| Flag: | United States |
| Registered: | June 15, 2023 |
| Last post: | August 19, 2025 at 1:49 AM |
| Posts: | 887 |
Every world class team has a strong sentinel to secure their defense sides — something that NRG lacks in every iteration without Yay and Chamber Meta. Sure they might secure themselves in the upper half of the region with great attack side calling but I don’t see them breaking top 3, much less contending in internationals against teams that don’t have any firepower deficits and just as complex strategy.
I hope that’s not the case. I want LEV to pick up a Flex IGL so that Demon1 can pair with KiNgg for Duelist/Smokes.
It’d be tough to find a match with Mitch going to C9 and Flyuh to KOI though.
Apparently Jingg has been learning sentinels so their roles are fixed for default heavy maps. Something has also been practicing Recon so that helps with their information deficit leading to more flexible playstyles instead of just W gaming. It should be a good year since 2024 served as a good wake up call.
I got my 4 around 200 posts. Pretty sure it’s just about the number and not whether you’re updooted or not.
I don’t think Sayf plays it anymore given he’s moving to flex with Derke picking up entry. Miniboo is decent but he doesn’t always convert his entries. I don’t think T3xture picks it up and Zekken has been vocal that he prefers Raze which is why I had him last on the list. Dambi is unlikely to make an international but he should do damage in his region the same way Spike should in Americas.
It doesn’t matter that they made top 4 in 2023 when the competition in 2025 will be much greater. Keep in mind they got eliminated by BLG as well that year. They’ve got two rookies to integrate and a massive firepower deficit — saying FNS will compensate with his igling ignores the fact that every other teams’ IGLs have been improving as well.
Let me list some contenders that could absolutely keep NRG out of the conversation this year. NRG might not even make top 10, even if they manage to qualify for an international.
Sen still look better than NRG tbh.
They don’t have a fragging weak link with minor firepower upgrades in each roles except for consistency issues in Flash/Flex and Smokes. I think Bang can match s0m in the right environment and Zellsis while less consistent than Ethan has some maps where he takes over.
Ran into him while playing comp. Seems alright but it was an Immortal 1 lobby so I don’t think he’d be good enough for G2.
Either derank back to Diamond or get good.
Getting good means you need to be more mindful of how you’re playing — consistent mechanics practice and only queueing when you’re in a good mental space and comm’ing.
You can try VOD reviewing to identify your poor decision making as well. Winning or losing a round doesn’t mean anything; you need to learn how to evaluate the odds for each decision for the scenarios you’re met with.
Practice anticipation by going into a dm and not shooting back. Just practice swinging and visualizing kill confirmation and get a feel for how much time you really have in a fight.
If you’re a duelist, identify optimal pathing and positioning to make sure you’re traded on swings — hint: make sure you’re closer to the wall with double swings to give your teammates space.
If you’re any other role, look up pro VODs for playbooks on your maps to learn better utility management depending on how you want to play the round. It took me a s0m VOD to get comfortable anchoring on Ascent A as Omen and to really understand how to use site and flood smokes.
GL my guy!
Viable if LEV also gets a new IGL so KiNgg can pair with Demon1.
KiNgg: Raze | Neon | Omen | Viper
Demon1: Jett | Astra | Brim
c0m can still flex to Viper on double smokes maps but then you’d need a Fade+Flash IGL. Mitch is your best option.
KiNgg | c0m | Mitch/Poised/Flyuh | Demon1 | Tex
KiNgg and Demon1 run Duelist/Smokes Flex with the new igl taking on Mazino’s role?
It would be interesting if LEV picked up Demon1 and Mitch/Flyuh.
You could have Demon1 and KiNgg run a Duelist/Smokes duo. Mitch/Flyuh would fill Mazino’s role while taking on the burden of IGL’ing which would be important when KiNgg is on Raze/Neon.
Edit: Forgot Poised is an option too
I honestly don’t mind it too much. Just wish the kick off qualifier was double elim all the way through so that we can be sure we send our best two teams. Seeing high quality Valorant at the start of the year when rosters have just reformed is difficult — unless you only pull from the top echelon.
They also need to award championship points for second and third place at Masters so that teams that don’t win aren’t burned by showing off all their preparation prior to Champs.
Some speculation of course
G2: Jawgemo | Trent | JonahP | Valyn | Leaf
SEN: Zekken | N4rrate | Zellsis | Zander | JohnQT
NRG: Derke | Verno | Ethan | s0m | FNS
100T: Cryo | eeiu | Asuna | Bang | Boostio
C9: Oxy | Rossy | Mitch | Skuba | XIFF
EG: Mada | Derrek | NaturE | Supamen | Yay
It bothers me how the out-of-ammo animation for the skins looks better than when they have ammo — all the fragments are exploded outward and the colors pop like it’s overheated. They should have reversed the animation so the fragments close up as your run out of bullet and have to reload.
Also, they should have added the newer variants to the older guns. I want that gold and white on my phantom so bad.
Aspas is way too selfish of a duelist for G2’s system. They need someone used to structure but able to absolutely send it for them. That is not Aspas.
Jawgemo, Derke, Oxy, and Mada would all be better options.
News just dropped that Aspas leaving LEV.
Demon1 | c0m | Mazino | KiNgg | Tex
Demon1 and KiNgg pair as a duelist/smokes flex?
Wait, Mazino is out too. Is this roster going majority NA??
Bangkok: TH | Clean Sweep, Uncontested
Toronto: G2 | Lower Bracket Run with Jawgemo MVP
Paris: G2 | Close finals with Vitality, Trent returns to form
Need the KRUpium. Saadhak is off the table and they dropped heat right? How do you see them improving?
OXY | Rossy | Mitch | Skuba | Moose
OXY | BCJ | Nismo | neT | v1c
Which do you think is more likely? XXIF is also on the table to replace Moose since he’s had a great showing this season.
Dude, league affiliation is tied to your permanent residency. You can change your affiliation prior to the start of the season if you change residency, otherwise you’re considered an import. If you have dual citizenship, you can choose which region to be affiliated with but it’s obviously optimal to affiliate with the one you’re going to be living in so that your team doesn’t have to deal with import limitations.
That’s what happened with Talon Ban when he moved from Knights in NA to T1 in Pacific for the beginning of franchising.
This is the Global Contract Database. All players with a resident status as “non-resident” are considered imports to the region.
JohnQT is the only Import in Americas but he’s also a special case since he’s been in the NA scene for 3.5 years and was developed here. He disallows Sen from importing players from other regions though.
He’s the same case as Tex. Reps his ethnicity and heritage but is an American.
Good to see a win from Brazil when their T1 Orgs stopped putting in effort to scout honest talent. I thought the region lacked IGLs and Zap is a pretty good response. Excited for next year!
RIP M80. I doubt the roster stays together but they had a good run.
Only Zander is guaranteed. SEN will want him.
Nismo is competing with Mitch, Poised, and Flyuh who are all IGLs.
BCJ is competing with Rossy, Seven, and Brawk. He’s just not the best option.
NeT is competing with XXif, Aproto, and Thief. He might have a chance to replace Aproth or Moose, especially if teams think they can make him into an IGL.
Koala is competing with Derke, Mada, Sym, and Corey who can all play Raze/Neon on top of Jett. He’s not getting in.
I can see C9 grabbing the core and v1c under the promise that neT becomes a full time igl. It’s more likely that they just pick up Mitch, Skuba, and Rossy though, keeping Oxy and Moose.
2G just won ascension sure but G2 is literally top 3 in the Americas region as a whole. Not really a competition, especially if G2 pick up Jawgemo/Derke.
AMER: Duelists, Controllers, and IGLs
EMEA: Initiators and Sentinels
APAC: Controllers and Flexes
CHINA: Edward
Maybe: Keznit | Heat | Saadhak | Pancada | Shyy | frod ?
Yeah it would create a segmentation within the league between the mediocre and elite teams but I don’t think that disqualifies these rosters from the moniker of “superteam.” Throw any one of these single rosters into the current scene and they could take a trophy with 3+ star fraggers and extremely balanced roles. The only team I’d be worried about would be NRG with FNS but Mada, Ethan, and s0m are so good that I think it’d work.
A true international “superteam” would probably be:
Zekken | Leo | Chronicle | Valyn | Meteor | Potter
G2’s playstyle with Tex was a good bit more explosive than it is now with icy. Their current weakness is actually their inability to explosively punish people disrespecting their space with instant re-clears — something that Oxy would help with immensely. I’d argue that while Derke would be more seemless, Oxy would make them more balanced and their structure would temper him into a world class duelist like Zekken.
Also, this was a list to showcase Americas talent. JohnQT was the only import exception because he was literally forged in NA tier 2 for the past 3.5 years.
Jawgemo has been spotted duoing a ton with Valyn this act on his streams and tracker — something he hasn’t done since Episode 7 Act 2. That was around the time that G2 picked up the TGRD core and began searching for a Duelist replacement for Tex and rumors were swirling around them trialing Jawgemo. For whatever reason (likely on Jawg’s part), it didn’t go through and G2 went with Leaf.
They played 15 games that act and they’re already at 32 this current one with over a month left before it finishes. It could be elaborate bait but I don’t see why G2 wouldn’t extend the offer; they should be aiming for Jawg or Derke if they want to win trophies next year.
I think Americas could form at least 5 Superteams, strong enough to be international trophy contenders if they just consolidated their players a bit better. Did I cook?
SEN: Zekken | N4rrate | Zellsis | Zander | JohnQT | Kaplan
100T: Jawgemo | eeiu | Asuna | Demon1 | Boostio | Zikz
LEV: Aspas | Cauanzin | Mazino | Kingg | Less | Itopata
G2: Oxy | Trent | JonahP | Valyn | Leaf | JoshRT
NRG: Mada | Verno | Ethan | s0m | FNS | Potter
They have a 6th man in Curry if they're not settled by then.
He’s got 30 games duoing with Valyn and 40 with s0m. Him playing with JohnQT rn doesn’t necessarily indicate anything except that he’s considering every option.
I don’t know if it’s my favorite but I doubt it’ll drop out of my top 5 anytime soon.
The Mask (Stripped) | Matt Maeson
First Tac FPS
Tracker: https://tracker.gg/valorant/profile/riot/Ultia%230001/overview
They only run the harbor on Icebox and Abyss, both maps that struggle with securing plant and defusing it. Most other teams would run the Gekko for this but LEV’s Gekko player also happens to be their primary sentinel. Those two maps also heavily benefit from double smokes since their chokes aren’t as small, making them both easy to entry through and hard to stall.
Mazino has played Kayo on Ascent to much success and on breeze to a bit less. It’s definitely not his best agent because they had Kingg on it back in Kickoff and I’d say their shift to deadlock on Ascent probably reinforces that.
Mazino’s roles on each Map:
Imo, Aspas plays like he doesn’t trust his team though and it’s not really because of a lack of supportive utility.
Tenz Replacements
Sacy Replacements
Sen will be fine if they grab one of the top 3 in each role. Anything less and it’s fair question.
Edit: Swapped Eeiu and Verno since Sen need a Fade player.
Ah, I suppose they are just rumors that he’s unsatisfied with LEV.
Guess Aspas is going to McDonalds then?
I wanted to put lukxo and Sato in but they’re both turning 18 next year in the middle of the seasons. Sato has a chance if he’s in a Wo0t situation since his birthday is in early Feb but Lukxo’s is in June.
That’s a fair point but I figured it’d be good to maintain synergy with the MxS core when picking a flex igl since I think v1c and Brawk have a fair shot of getting picked up. Mitch would probably a good upgrade for EG to pick up since I see them keeping both Derrek and Supamen.
You’re right. Thief is a great pick but I’m not sure how strong his Viper is. I don’t have any good impressions of Victor ngl.
Yeah, Cauanzin has apparently received offers from both Furia and MIBR while Tuyz is redundant when you have Pancada.
Is there some drama there that I’m not aware of?
I started with Less and Pancada and glued them to the Galorys core except Sato is underaged.
I dunno. Would Aspas realistically ever return to LOUD? The reasons he left and his desire to play with Nzr is why I had him in Furia but they already had Mwzera. Just a mess overall.
They’re both italicized because they split IGL role by the half.
I mean he’s been pretty open about wanting to play with Nzr and it would get him playing in his native language again. At the same time, LOUD is definitely losing its allure and MIBR is a more budget org. It was either Furia or an EMEA team.
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