ever sent. But EDG has a track record of not having enough to beat the top teams from other regions. Other than champs where they had a good read on a brand new map in the pool (abyss). A map that doesn’t look strong for them now that teams have a better read on the meta. And they were able to abuse neon meta which very much complimented their aggro/brawl heavy playstyle. I like EDG and especially KK. But I just really think it’s stupid that people think they’ve suddenly ascended to S tier when nobody would put them above low A tier prior to champs. I haven’t seen anything from them to make me think it’ll be any different from every tournament EDG attended from champs 22 to masters Shanghai.

That’s how I feel about people acting like EDG is a top 3 team itw just because of a fluke run at champs. NA has consistently had a team in the top 4 at every event except lock in and champs 21. There’s at least a track record to backup confidence in NA. EDG hype is literally just overhyping them because of 1 miracle run with the most wide open meta heading into a champs ever.

Edg gets gapped by TL reminding everyone champs was a fluke. Then loses to whichever 0-1 team they play.

Also xset vs lev masters Copenhagen. Haven was absolutely insane.
https://youtu.be/VJ1Colmoom4?si=nnRWebDYDFDzUwmc
Also for 2021 team envy (optic) vs 100t masters Berlin
https://youtu.be/QrZM30VQYu8?si=zDEyeZFek0k8QE5d
FNC vs lev masters Copenhagen bind
https://youtu.be/7cgeJ5ylutk?si=dzH0zQzmV61A0w8o

https://youtu.be/Tft3qvytgkA?si=OF1gkBcoCFQOD2h7
https://youtu.be/OibRudVlmsk?si=D29r9O66xmfAOVxE
https://youtu.be/TyFbDocfa2c?si=f3che1eKrlj3UysJ

People don’t recognize this series enough. Grand finalists from the previous masters meet in elimination group stage. One of the highest level group stage matches I’ve seen. Split is nuts

Blue Gaia and camo prelude vandals. I have randomizer on and only those skins selected. Aimbot skins

You mean the entire 23 champs run by demon1?

Nope. Just speaking from the heart

Alright, let’s cut to the chase—Masters Bangkok is about to be NA’s playground, and Sentinels and G2 are rolling in like the final boss. You can pretend otherwise, but when the dust settles, the only thing left will be a pile of washed EMEA teams, broken APAC dreams, and a whole lot of angry EDG fans.

Sentinels: Rebuilt to Dominate
• Zekken is in god mode, and if you still doubt him, you’re either blind or coping.
• Zellsis is the spiritual leader and hype machine, and he’s farming impact rounds while doing it.
• Johnqt has it all. Insane mid-rounding and clutches all while out-fragging most IGLs.
• N4rrate is playing like he’s back in emea farming bots
• Bang is quietly one of the best controllers in the world, locking down sites while making it look easy.

We all knew Sentinels had the firepower, but now that their teamplay is clicking, they’re downright terrifying. They started heating up late in the tournament, and with their synergy back on track, this roster is easily one of the scariest in the world.

G2: America’s Most Wanted
• Trent is back in 2022 form, meaning clutches against him are officially a lost cause.
• Leaf is playing like prime Yay, which translates to one of the most dominant fraggers in the game.
• Valyn’s mid-rounding is unmatched, and he still somehow top-frags half the time.
• JonahP is a criminally underrated flex—does everything, wins everything, and still gets overlooked.
• Jawgemo? Exactly the chaos they needed—G2 now has the perfect blend of structure and unhinged aggression.

Reality Check: NA is Here to Collect

APAC is getting sent home early. T1 won’t get bailed out by Meteor every game, and DRX is still here, still grinding, and still finding new ways to crumble when it matters most. Every year, they look strong in groups, people start believing “this might finally be the run,” and then the inevitable collapse happens. Whether it’s a slow choke or a full mental breakdown, DRX always finds a way to fall short when the stakes are highest. As for EMEA? They’re about to get tactically dismantled—no more Band-Aid executes and passive defaults saving them. EMEA is in shambles, and Bangkok is about to make it obvious. Team Vitality farmed their way through the Farmers League™, only to get exposed by the second least terrible team in the region—Team Liquid. If Liquid, of all teams, is the new gold standard, then EMEA is down bad. They’re walking into this event thinking they can compete, but all they’re leaving with is a reality check and a long flight home.

And then there’s EDG.

Their Champions run was a fluke, and it’s time people admitted it. They had one miracle tournament where everything aligned perfectly, and now they think they’re legit. Newsflash: they got cooked at Shanghai, and it’s about to happen again.

The difference? Overtuned Neon isn’t here to bail them out. They weren’t playing some revolutionary style—they were abusing a broken agent to cover up their lack of real strategic depth. Now that they actually have to play structured Valorant, it’s clear they have never had what it takes.

Let’s get one thing straight—this isn’t League of Legends. China isn’t taking over Valorant. They had one miracle run, carried by an overtuned agent in a garbage meta that let a team with zero real strategy fluke their way into a championship. That meta’s gone, Neon isn’t saving them, and now they actually have to play real Valorant. Good luck with that.

Bangkok = NA’s Crowning Moment

Whether it’s Sentinels or G2 lifting the trophy, one thing is clear—this is the strongest NA has looked in years. The doubters can clip this, quote this, and cry in the replies, but when these two teams meet in grand finals, you’ll know who called it first. NA IS BACK.

I think the ability/util dumps are super interesting and impressive. It's a whole other layer of player skill separate from pure mechanics. I think rounds like that are what really differentiates the games. The ability to use util to it's max potential is what is what wins games at the top level nowadays (unless it's a huge aim diff) and i think that is very cool to see combo'd with tac fps shooting mechanics.

Math cups? Against the Asian teams? Sounds more like an 0-2 start smh my head

Problem with that reasoning is EDG were the ones shooting TH. They got aim diffed at champs. They got shot and died. That’s why they lost.

Derrek is a very good initiator. I don’t see why you’d make such a lateral change when derrek has been in the system for 2 years now. Especially if it’s gonna get nature punched.

Right. And my prediction is that it will not be. Because that’s the EDG we’ve seen more by far. There’s literally like 8x as many international matches where EDG looks like a B to B+ team internationally. Whereas only at champs do they look like an S tier team.

EDG had a single 5th-6th place finish at masters Tokyo. Outside of that they were 7-8th or didn’t even make it out of groups. There’s no reason for people to think champs EDG is anything but a flash in the pan until they repeatedly make a deep run at international tournaments. I think it’s more likely than not EDG returns to fairly strong due to mechanics but can’t go far due to lack of strategic depth. I’ll be very surprised if EDG is better than DRX, g2, vitality, or sen tbh.

Isn’t that how literally any team would feel?

Did you watch the games?

G2 literally made like 2-3 mistakes during those entire matches. Most of them being jawgemo coming out of his ult before the enemy was stunned and getting stunned himself by Jonahp. It doesn’t matter how strong c9/lev are when 1 singular leaf is walking on water, professor P is giving a lecture, Trent is playing like hes allowed to listen to music, Jawgemo is playing like dawgemo, and valyn in my throat. Their midrounding, setups, teamplay, util combos, read on the meta, mechanics of every player, and individual game sense across the entire roster is why they looked so good. They also played sen twice. The first time they took sen to school. The second time all of sen were in form, Kaplan anti-stratted g2 to shit, and g2 still beat them while definitely playing worse than how they’d been in every game prior. A sen roster that is rated as one of the most mechanically insane rosters in the world. And g2 took a bit to warm up but they matched the firepower and adjusted to the antistrats. I don’t think many of the teams at Bangkok would’ve shut sen down like that.

Depending on form any team can beat another. Any team can get hot and just be in their peak form to win the whole thing. The safest bet would be average form. But that probably isn’t gonna happen. Someone’s form will be more on point than anyone else’s (EDG at champs) and they’ll probably end up winning. We just don’t know what form they’ll all be on.

Peak form: (best version of team)

G2 (vs Lev/C9)
Vitality (vs fut)
EDG ( GF vs TE)
Sen (LBF vs MIBR)
DRX (GF)
T1 (LBF vs GenG)
TE (first EDG game)
TL (LBF vs TH)

Average performance: (most consistent version of team)

G2 (GF vs SEN)
Vitality (second half of GF)
SEN (vs LOUD/100T)
DRX (vs NS)
TE (vs BLG)
EDG (vs XLG)
T1 (vs TLN/PRX)
TL (vs BBL)

Floor performance: (worst looking version of team):

G2 (split vs SEN)
DRX (vs T1 GF)
Vit (first 2 maps of GF)
TE (GF vs EDG)
T1 (vs BME)
SEN (vs G2 UBF)
EDG (first game vs TE)
TL (vs FUT/APK

Zekken 1v4 ace vs loud.
Derke fake clone.
Zellsis life series vs mibr (and lotus ace was nice asf)

Just an idea or fr happening?

Yeah I agree 100%. EDG is overhyped because of their miracle run. I need to see it again to believe it but I am not a full blown doubter til we see champs EDG or literally every other event EDG. And your point about needing to aim diff is exactly right. They won’t be able to aim diff sen/g2/vitality/maybe even drx. So I do think it’s more likely they go 1-2 or 0-2. But I also think there’s a small chance champs EDG is new EDG and they’re just crazy good now.

1 G2
2 Vit
3 Sen
4 DRX
5 EDG
6 TE
7 T1
8 TL

Great Picks ngl

Can’t wait for Bangkok. EDG at champs was EDG with another player that can shoot (Simon in for haodong) and KK being the best neon during broken neon meta + having a good read on abyss when other teams weren’t very good at it. So every match was 1-0 to start for EDG and their best player is someone who can get the most out of the stupidly broken neon. They’re probably A tier which is better than prior to champs. But I really think everyone is overestimating their level because of their miracle run at champs. IMO the worst #1 seed.

First and only time EDG performed better internationally. EDG is gonna flop

I think trace not dropping a map this entire tournament is more likely than DRX destroying Sen.

i would say g2 can match them.

G2 - S tier (jawgemo/leaf/valyn) A tier (trent/jonahp)

vitality - S tier (sayf/less/derke) A tier (trexx) B tier (kicks)

you picked 3 of the 4 bottom teams to make playoffs thats probably why.

https://www.vlr.gg/pickem/1e1b09b3

same pick ems https://www.vlr.gg/pickem/1e1b09b3 wait nevermind you didnt link your pick ems

I mean, I think edg on perfect form can match any team in terms of aim. I think vitality do aim diff them 7/10 matches but if EDG is peak form then firepower is equal. But I dont think that will matter. I don't think they'll play unless edg makes playoffs. But the tactical diff will be a bigger gap for vitality than aim imo. I'd pick vitality 2-0 or edg barely winning their map pick for 2-1 vitality still winning.

been an EDG fan since east asia LCQ. They've looked incredibly strong domestically since then, but they only made it to top 4 twice in 8 tournaments. champs 24 they had the best neon in an overpowered neon meta, and a brand new map in the map pool (abyss) that a lot of teams didn't know how to play. Yes they brought in simon and changed IGLs so that could've been the move that made them click and they're just a fixture S tier team but I have a lot of doubt til I see them internationally again. For me its 50/50 that they look S tier or look like one of the weaker teams at bangkok.

we get rankers vs cubert academy tho, absolute cinema

Even with an extra 2 weeks of practice it isn’t gonna be enough for TE to make up for the gap g2 has. 2-0 or maybe 2-1 if TE really cook on their map pick

EDG vs TL is probably gonna be the most jail-valorant match of the opening round. But EDG is possibly the most mechanically gifted team in the world. They aim diff TL 2-1

T1 vs Vitality is gonna be a team diff. 2-0 vitality

Sen vs DRX could go a lot of ways. Sen from yesterday should beat them pretty comfortably 2-1. But Sen if they decide to play like they did in the first g2 match loses 0-2. 2-1 sen.

Americas was clearly the highest level GF of any region. What are you on?

G2 2-1 TE
TL 1-2 EDG
DRX 1-2 SEN
VIT 2-1 T1