Honestly the way Fnatic have been looking this tournament, I'd imagine PRX is getting their first tournament win.

No other team has looked even close.

Probably gone to bed tbf. It's midnight and this match genuinely doesn't even feel like Fnatic are trying to play the game. If you told me they were 322 right now I'd probably believe it.

I think he's criminally underutilised. He used to be a duelist but always got relegated to flex to initiator because the team had Scream, Nivera, Jamppi and now they have Sayf as well.

I think he's been given shit roles for so long that he doesn't have the confidence to play like he did as a duelist when he simply tapped heads better than others. I would personally love to see Liquid switch Jamppi and Soulcas roles and potentially use Soulcas and Sayf as primary duelists on different maps. I think you'd see a huge transformation in his performance from that.

Hard agree with you on LOUD being the worst matchup for Fnatic. I think it's the fact that the whole team can pull shit out the bag whereas with most teams you only have to shut down 2 or 3 players. Fnatic focuses a lot on trading teams out nowadays and LOUD on good form is just harder to do that to.

Compared to PRX and LOUD on top form. Yes. That's not even close.

Honestly, I don't think it's outside the realm of possibility. LOUD look the best they have all year at the moment. Less seems determined to drag that team kicking and screaming to the top 4.

I genuinely don't understand how Soulcas has gotten so much shit on Liquid for so long. That team has always had multiple issues and people reduce it to "Soulcas whiffed".

It's really clear they have a huge Comms problem with this roster, sayf is often too aggressive. Jamppi tries way too many risky moves that don't play out well for the team. I hate to say it but nats doesn't seem anywhere near his peak, the amount of times he takes positions separate from the team and gets punished is painful. Redgar is always a support player so it's kind of hard to judge him on any sort of fragging other than he simply needs to hit shots more often.

Reykjavik 2 was way more of a fluke. All CIS players got locked out and so many teams couldn't play normally as a result.

I expect you to disagree as you're a fakeflagger tho.

Bruh it's 9pm or later in Europe and a weekday. That'll likely be why, ain't no chance I'll be watching 3rd map if it makes it there.

There are barely any Brits around normally tho. Pretty sure we're not that common in Valo.

I will always support Nukkye.

Group A is more consistently competitive but Group D had higher potential.

We all know Giants are decent, PRX and EDG are going to show up and that KRU is always a contender.

NaVi, DRX, LOUD have all looked awful in recent times and Liquid are always trying to disappoint.

Pretty much stopped playing when Chamber became the instalock every game. The game just got less fun when you know people are picking the same agents every game.

At least in pro matches it makes sense, but I'm just trying to have fun when I'm playing matchmaking.

Are you really surprised they made an attack comeback on their best map that also happens to be attack sided?

Split was LOUD refusing to get swept and performing amazing. Lotus felt like Fnatic were just throwing. Icebox fully felt like both teams wanted it and the map just played pretty normally.

Surprised Icebox got as close as it did though, Lotus felt like Fnatic were half-assing and trying to focus on just winning the last map instead.

Didn't chronicle already completely BTFO you once this tournament?

Completely and utterly BTFO

Can't comment for Germany but UK is a very console heavy country and honestly Italy in my experience isn't a video game heavy country.

I know Spain is known for having internet cafes where people go to play.

I feel like it's a similar case as CS in that not many people are actually into PC gaming considering the size of the country.

NaVi is Ukrainian, not Russian. Pretty sure the Russian org ban is continuing for Riot.

They never came top 4 in any major?
Their highest placing was in Faceit London 2018 and they got 5th-8th. The swiss stages went well for them but they did avoid a lot of the heaviest hitters.

Pretty sure a team has to make an issue of it before Riot would unless the bug is clearly prohibited or something.

I wouldn’t really say FNS, Hazed, Yay and Shahz. The others actually had tournament win. Admittedly Chaos wins were all NA only tournaments but still they managed to beat Liquid.

I feel like they basically started it in Valorant. Still don’t get why. They aren’t as toxic in CS. Even before the NA scene died

Doubt on Jamppi tbh. ENCE was shit tier at the time so maybe he just looked good on comparison. Nivera definitely was good but Vitality fucked him over by dropping him instead of Shox at the time imo.

Ethan and Cloud9 were basically all of tier 1 NA CS outside of Liquid. As in EG and Chaos.

Ngl I like Pearl but it has been shit to watch so far. Generally speaking I wouldn’t count anyone out of the tournament yet. DRX already played better than they have before and Loud could finally take out Optic.

Honestly Pearl’s only real issue is how much stuff can be wallbanged. Still baffled that Split got removed but Breeze and Haven stayed.

Pretty much what I expected to be honest. Why can't yanks just be normal.

I'm convinced none of the South Korean flags here are actually Korean. They seem to universally have shit takes or bait posts.

Honestly tragic to see as well. XSET have been one of my preferred NA teams since 100T old roster fell apart. After Copenhagen they got such bad press but this tournament so many bandwagoner fans have turned up.

Literally a worse pick than Yoru for that map.

Everything points to an Optic win but last time they got 2-0’d by Guild when I thought that.

Probably Liquid somehow stealing a dub tbh.

The dudes just a moron. Shao and Suygetsu are the only CIS players in that team. Ukraine, Sweden and Latvia aren’t CIS. CIS is basically Russia, Belarus, Azerbaijan and the Stans.

100T looked flatter than the previous match and Fnatic actually turned up today. Basically the exact reverse of what happened last time.

Imagine comparing the biggest Valorant event of the year to a CS event that’s played twice a year.

Never met a Finn who’s happy being called even partially Russian.

Suygetsu and Shao are the only CIS players in that roster. It’s fundamentally an Eastern European roster.

Scream, Cned and Boaster are the contenders imo. Scream has been known a long time, Boaster made himself popular at first Reykjavik, Cned is known for being the best player at the biggest event the game has had.

Provided the franchise distribution doesn’t match Champs. Still have little hope personally. I fully expect Valorant to end up like OWL next year.

And yet EMEA wins the most tournaments. If CIS was part of Asia the numbers would make sense but atm it seems stupid.

After franchising I won’t be shocked to see EU Valorant die off. It’ll basically make it so only 15 players in all of Europe will be playing meaningful matches. Nobody is going to grind to be seen with those sorts of odds.

Tbf as someone who enjoys both that’s kinda accurate. Val movement and gunplay mechanics are a lot simpler. Utility doesn’t take anywhere near as much effort either. Skins is subjective but I personally prefer skins not changing the sound and having too many animations going on, although there are some nice ones.

Ultimately, Both games are good in their own way. No game is going to be the best at everything. CS is plagued by outdated engine issues, cheating, lack of region locking and somewhat poor UI. It just happens that what CS does best is competitive gunplay and providing a lot of complexity with relatively few options.

EMEA are the world class aimers considering they’ve won 3/5 international LANs. Heck could have been 4 if not for a war.

How is this sexist. He’s saying mens and womens teams are separated. He doesn’t even say they’re shit, just kinda implies it.

I’m pretty sure Valorant has barely cemented itself in South Korea still. Definitely not in the same way RTS and MOBAs have. Outside of Overwatch no Tac Shooter has even come close to becoming popular enough over in SK, the easiest to convert country of Asia. I don’t think Valorant is going to manage it either tbh unless DRX suddenly wins champions.

At least jett was fun to watch. Chamber is up there with Astra and Brim for boring to watch agents

EMEA
Sage/Viper/Omen/Skye/Kay0
Marshal

Oh also Trastevere is generally the best place for Nightlife. If you’re looking for food I highly recommend Mr Cloud, Checco, La Renella. First is a restaurant that’s pretty much only locals but they speak decent English and the everything is homemade completely. Second is just honestly the best restaurant I’ve ever been to, they also have a breakfast bar. Last one is a Pizzeria and my go to one over there.

I spend a lot of time there. Pantheon is free and great, avoid the restaurants right next to it, they’re extortionate. Colosseum is always expensive but worth it. Trevi fountain is best early or late to avoid crowds. Spanish Stairs, Altare Della Patria, Mouth of Truth, Orange Gardens, Trastevere, Piazza Navona, Trastevere as a whole are all free and great to see. Via del corso is a better street than the Spanish steps because it’s more affordable places and leads to the road that has the Roman forums, colosseum, trajans column and the altare. Avoid taking anything for free from anyone because they’ll beg you for money and follow you afterwards. Villa Borghese is also an amazing place there. The keyhole is a great thing too where you can see St. Peter’s.

“Dead” is British slang for boring. Not as in it’s over. Watching the same sub-20 teams play each other over and over again honestly just sounds boring and static. Valorant isn’t League of Legends, it has a much smaller player base and LoL has a much much bigger following in Asia which Valorant is still trying to gather.

Does anyone unironically think franchising will be good for the game? It already looks dead imo.

Imagine caring about flairs. It’s possible to support multiple teams but you only can have 1 flair. Personally I just keep the one of whoever I like that is still playing in tournaments given there are like 30 relevant matches in a whole year at best.

Nobody is confirmed in the finals yet.

Pretty sure Marved was found to be matchfixing for a long time in NA CS.