and emea reimmigrates to their home in counter-strike, making val a 3-region game and not a 4-region game

honestly there are so many nay-sayers claiming that val fell off but I can see why

even worse, getting benched for just a disagreement.

I feel like most big orgs would still decline, like why get into val when a team can just go 0-11 and still hold on to their spot?

saudis are saudis, they can afford having one and I am sure they and riot are buddies

I feel like other regions would struggle to find TOs. Like europe can choose from esl, blast and pgl, but all three want to have premier events, ones which attract the best, and having leftovers from tier 1 is just not it. Also how do you intergrate tier 2? host play-ins for stages or what?

it would help, but I doubt any other region has enough TOs behind them to actually organize it

I mean it kinda hurts the purpose of franchising

why couldn't it be both? both g2 and t1 took control of EDg fucking up

true, but I feel like less talented players might try for a vct career in the future. Like how many young and promising players who got cut after like 3 months on a tier 1 org will be too much?

which makes for a good show, but in my opinion it lacks the sporting element. And if we use cs as an example (because it is an esport with a shit ton of events). PGL, ESL and Blast all pull up great quality events with best casters available and all the best teams (who accept the invite), as well as the very best of tier 2

A loss is a loss, take it on the chin and improve, what even is the point of this? ''Oh well EDG just didn't show up, they are still the best''. The best team is the one which shows up and performs when it needs, EDG didn't do it. Not clearing corners, choking anti-ecos, misfiring strats, lacking individual plays, it doesn't even matter to whom you lost, it matters that you lost

I mean technically it is. While in CS you have a sorta mechanism of go to tier 1 -> fail -> go back to tier 2 -> try to get back -> prove your worth -> get a shot at tier 1 -> see how it goes this time, val doesn't have it. In cs a team can afford to have 3 months of mediocre results before striking gold (e.g. GamerLegion, who were quite mid last year, but were quite strong when it came to the shanghai major simply cuz they took the time to develop)

''the only ones who can beat us are ourselves'' type excuse

I mean stephen hawktuah can't even make a free throw, so my goat lebobo clears

well stephen hawking can't even survive breathing rn so not a strong arguement, friend

Is that a lot of the players can''t have a sustainable future. A team can change as many players as often as they want, they will not get kicked out of franchising before their contract expires (Unless they go into financial manipulation, hello bleed), but that means a lot of players are fucked. verno, natank, rossy, nzr are all victims of not getting early results. Now I know, the reason is that ''they were not good enough'', but name me all time greats in other sports who were IMMEDIATELY in S-tier contention? Maybe someone like Lebron or MJ was a star immediately, but what about Messi and Ronaldo, who were mostly bench rotation options when starting out? In my opinion VCT's nature cuts a lot of player's careers short, and it takes away from the skill level of the entire league

can steph hawking take a trash ass cavs team with no help to nba finals TWICE? I don't think so

lebron james >> stephen hawking
you cannot debate this

I am pretty sure most people here know what a hltv top 20 is, tf is cs ballon d'or

but then why did the teams of old not withstand the ultimate test - time. you talking about them as if they were on astralis level of dominance

the fact that tenz, who had one of the weakest mentals in the history of tier 1-2 cs pros, was probably the most stable piece on the sentinels roster screams either how he matured or how weak the mental side of the valorant is compared to cs

so in your opinion VCT has peaked?

I am not blaming him, but that's just the key player not being able to play at his best, giving like half his output

thing with EG is that their prime was so short you can't rank them adequately. What if Demon1 still experiences the slump he had in 2024? Then the entire EG roster probably falls off due to the loss of fire power

I mean we will see i guess :D If he doesn't understand he was at fault, then he will decline. IF he does, well then we didn't see prime kangkang yet

crazy how he is still mad after winning a game and couldn't be patient enough to wait until the pracc room and talk it out like professionals

now that I think about it at esports you might have some baseball shenanigans where the players get signals from outside of nowhere, starting with your coach fist bumping you on your left or right shoulder, the sign in the crowd or the chant sung by a group

like as far as I remember it was 2 lurks who just hold the chokepoint and then the pack of two players on mid, crowd starts getting louder, and I was just astonished to see two things:
the t1 player waiting for both to show up (in cs the pro would just shoot the first when he hears the crowd get louder)
edg not clearing anything at all

none, I am just wondering how could you say that they cannot hear the crowd but then we have shanghai where there were rounds where the crowd noise did make a difference. I personally think that it is bad that the crowd can cheer, but the players themselves are not to blame. If you get an advantage, you use it, if not, you are not trying hard enough to win

so then all the crowd cheers in Shanghai were not helpful at all? Which would help teams clear the corners?

what fight? inform please

honestly the best crowd cheating advice was given by device (4 time cs go major winner). Get a guy in the crowd, give him a designated sign. He raises it = Go A. He is not holding it = Go B. How can you tell you are using his sign as a cheat? :D

and the best players in val still show up despite whatever the crowd does, yes.
If they were playing in a studio, there would indeed be no crowd noise, but crowd will always be a factor, until we get 100% sound proof booths

so anyone who hates on zellshits is an american hater? but I am not against USA, I am against cheerleaders...

g2 have no bald buff. Dji Tou, B 2, hatsune Miku, T1 in four

bros called ''gg go fast'' 💀💀

it's the same as taking a penalty kick in football and having the enemy crowd boo at you or distract you when you are taking the penalty kick. does the goalkeeper control what the crowd does? No. does he get an advantage because of it? Yes.
''its meant to simulate how a normal person would play a game of valorant''
disagree, its meant to show the very best of valorant and how they would play and adjust to situations within or outside of their control

I am pretty sure the crowd pop is still heard, they use the same principle as ESL does, and you can hear on the video that electronic (the player who died) was able to hear the crowd getting louder after he died

don't they have in-ear-headphone + pilot headphone?

using crowd is not competitive intergrity, it's an advantage you gain based on how the Observer shows the game. if he was at the other site there is no way the crowd makes this pop and EDG have no advantage

absolutely not, it's only for the stream. I am pretty sure val uses the same combo of in-ear-headphones + pilot headphones, and it would give off a sound like this https://youtu.be/Z5XUjYa6tNQ?t=25 After the death you can hear the crowd pop, so I am 100% positive EDG were able to hear the crowd

I swear I Am not a valorant viewer but I just don't understand how kangkang just avoided clearing that corner

yeah but isn't playing off of crowd reactions a basic skill?

kinda surprised how a champs winner doesn't know how a crowd can help him

bro the crowd screaming should have been a guarantee there is a lurk, how did they just not clear anything

Like the crowd gave them a tip, clear every corner possible, it is almost a guarantee you are getting lurked. Or is playing off of crowd noises not as developed in valorant as in cs?

yeah, izu is the type of player to have a really high ceiling of their skill, however he struggled with putting up his maximum before

I don't think it's a one off, liquid is celebrating 25 years since establishment and said this crest will be present on their logos of the jersey, not as an official logo but as a symbol for 25 years

watch high rank puggers and pros playing in their ranked and try to think why they make the decisions. Like you see some strong player like nAts make this play in his ranked game. Why did he make it? Info, timing? Does he hold narrow or wide? does he peek on the far wall or close wall? what angle he clears first?