LOUD (3 - 0) vs Sentinels (1 - 2)
LOUD 2 - 1 Sentinels // I beleive Sentinels have it in them to take 1 close map but LOUD will wipe the floor with the remaining two maps.

Leviatan (2 - 1) vs MIBR (2 - 1)
Leviatan 2 - 1 MIBR // Although looking shaky against Sentinels in week 3, I think Leviatan take away another close series.

KRU Esports (0 - 3) vs 100 Thieves (1 - 2)
KRU Espors 0 - 2 100 Thieves // KRU have lost all 3 games, losing to EG in week 3. 100T 2-0ed EG and have looked WAY better with much more firepower.

Evil Geniuses (1 - 2) vs FURIA (2 - 1)
Evil Geniuses 0 - 2 FURIA // FURIA have looked very strong against both LEV and KRU. Although losing to LOUD, well so has everyone else. EG look terrible against 100T and C9 and almost lost against KRU

NRG (1 - 2) vs Cloud9 (2 - 1)
NRG 2 - 0 Cloud9 // Although looking strong against 100T, I don't think C9 can take down NRG. 2 close maps but a 2-0 none the less.

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MIBR (2 - 1) vs Sentinels (1 - 2)
MIBR 0 - 2 Sentinels // With the addition of marved I think Sentinels will look much better if Zekken shows up as the main duellist. MIBR look strong but I think SEN take a close 2 - 0 like they almost did against LEV

Leviatan (2 - 1) vs 100 Thieves (1 - 2)
Leviatan 2 - 1 100 Thieves // LEV look shaky but I honestly think they are still way better than 100T. 2 - 1 series like LEV vs SEN

Evil Geniuses (1 - 2) vs LOUD (3 - 0)
Evil Geniuses 0 - 2 LOUD // Do I even need to say why? LOUD destroyed FURIA who many say are 2nd in the league, EG barely beat bottom of the league KRU. Yeah

Cloud9 (2 - 1) vs FURIA (2 - 1)
Cloud9 1 - 2 FURIA // Honestly I'm the least confident for this match. FURIA look really strong BUT c9 have been improving but I still beleive in a close map where C9 win but 2 dominant maps from FURIA follow to win.

NRG (1 - 2) vs KRU Esports (0 - 3)
NRG 2 - 0 KRU Esports // Like EG vs LOUD it's a bottom of the league team vs title contender. Not much debate here IG, but if KRU manage to upset I give up.

TenZ’s and Marved’s involvement on the active roster isn’t going to be based on 2 games and neither is the rest of the roster. It will likely be based on agent, playstyle, and map comfort and how the coaches want to play certain maps.

Same talon that ran triple deulist? Same talon that ran Reyna on pearl? Same talon that are on 1/6 on maps. Currently last with a -38 round difference Talon?

I agree with most of it but I’m sorry but MIBR is not fifth. Sentinels def above 8, just a bad game and bad maps against NRG. FURIA mb 2nd imo.

True. But with Sacy and pANcada both switching roles, it would have def been in SEN's advantage to play them late in the season when they would have improved communication, teamwork and players would have adapted to their new roles.

NRG, LOUD AND LEV all keeping their cores plays into their advantage so giving other teams time to adapt is really the only way LOUD, NRG or LEV (and mb even FURIA) are falling. Teams like C9, EG, MIBR and KRU will hopefully be easy seeing the contrast in skill really

Both teams looking so shit right now, EG 0-2 and KC 1-3 with their only win being a close 19-17 and 13-11 against BBL of all teams.

EG have no real firepower compared to other Americas teams. Adding only BcJ and Ethan to their starting 5 is not enough. Boostio as your main entry/deulist is not viable, the man was impressive in NA Challengers, but now you're facing world champions and LAN-Level competitors. "Impressive", isn't going to be enough. Ethan is good, but without much support behind him he is just left on flex duty, I beleive if he is given the opportunity on a entry role he can perform well if given the right support.

KC are -52 in rounds, even bottom place BBL are only -24. They looked clueless against vitality only getting 8 rounds altogether, the liquid match was only worse (only getting 7 rounds), Against team heretics they only got 7 rounds as well. Their only win was a 19-17 and 13-11. Not reliable at all in my opinion. I see KC going home in last, especially if they don't improve in their form.

The pacific region doesn't exactly have a "outlier" if you say so. Although Global Esports are last place as of now, they challenged DRX (prob the best pacific team) to overtime on map 2 and only loss 13-11 on map one. They almost got a win against ZETA but really screwed up Map 3. Detonation and Talon are in my opinion currently the weakest but even that is not terrible. Look at some of talon's or detonation's matches and they are clearly sorting things out.

in this meta, almost all the maps require a jett. A role which zekken has never really played, having cryo on XSET and now TenZ on sentinels. Sacy and pancada are def both very skilled players and learners in their own right. I beleive if you are putting in marved for anyone it'll be dephh. Both have played smokes and sentinel before, although if this does happen there won't be 1 clear IGL

Sentinels prob got the 3 hardest teams in weeks 2-4 to face off against.
NRG (former optic core), Leviatan (stated by many to be 1st or 2nd) and LOUD (world champions)

If they can pull 1 win out from leviatan or LOUD, I say they're in a good spot to go through the group 4th. imo MIBR, KRU and EG will all be easy, especially as those matchups are towards the end of the season, where pANcada and Sacy would have adapted to their new roles. FURIA and C9 may be the only challenges but if they put in the work I say that they can pull out wins.

C9 will prob need some time adjusting to the addition of Jakee and runi, while FURIA are just a middle-of the pack team. I'm confident Sentinels can go through either 6-3 or 5-4.

Gimme one recent match where he has played duelist every map on DRX, yeah even in champions he only really played neon on fracture.

NRG
C9 ~ SEN
100T
EG

C9 and SEN in my opinion are on the same level, EG still to reveal last 3 members

Mitch was apart of the C9 roster for 2 whole years, saying he sucked doesn't make much sense. Curry on the other hand I completely agree. Both Sacy and pANcada know how to speak english to a good extent. At max I would put C9 at 3rd. Just because you're subbing two not so great players for two fantastic players doesn't mean C9 will get better, you need to think about what mitch and curry brought to the team that zellsis and yan't and vice versa

How? Yes they pick up yay but they kept the core C9 roster from 2022, C9 placed 3rd and tenth. Yay obviously destroyed with 1st, 3rd and 2nd in LAN events while zellsis showed he can be a god with his time on SEN for the LCQ. But 100T won LCQ, and did "decent" in 2022 while SEN and NRG hold 3 and 4 world champions respectively (although tenz won like a year ago)

The question is will SEN be able to implement the chemistry, if they can it'll be a god squad but if they can't it'll prob be a 3-5th place team. And NRG completely agree

Do you mean like tracer bullets, like in Spike Rush? seems kinda op like 4 owl drones

Who knows if the ORG even wanted yay, maybe they were already signing someone else to take the Chamber / Deulist role to go along with the other optic players, yay prob already secured a deal with like C9 or SEN or smth

2-4 hours, don't know if it's via stream or twitter or a straight-out yt release video

ykw will be so cool, a like draw slowly revealing the teams, just imagine them already revealing the other 9 teams and your team isnt out yet and you are praying that that final draw will be your team

Riot are giving the franchised teams money so it's not like OWL where it's buy-ins, rumors say the amount in in 6 figures which means it should be enough to sustain a few purchases and SEN has a lot of brand deals, really big team in 2-3 esports.

ikr it feels so intense, no doubt the roster moves during the next few months will be INSANE

I honestly don't understand the logic of only allowing 10 partnered teams, yes you need 1/2 slots for the Ascension teams but I think there should be 14 partnered slots with 2 from ascension rounding out 16 total teams per year.

NRG - Good potential but will no doubt drop the team and sign for example OPTC or XSET or TGRD
SEN - Top tier players, but chemistry might not be there. Individually they all deserve to be here, might keep TenZ or Shazham and sign some other people, might regain Zellsis idk
EG - Will no doubt go same route as NRG
C9 - Good potential team, need better teamwork, see them keeping core roster but who knows
100T - Good roster, but needs chemistry improvement and maybe a improvement in players

Each major region (Americas, EMEA and Pacific) will have smaller leagues inside it

• NA, LATAM North, LATAM South, Brazil / For Americas
• Northern Europe, Southern Europe, France and Benelux, DACH, Turkey, Eastern Europe, MENA / For EMEA
• South Asia, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Singapore, Korea, Japan, Chinese Taipei and HK, Philippines, Indonesia, Oceania / For Pacfiic

Teams will compete in their respective leagues (the teams that DIDNT make franchising), the winner (or top something) of each minor league will go to Challengers Ascension, which is like a Playoff for promotion. Winner of each respective Ascension tournament (each major region gets one) qualifies to the Partnered League for 2 years. This will expand to 2 Ascension teams then 3

TL:DR, each major league will have smaller leagues, top teams from those smaller leagues will go to its respective major league challenger ascension, winner of that gains a 2 year promotion to the partnered league.

idk if this has been posted somewhere already but it looks like these 10 teams will be going to São Paulo representing the Americas.

• Sentinels (NA)
• NRG (NA)
• Cloud9 (NA)
• 100 Thieves (NA)
• LOUD (BR)
• FURIA (BR)
• KRU Esports (LATAM)
• Leviatan (LATAM)
• MIBR (BR)
• Evil Geniuses (NA)

not exactly confirmed but
https://dotesports.com/valorant/news/valorant-partnership-live-tracker-emea-americas-asia-league
https://blix.gg/news/full-list-of-the-teams-accepted-to-valorant-partnership-program
https://twitter.com/GeorgeCGed/status/1572535132229337091

wasnt there some tweets about BLEED not making the franchised league, don't get why 5 top tier players would want to compete in the lower Challengers league, I mean if they have to it makes sense but I think they want to make it into the International League

looks like Riot is alternating between "successful teams and big name teams who will rake in viewershi[

Twitter is starting to reveal the franchised teams for the EMEA league for 2023, none of these are confirmed but it looks like the first five are

• KOI
• Fnatic
• Karmine Corp
• Liquid
• Vitality

thoughts?

Americas and Pacific teams are still to be announced, remember none of these are yet confirmed by Riot

well that match def was an outlier playing like 3 halves in one game but they still took down northeption 2-0, not something many teams in Asia can do. Against teams like ONS and REJECT, 13-3, 13-3 and now 13-4 wins on fracture, damn teams better start banning that map. dont know why these was posted here but this was suspossed to be a reply lol

I def don't think EDG will win the whole thing but I won't be surprised if they at least make it out of groups.

EDG looked amazing in the EA LCQ, watching GF right now and well its 2-0 to EDG and in they have won every other match 2-0, and it wasn't even like THAT close. EDG have a similar aggresive playstyle to PRX or OPTC and it's players like KmjjKK and Life look INSANE, and may even be better then Yay, TenZ, Asuna, etc. Although since these regions have played we dont know, EDG look to make champions easily unless ONS make a reverse sweep, so how will EDG to at Champs?

Now you could just make 4 regions, NA, EMEA, SA, APAC and give each region 4 slots if you want that. And now I think about it KRU / Leviatan and LOUD / NiP will just dominate

Firstly I think the slots given to regions should be fair and equal, with 7 regions, this isn't really possible. I think the regions should become, North America (NA), Europe-Middle East-Africa (EMEA), Latin America (LATAM), Brazil (BR), Australasia (a.k.a Old APAC, AST), East Asia (a.k.a JP + KR + CN, EA). This gives 6 regions and makes it easier to make slots equal. NA and EMEA will get three slots for each LAN event as they are the only regions to have won a international events. Everyone else will get 2 slots, this gives us 14 slots currently. We will now have Masters LCQs, LATAM vs BR (SA LCQ, single Bo5 match between 3rd placed LATAM and BR teams) and AST vs EA (APAC LCQ, single Bo5 match between 3rd placed AST and EA teams). This gives us 16 slots and the opportunity for each region to have 3 teams at the LAN event, this will give us 4 regions with 3 teams at Masters and 2 with 2.
Everything else will be the same, Double Elimination or Single / Double RR groups into DE or SE playoffs. Circuit points given to different placing positions.

Now champions, currently this system works completely fine but a few changes can make this more fair.
For Champions there will be three stages, Play-Ins then Group Stages then Playoffs. Each region will have 2 locked slots to the group stage, top 2 teams in circuit points. This gives us 12 slots locked. Then we will have a team from each region's LCQ, this gives up 6 slots for our Play-Ins locked in. This is where our Contenders Events come in, with so many talented teams from each regions more teams should be given the chance to shine, this will be where Division IIs come into play, top teams from Division II each stage get promoted and replace low placing Division I teams. for example winners of these Division II leagues and like 3rd / 4th placed teams in the circuit points or smth, go to the Contenders Championship, winner and runner-up here go to Champions. OR, we can have top 2 teams from these LCQ go to champions. NA, EMEA, SA (LATAM + BR, 4 from each region), APAC (AST + EA, 4 from each region).

This gives us 8 teams in our Play-Ins stage, 4 in each group, then we can have DE or RR format, top 2 from each Play-In group qualify to the Group Stage, one Play-In team goes to each group. 16 Teams in groups, DE, Top 2 make Playoffs. Playoffs is SE or DE. Simple.

Lets talk about Divisions. We will have Division I and Division II, each division will have a fixed number of teams. Let's take an example, NA. NA will have 12 teams in Division I, which will just be like Challengers, top 3 go to Masters. 2 Groups Of 6, Single RR, etc. Lets say NRG, EG, C9 and 100T placed last and second-to-last, they will be relegated to Division II next stage, the top 4 from Division II take their place. Now back to Division I, lets say OPTC, XSET and TGRD make masters, the other teams, FaZe, SEN, etc, stay in Division I but don't make LAN. Division II will be the main way for teams to get into the top league, lets say NA will have 12 teams in Division II as well. 4 come from Division I, 4 Stay from last season, and the bottom 4 from last stages Division II are eliminated and four open qualifier teams take their place (this can also be the 4 teams that be eliminated). Circuit points are given to all teams who compete in both divisions.

yeah don't expect anyone to see this but I kinda just wanted to type this out. But if you do see this what is your take on this.

M3C
TGRD

Both teams just look so much better than their opponent, but all talented teams so who tf knows,

A follow-up, if you REALLY want to downsize the number of regions so there can be more convenient slot giving or smth idk you could combine LATAM and BR into SA and give them 3 slots, they already have that many, combine JP and KR into just JPKR or EA and add China since they don't have a lane into Masters rn, if you really want, combine APAC and EA into APAC.... and give each region four slots. NA, EMEA, SA, APAC. Four slots for each. Fair

Yeah, I don't know why they are locking in slots for these regions, I fully understand them wanting to draw viewership from the big teams such as TSM, Sentinels, Fnatic. But having no open qualifier slots is stupid, look at The Guard, they were nobodies at the start of 2022 and are now one of the biggest NA teams. Now the only way for players to get onto the big stage and show teams why they should be signed and with teams exiting left and right, this will become harder and harder. It's gonna become like the NBA or smth, can't find a good metaphor.

I'm sure most of you have heard of the franchising system that Riot is bringing to VALORANT next year as part of it's 2023 Pro Circuit. I honestly don't get why they're doing it, I mean nothing was wrong with the VCT Series and even the First Strike system was not bad. 7 regions to me isn't even enough for how many teams are out there, there should at least be 8 - 10 or give the current regions more slots for LAN events.

Americas | NA + BR + LATAM
3 Words, Stupid - Stupid - Stupid. NA is no doubt one of, if not, the biggest regions in the scene right now with so many talented teams like OpTic, FaZe, XSET, Cloud9, etc. Even some of the smaller "Tier-2 / 3" teams could make a good team such as Akrew, DarkZero and Complexity (which have all left VALORANT due to franchising, ikr). 1 region wasn't enough for all these teams and now you're merging it with BR and LATAM? Now, Brazil. This region has always been at the top of VALORANT for the past two years with teams like Vivo Keyd and Vikings representing the, in 2021 and now LOUD making a scene. This is the same story for LATAM, KRU and Leviatan are their main two bullies and that's all to say there. I would have been fine with combining LATAM and BR into South America and giving them three slots but this is just stupid.

EMEA | uh, EMEA
Yeah not much to say here, EMEA (according to what I have seen) will stay as one league, region, whatever.

SEA, Asia? APAC? (can't find a solid source for what this will be called)
APAC has always been a top region with NUTURN and VS making a run for them last year as part of Korea. Team Secret and Bren being APACs top few. Japan this year has really broken through with a podium run from ZETA earlier this year at Reykjavik. Oceania as well has been a decent region as well with it's main bully, ORDER, making a decent run at this years APAC LCQ. They stomped FCY and CERBERUS, and NARROWLY loss to Team Secret as well, this is just like the Americas, combining three huge regions into one!

How can they fix it
With this format in place, the only reasonable thing I see happening is having a quote on quote league system, where we have the top 10-20 teams competing in Division 1, lets take Americas for example, their Division 1 would be, OpTic, XSET, FaZe, The Guard, Cloud9, Sentinels, Shopify Rebellion, NRG, FURIA, Ninjas in Pyjamas, LOUD, KRU, SK, Leviatan, with many more. Then they would play in a "Regular Season Stage" where it could be Round Robin, Swiss, Single / Double Elimination. But the point is the top 4-5 or whatever qualify to the International LAN (masters or whatever), then the bottom few teams get relegated to Division 2, and the top teams from Division 2 replace them. Lower divisions could also have a Contenders LAN for example where winner could get something, idk. Kinda like in Football, Champions League, Europe League, Conference League.

Then they would restart it, maybe have two stages or three. Then from Circuit Points or from placing or whatever, the top few teams qualify to Champions where the two, one, three winners of the contenders cup could also join in and then yeah.

Anyways that's my thoughts, what'd you think, again.

Stupid - Stupid - Stupid, unless they turn it around 180, idk.

I agree, I thought the VCT series worked completely fine, but Riot really screwing things up with this, combining 7 amazing regions full of talent into 3. Honestly, the only way I think they could make this work is if it is like a league system, where we have Division 1, Division 2, etc. Placing in the top spots per "Stage / Season" will have you qualify for a LAN event such as Masters or like a Contenders LAN for smaller teams in lower divisions, you can also get promoted and relegated like in Football (soccer), this could open up the esports scene to smaller teams with 10-20 teams in each division but honestly with the ways I see things going, this is very unlikely and I really hope Riot can turn things around or maybe they are keeping the new franchise a secret, we never know.

With the APAC LCQ wrapping up and several others just getting started, this following week is no doubt gonna be full of action and most importantly surprises, here's the rundown.

Asia-Pacific Last Chance Qualifier
Over the past 8 days we have had one of the most entertaining tournaments ever, I personally stayed up to watch every single match, but after it has all wrapped up one team has come out victorious, congratulations to BOOM Esports on becoming APACs third and final representative at Champions, joining Paper Rex and XERXIA. BOOM has had an nearly flawless tournament only dropping three maps throughout the four series' they played. ONIC G did come second and don't be surprised if they come back next year stronger than ever!

North America Last Chance Qualifier
We had an exciting past few days here in North America, with some thrilling matches all around the Board. The Guard and FaZe Clan will meet for the second time in the Upper Finals, FaZe will be wanting revenge after losing 2-1 to The Guard in the first Open Qualifier of the year, yep that's a few months back. We waved goodbye to Shopify Rebellion and Evil Geniuses as they lost to Sentinels and NRG Esports over the weekend. Cloud9 and 100 Thieves round out the final six. FaZe Clan and NRG will both be looking for a chance to get onto the international stage for the first time ever as The Guard and Sentinels look to reclaim the crown. 100 Thieves and Cloud9, both once representing NA at Masters 3 and Champions last year respectfully.

South America Last Chance Qualifier
We saw the first round of the South American LCQ wrap up just earlier today. Ninjas in Pyjamas took a shock early loss to 9z Team 2-1, and will need to run the gauntlet down in the lower bracket if they want to return to the world stage. KRU Esports took a routine win over TBK Esports but it certainly was not easy, narrowly winning a 14-12 overtime on Map 3. FURIA and Keyd Stars both won in 2-0 fashion, taking down FUSION and E-Xolos LAZER respectfully. We will return tomorrow with 9z Team vs FURIA and KRU vs Keyd Stars.

Europe, Middle East, Africa Last Chance Qualifier
We saw our first two matches just 12 hours ago, with OG LDN UTD taking a shock 2-0 win over G2 Esports, and it was a beating! With 13-5 and 13-6 wins, that's not even enough rounds to secure overtime for G2! In a Champions Final rematch, Gambit (now Masters 3 Champions), took down Acend in a close 2-1 series. We will have Team Liquid vs BBL Esports and Guild Esports vs Natus Vincere very soon. 5 of these teams have competed on the world stage but only one can join FunPlus Phoenix and Fnatic at Champions, or will we have a shock underdog win the whole thing?

East Asia Last Chance Qualifier
The East Asian LCQ will be kicking off in just under two hours with the Chinese first seed EDward Gaming facing the Korea third seed On SLa2ers, Maru Gaming vs REJECT will follow that in around 6 hours. Not much to say here, you can check out my last post for more.

As we only have a few more weeks until the final 5 are decided and just a few more for Champions it will be exciting to see the talent that will be playing live at Istanbul. Cya soon.

I know I am a bit late here but I just wanted a few opinions on the LCQs, the NA and APAC LCQs have already started and by the time this is released the APAC LCQ will only have 3 teams remaining, but we still have the SA, EMEA and EA LCQs yet to start with the NA LCQ only having finished Upper Round 1.

Asia-Pacific Last Chance Qualifier
At the time I am writing this the BLEED vs ONIC game is about to start with the winner of this game facing off against BOOM Esports tomorrow in the Grand Final for a position at Champions. BOOM has locked fantastic this year with a 4th place finish and 7th place finish in Stage 1 and Stage 2 respectfully. They have made work of the upper bracket this event, taking down giants such as Griffin, ONIC and BLEED. ONIC have had a pretty impressive season as well, placing 9th and 4th in Stage 1 and 2 respectfully. BLEED has a similar story as well, placing 3rd and 5th in Stage 1 and 2 respectfully. All these three teams have been great this season and I think all 3 of these will represent APAC amazingly alongside Paper Rex and XERXIA at Champions. Earlier in this tournament we had ORDER, the Oceanian representative make a underdog run, taking down Fancy United, CERBERUS and losing narrowly to Team Secret in a 5-13, 13-5 and 11-13 game, losing 2-1. While we talk about Team Secret, they were a favourite to take home the victory and return to the international stage but they narrowly loss to ONIC 11-13, 13-11 and 11-13, coming in fourth. I really think APAC will be one of the most entertaining and powerful regions next year with all these amazing teams.

North America Last Chance Qualifier
The North American LCQ has started with a bang with all four opening matches be extremely entertaining, starting off the tournament we had two former kings, The Guard and Sentinels, face off. Sentinels making shocking changes earlier in the month entered with a bang taking map 1, 15-13 but sadly loss the following two matches 13-10 and 15-13, eventually losing 2-1. We had Cloud9 knock Luminosity, now known as Shopify Rebellion, to the lower bracket 2-0, with a 13-10 and 17-15 win. FaZe took a narrow win over Evil Geniuses while 100 Thieves closed it out with a 2-1 win over NRG. FaZe is one of favourites to win the whole thing coming third in Stage 2, Cloud9 are also one of the favourites as they took the NA LCQ last year and came 3rd in Stage 1. Sentinels is definitely what most fans will be looking at, with Shroud and Zellsis coming in, they will definitely be a entertaining team but as they took an early loss they will need a streak of wins to return to the world stage. We will check back in with them soon, as we have The Guard vs Cloud9 and Sentinels vs Shopify Rebellion very soon.

South America Last Chance Qualifier
The South American LCQ is yet to start but as we have 8 teams enter to fight for a position at Champions only two will prevail. KRU is no doubt the favourite to take home the victory, being the only team in this LCQ and in fact any LCQ to qualify for both Master events but still have to participate in a LCQ, with two spots available, it is almost certain, KRU will take one of them. The other spot will probably be taken by Brazilian favourite Ninjas in Pyjamas, but with FURIA, Keyd Stars, E-Xolos LAZER all in for contention we never know. We'll check in on them in just a few hours.

East Asia Last Chance Qualifier
The East Asian LCQ will consist of 3 Japanese teams, 3 Korean teams and for the first time ever 2 Chinese teams. EDward Gaming and KONE will represent China while Maru Gaming, DAMWON Gaming and On Sla2ers will represent Korea. Northeption, Crazy Raccoon and REJECT will round out the 8 as they are your Japanese representatives. Really this spot if up for anyone to grab as this is the first time China is participating in a Riot event. Northeption and DAMWON are probably the favourites to qualify to Champions but we will have to wait and see who will come out on top,

Europe, Middle East, Africa Last Chance Qualifier
The EMEA Last Chance Qualifier will be one of the most closely contested tournaments all year as former Champions Finalists Acend and M3C (Gambit) compete in the first round, Team Liquid, G2 and Guild will also be fighting for the final spot at Champions for EMEA. G2 and Guild (and technically Liquid) are the only teams who qualified for Masters events this year so they will most likely be your tournament favourites. Although Acend and M3C will be hungry for redemption as former kings as EMEA they will have to make a strong early statement if they want to return to the spotlight.

Well thats that folks as we watch the LCQs all start and wrap up in the following weeks. Who will be the last six? And who will take this years final event.

This isn't the most implausible seeing PRX's performance against BOOM, but it's still PRX, I honestly think ORDER will take a map of PRX but taking the win might be going to far, but these two mini-regions have never played so I'll love to see OCE take down a giant like PRX.

female teams, smh, legit how do you not know this

Also, I've been a Sentinels fan ever since First Strike but VLR just isn't letting me pick them for some reason so I've gone with TSM my No2

I think gMd is a great pickup, I'm not to sure about Seven though, but after watching the knights guantlet i have seen how much they have improved along with teams like knights, ghost and 100T, although they didnt win I have seen teams like 100T and knights imrpove how they're playing and I am confident that they will make it. But this is just my take. TSM being TSM will most likely blow it like always tbh

1st - SEN, V1, TSM, LG
Reason : Sentinels although underperfoming heavily after Masters 2 are still one of the Tier 1 teams and easily will go through open qualifiers, closed qualifiers is another story. V1 still a Tier 1 team and are one of the teams that beat sentinels, their playmaking and homework is beyond A tier. TSM have added gMd and seven and I beleive they could make it to closed qualis, but I think that'll be the furthest they'll do. LG I think will be a underdog and surprise everyone with a few upsets.

1nd - NRG, 100T, Knights, Ghost
Reason : NRG although being grouped in Stage 1 have very talented players and with the addition of Ethan I think they will once again make it. 100T getting complete overhaul, I think with enough practice they can cruise through qualifiers. Knights are kinda a dark horse which many teamss didnt beleive in but with amazing players such as ban they can easily become a tier 1 team. Finally ghost have been showming themsleves as a dominat Tier 2 team and with enough practice i beleive they can make it.

100T - They qualified for Stage 1 Closed Qualifiers and they kept Asuna and Bang, and apparently hiko is on bench?

FaZe - They bought 3 members of rise, so they got their circuit points

I agree, super unfortunate FPX couldnt attend and I beleive they could have at least made to the semis. Although the times are super dumb for people outside of EMEA and NA, you can't expect pros to stay up until like 11-2am just so Asia and OCE can watch.

1. FPX isn't the "best team" but yes quite unfortunate

2. There are crowds just not in the main stadium due to Covid-19 and well, who wants to fly to Iceland in the middle of the year

3. Teams skipping groups are the 1st seeded teams in NA, EMEA, APAC and something else

4. Laggy PCs? Bruh you're tripping

5. Acend and Gambit did NOT get nerfed, stay angry sicne your favourite team didnt make it LOL

6. Asia DOES NOT bring the most viewers, and it's hosted in ICELAND, you want the pros to stay until 2am so Asia can watch? NA and EMEA easily bring the most viewship.

7. Game is not RNG, although some is based on luck lots of deicisions are made by the pros cause thats what they thing are good

8. stfu, you try organising a giant esports tournament

9. COPE, SEETHE, LEAVE, MALD