Russia
Shao on smokes
Chronicle flex
Something duelist
Suygetsu/nAts sentinel
Cloud initiator
(Trexx/Sheydos)

USA

Demon1/Yay duelist/Chamber
Crashies initiator
Ethan initiator
Boostio sentinel/IGL
Victor/Zekken flex

Brazil
Loud - Saadhak and Tuyz + Sacy/Mwzera and Pancada on smokes
Saadhak ain't Brazilian btw

Korea
Drx

Turkey
Fut + Alfajer and cNed

Most hype ending of the year would still be Loud v Fnatic grand finals

Was the underdog in all of their playoff matches at Champions last year except for the grand finals.

They finished 2nd in their group after losing to Optic.
Quarters against a Leviathan team that looked 'unstoppable' in groups winning all of their pistols
Semis against a Drx team that looked 'unbeatable': 2-0 against Furia, 2-0 against 100T in groups and 2-0 in quarters against the Masters winners of FPX.
Finals against an Optic team that had already beaten them in groups so no explanation needed.
Grand finals was the first time they were the favorites in their playoffs run

This year
Quarters: they were insane underdogs in their quarterfinals against an 'unbeaten' Fnatic
Semis: they are once again getting viewed as a top team but are still small underdogs against an 'unstoppable force' in Paper Rex.
Finals? Drx that has already beaten them in groups?
Grand finals they will be the favorites no matter what (if they make it there)

It's Apac's time so every good region has a champions trophy
EMEA
South-America
Asia

Where North-America?

Who cares about Tokyo for Champs?
They beat Navi and Loud in Tokyo but that didn't mean anything back then but if they had beaten (beat) Loud and Navi at Champs it would mean that they are ready to win it all.

Fnatic will win their third trophy on Lotus

Teams will not ban it against them anymore but also not pick it and they themselves (Fnatic) will not pick it either leaving it to game 5 of the grand finals where they show why they are still the best Lotus team of all time
Just like Icebox in Brazil

Call me whatever you want but just come back to this on August 26 and have your mind blown

I want that
I need that

LOL WHAT?
EMEA would have won 2 titles
Pacific would have the most important title
Americas would have won the 'I knocked Fnatic out of champs' title lmao
Y'all would still get clowned on if you don't win Champions

Paper Rex type beat xd

Imagine if Fnatic had gotten an easy road to the finals only to get exposed in the grand finals like they got yesterday
Loud anti-stratted their Lotus into oblivion so now they know they won't just win that map by default like they did in Tokyo
They looked lost at times on Ascent as well, not managing to break darts and losing some important rounds mainly because of time

They need to bring their A-game or else they could be saying goodbye real quick but I believe in the lower bracket run so let's fucking gooooooo

It just means more games to watch for us fans from this amazing roster

Sad that Fut will be our first victims but the game is the game

They just started to play for real after losing in Tokyo
They thought they could compete internationally while trolling all year in EMEA which backfired at Tokyo

Shao on initiator
Zyppan on raze
and they immediately looked twice as good
cNed starting to look good on other agents besides Jett

They have to run it back next year since I feel like they've got a lot left in the tank
Navi will own next year if they keep it simple

NAVI is gonna be viewed as a top 4 team if Loud and Drx end up sweeping playoffs

They only lost by 2 rounds in their series against them

All they need is to survive their next 2 BO3's and then revitalize for three more series after the short break
Fut -> (EG/DRX probably) -> short break -> (Loud/Paper Rex probably) -> lower finals -> grand finals
If they pull it off no one can argue they're the greatest of all time since it's looking like a very tough road.

The pain will be worth it when they are lifting that trophy

The way he uses the Ghost is a thing of beauty

Those pistol rounds were not even close and it was Less just not missing a single shot

Loud should never ever let him go even if that means that someone like Aspas has to leave

He's got cracked aim

Is only 18 years

Is a secondary caller

Is an overall great of our game and we're gonna enjoy watching him play for a long time

18 rounds have been played already damn

LOVE THIS

GROUP D WAS SO GOOD MAN

I hope you guys don't lose before grand finals since that's the only time i wanna meet you guys

12.9 rounds per map and didn't make it out of groups

Like for every team in lowers?

Last time they lost we saw what happened

I believe (if we were to lose today) that we would make that lower bracket run

WIN A FUCKING PISTOL AND NOT GET BLASTED

studying Fnatic

It's not over yet but if Loud wins we'll meet you in the grand finals don't worry

Funny how everyone was saying that Fnatic was gonna win but Less was gonna diff Alfa and the complete opposite happened in game 1

but i truly believe these 2 teams will be making grand finals

So many close rounds damn what a game

Yeah I called that map veto
Was obvious

Loud is looking good so it's gonna be a close one

All 4 regions in top 4?

Yeah
Fnatic will be picking Lotus/Fracture depending on which one gets banned by Loud
Also don't see Loud picking Bind over Ascent or Haven.

My prediction would be
Fnatic guaranteed Pearl ban
Loud pick: Haven/Ascent
Fnatic pick: Fracture/Lotus
Decider: Bind/Split/(Haven/Ascent)

But damn Fnatic is just sublime on all 6 of those maps whereas Loud is kinda meh on Lotus and Fracture unless they've cooked for Fracture.

Short answer not at all (yet)
EG had the easiest group in recent memory with 2 out of the bottom 3-4 teams at the tournament (Fpx and T1) so making it out of that group doesn't mean they've overcome the curse.

Will the curse be lifted if they were to beat Edg?
Probably

Conclusion: EG will lose to EDG and the loser of Drx/Blg keeping the curse alive

All of the youngest teams have made playoffs
EDG
Loud
Drx
Fnatic
Paper Rex
EG
We don't know the average age of BLG and Fut is on average older than TL but that's the only team not on the list they're older than (don't know about Fpx tho).
https://www.thespike.gg/news/champions-2023-los-angeles-teams-average-age/5505

Lmao I've been a Fnatic fan since season 4 Worlds (League of Legends)
Don't talk bullshit

#alwaysfnatic lil bro
We got called chokers too many times at least let the real fans enjoy the W's
Also EMEA got disrespected too much so I kinda get bandwagoners as well

EMEA on top baby

So we already know what the most viewed game of playoffs is gonna be. Only downhill from there on out

True and unfortunately for Fpx they couldn't attend Reykjavik otherwise they could've been in the conversation as well.
Fpx was even better leading up to Reykjavik than they were leading up to Copenhagen so it was really unfortunate they couldn't attend because of things out of their control.

Masters reykjavik not allowed to attend while being the EMEA first seed
Masters Copenhagen winners
Champions 4th place

2021: Gambit
Masters reykjavik not qualified
Masters Berlin winner
Champions runner up

2022: Optic
Masters reykjavik winner
Master Copenhagen 3rd place
Champions runner up

2023: Fnatic
Lock/in winner
Masters Tokyo winner
Champions? Doesn't really matter since there's no team that can surpass them this year but it is for sure the most important tournament of the year but neither of the former teams have won it.

Fnatic 50%
Paper Rex 15%
EG 10%
Drx 7.5%
EDG 7.5%
Loud 7%
BLG 2%
Fut 1%

But easier said
Fnatic 50%
Rest of the field 50%

THIS IS NOT A JINX I REPEAT THIS IS NOT A JINX
Fnatic are NOT expected to win this event

It all starts with winning their own map pick which will be tough since it's gonna be one of Fnatic's best maps (Haven/Ascent) since I don't think they can beat Fnatic on Fracture/Lotus which will get picked by Fnatic (the other gets banned).
3rd map will most likely be Split or Bind which are great maps for both teams and could go either way.

If the youngsters show up Loud for sure have a shot (but still 50/50 if they all show up)
They're one of those teams that can be the best in the world on their day

Fnatic are getting 1.15-1.22 odds against Loud which is like 80-90 percent win chance

Bruh they're not playing some randoms to have that type of odds they're playing the defending world champions, the Americas champions, some of the best players in the entire world.

That being said Fnatic 2-0 (13-10, 13-7)

EDG themselves are owning scrims

Nah
Navi just need to learn how to play around cNed and they will be a top team again for sure
They only started to play their natural roles since Lcq and have already improved greatly
cNed looked improved on the Neon which is good and he used to play the sage for Acend as well just he just needs to add that KJ to his locker which shouldn't be too hard with the time he's got now!

Fnatic ban Pearl and are insane at Haven so if Loud picks it Fnatic will be happy with the veto for sure
Loud will pick Haven/Ascent which are good maps for Fnatic as well
Loud will ban Fracture or Lotus and the other wil get picked by Fnatic.

Map 3 will be Bind or split I suppose

So
Pearl permaban
Haven/Ascent
Lotus/Fracture
Split/Bind
As the 3 maps

He won't need to frag out with those 4 players on his team just needs to focus on his damn IGL'ing which has been kinda poor

Sayf duelist
Cloud initiator
Redgar IGL and smokes
nAts sentinel/Viper
Sheydos or Trexx flex
Edit: Sliggy coach (don't think he will tho with how successful he's been as a streamer but you never know because he's so passionate about the game)

You should ask yourself would Loud have beaten that Gambit roster?
My answer is no but Acend shouldn't have either but they just played out of their minds that whole tournament after their first game and the Cypher cam incident which also showed how mentally resilient they were during that tournament.
Conclusion I don't fucking know it's way closer than people think

If Liquid signs Cloud and Trexx/Sheydos instead of Jamppi and Soulcas they could possibly rival Fnatic

Man I would pay to see that roster

70/30 in favor of Fnatic and if Loud shows up I'd still say it's 60/40 in favor of Fnatic
But if there is as team that can actually beat Fnatic it's Loud without a doubt
They've got the experience, the firepower, the strats, the map pool to match Fnatic.

NRG getting more than 15 rounds v Fnatic would be an achievement