Thank you, your post will be useful for my statistics...

Hello everybody, Nachtel here with your daily EU cope statistics.

Today we have seen 60% less "top EU teams are in Omega bracket" and a 10% increase in "Valorant is a shit game, horrible esport" copes

EU threads on average are down 40%

Thank you.

I remember hearing it was a permanent slot at masters, meaning instead of 2 teams from NA qualifying, it would be 3 like in EMEA

I don't think any of them are asking lol most of them are just cheering on the americas league.

Honestly not even sure why you keep explaining it in every thread I look at.

Gen.G Below KC, they did a lot better against LOUD.

By virtue of the tournament's design, it's only ever possible for 3 NA teams to make it to the top 4, since one of the semifinals slots is exclusive to a part of the bracket with no NA teams.

NA x SA Beat those EMEA shitters

No hard feelings for NRG vs LOUD but im rooting for my former optic boys, but beyond that im rooting for Furia in Omega bracket

L Aspas is Brazil's GOAT. Not good with raze? he 1v4d optic on raze. I'm an NA fanboy but he beats most NA duelists.

bro fuck outta vlr, stop appearing in my timeline

Reading this thread after a year is eye-opening.

TIL you have to limit yourself from performing in GC to appease transphobes in VLR, whereas nobody would bat an eye if a cis woman put up the same numbers.

I'll never understand why you braindead monkeys fail to see the immense value dephhh brings to the table.

First, and most obvious to point out, he not only has experience playing on LAN against other international top teams, but he is one of only 3 IGLs in NA that has managed to beat a top European team.

Making it to LAN is one thing, but actually being able to adapt to wildly different styles of play than the ones you're used to (especially those of the previous world champions) and coming out on top is all the credentials one should need in my opinion. But sure, let's just say you're all right and it was a fluke the first time around...so what about the 2 wins against FNATIC? Even the match they ultimately lost against FPX to was the closest (and longest) match champions has ever seen.

To say something along the lines of "Cryo was carrying those matches" is to discount the undeniable fact that every single one of us has learned this past year: It's become almost impossible to win matches purely based on the individual performance of star players.

The reason for this is debatable, whether it be due to a changing meta rewarding set-up chamber players over solo entry jetts, but the fact of the matter remains the same.

Why do you think Sentinels fell off so hard after Masters 1? It's not that TenZ isn't still cracked, it's that strategy dominates the game to an overwhelming degree now, moreso than aim to an extent. It's the reason The Guard managed to make it as far as they did during the first Challengers; they, a team of nameless up-and-comers, were the ones that pioneered a strategy-focused approach to the game in NA. All the other teams at the time still relied on the Sentinels model (even Optic to an extent in the earlier stages of Challengers 1).

When Challengers 2 came around, everyone (except Sentinels) saw the writing on the wall and began building competent and organic rosters, learning to play strategically so as to replicate the Guard's success. XSET was one of these teams, and not only did they successfully copy the Guard, they outdid them.

Dephhh was at the forefront of this.

I'll be honest, XSET's performance in Challengers 2 was largely helped by Cryo, and their Copenhagen run (If you can even call it that) was downright horrendous and some of the worst valorant I've ever seen (especially their match against Optic), but I was pleasantly surprised to see that it wasn't to waste, since at Champions they made sure to learn from their mistakes.

The role of an IGL often (as is the case with FNS and Chet) involves collaborating with your coach to analyze gameplay and come up with strats. Sykko knows Dephh, and has been working with him for over a year, it doesn't take a genius to understand that Sykko has personally seen Dephhh's growth as an IGL and is infinitely more comfortable working with someone he is close to and whom he can trust through his accomplishments to execute his vision on the highest stage valorant has to offer.

shut up bronze scrub.

Yashwatthama "yay" Yadav is an Indian professional Valorant player for C9, an American electrical sports ( e-sports) organisation. He is also known as El Diablo aka the demon because of his mafia connections in his hometown, Haryana.

Now that all of NA is stacked with superteams, I know longer care about making sure NA never loses ever again.

Which of the teams are you rooting for?

Personally, I'm a 100T fan now; only roster that has only NA players and no imports, really loveable roster too.

What are the fucking rules regarding import players? Apparently Ban, born in South Korea and with South Korean citizenship is still considered an NA import? the fuck is that shit?

How long does someone have to be living someplace for them to no longer be considered an import? Is Dephhh still an import? Where is the line?

Why tf does this sound like we're talking about fucking summoner wizards lmao.

"No, only the great sorceror FNS had the power to command the great devil yay."

"but Vanity is a promising summoner milord! He just might be able to wield his might to a greater effect than ye olde legend FNS ever could!"

A big question on my mind right now is how the C9 superteam will function comp wise. Of all the rosters, be they confirmed or rumored, this is the only one that has 2 high fragging primary duelists: Leaf and Yay.

I assume if someone is going to take chamber, it's definitely Yay (that's a no brainer). That might leave Leaf as another primary duelist + entry or potentially another flex; the best comparison I can think of is the dynamic between f0rsaken on chamber/jett and Jinggg on raze/reyna.

This does pose the question: what will Zellsis' role be? with 2 high fragging powerhouses on the team, each potentially taking a duelist spot, I doubt he'll be put on Neon to entry like he did on Sentinels. More likely than not, I believe he'll be resigned to a primary initiator/flex alongside xeppaaa.

vanity will probably remain as the dedicated IGL and smokes player if this is the case and Xeppaaa will probably remain a flex.

I can see this being pretty believable.

From what we've seen so far, the coach usually stays with the IGL. Since they need to have good communication in order to plan out strats and develop protocols, it makes sense that a coach would want to work with an IGL they've worked with previously. With Sykko being announced as Sentinels coach, then I think dephhh as the igl is pretty much guaranteed.

As much as people shit on TenZ, I think the primary thing holding him back this last year has been faulty shot-calling and outdated comps not-in-line with the meta. Unlike yay, who is set up to punish the enemy, TenZ still has the heavy burden of entrying site, and as the state of competitive valorant continues to evolve, it becomes much less possible for him to go onto site and get multi-kills like he used to (teams learn new and more efficient protocols, teams with comparatively worse aim learn to counterstrat superteams with amazing aim, etc.).
His aim is still very much world-class, and he certainly showed significant improvement on Chamber during LCQ. If he were given the chance, I definitely believe he can become a contender for best player in the world if they resign him to a position similar to that of yay's--for as much as people compare the two, I don't think any comparison is fair until they truly have the same role.

Now, that leaves the question of who should entry if not TenZ. Before Zellsis got announced to C9, he would've been the likely pick, but now it seems like the natural choice is who I consider to be a contender for world's best secondary duelist/flex player/entry: Zekken (not to mention Sykko also has experience working with him so there might be some minor past-org-nepotism involved in the decision.

so with Tenz as the awper, dephhh as the igl, and Zekken as the entry/secondary duelist, all that's left is an extra flex initiator + defensive sentinel for 3 initiator comps and an independentish, high-fragging clutch smokes player that won't take over dephh's igl spot. dapr has continuously proved himself hard carrying maps during LCQ so I truly believe in him. As for smokes, Marved is the natural choice, plus it's hinted at anyways if sinatraa is anyone to believe.

NRG as it currently stands has the core optic roster: crashies, victor, and FNS.

While this core is extremely good as a team, in order to reach the same level of success as before they need someone to fill the shoes of yay.

I don't believe in s0m.

Cryo went with 100T
Yay with with C9
TenZ will probably stay with Sentinels
EG is doing god knows what
there is only a few options left in terms of good chamber/awpers in NA capable of going head to head with these 3 titans.

tbh I don't think Dicey is better than the 3 I mentioned above, but he and Sayaplayer (although Saya has struggled adapting away from Jett and towards chamber in the past) are the only realistic options left as far as awpers go. Alternatively, Wardell is also an option (he and FNS have some history and pretty good synergy. If wardell had trouble playing strategically, FNS is the only person I can think of that could make him a team player).
Victor is a competent secondary duelist/flex, so I doubt they'll sign Zekken which filled the exact same role in XSET.
I've heard a lot of people talk about bdog but I haven't really seen much of him to really make a judgement.

as for the smokes slot, Marved seems to be locked in with Sentinels, and it'd be redundant to bring in Zander when FNS already has the igl spot locked down.
If nAts is really coming to NA, he'd be a perfect fit, but I find the chances of that unlikely + while nAts speaks good enough english the language barrier might affect communication and synergy to an unknown degree. The big issue is that a lot of competent smokes players are usually IGLs as well, so the filter for a smokes player in NRG is pretty thin. What they need is a high fragging, independent-ish smokes player like marved or nAts. Valyn and Zander are much too perfect fits for other teams like Sentinels or EG.
A possible alternative is SicK, who has historically done pretty good on smokes + every other role, but I have trouble trusting a flex to do the job of a dedicated smokes player + it was sentinels.

https://www.vlr.gg/pickem/f459e4a3