Objectively, it wasn't even a bad play. CGRS just played the round better.

He just landed, so I guess nerves + not adapted to environment yet. First lan as well

as much as vlr likes to shit on china for having mediocre teams, china does have the best management and production out of all of the regions somehow. No wonder they matched all of the other regions so fast

I think they should start with starting EMEA 1-2 hours earlier so the overlap between the regions doesn't happen as much. China and pacific are going to have overlap, it is what it is.

they could do what EG did and use off season to trial players (being sym and yay), although they'll probably get flak if they cut a player that's doing well (COUGH ROSSY COUGH)

I'm not even trolling. If you want to win something, play talon, bench crews, bring in surf, kick governor and bring in splash or some other highly rate duelist player. Then, troll kick off (just run sim all), find what maps you're weak at, and ban those. Then, for bangkok (if you make it), sim the first round and find out what the next team on the list is weak/strong at. For example, during round 2, I faced PRX. During round 1, PRX lost to KC 1-2, and they lost on Breeze and Haven with Haven being the weaker map and they won on icebox. So I picked Haven and banned icebox. Rinse and repeat and you should win at least one masters.

Honestly, imo, if the import isn't someone like aspas, less, or a player that can single handedly win you games (whether it be through fragging or igling), it's not worth it. I never really understood the point of importing players like koalanoob or governor. They're good, yes, but surely there are players nearby that are just as good and saves you an import slot. Even from a financial and bureaucratic perspective, it makes a lot more sense. The flight from like Turkey, Russia, or Europe in general to Germany is a lot cheaper than from Canada to Germany. Now, I do get EMEA importing igls since they kind of have none, but koalanoob has got to be a waste of an import. What I think would've been good is keep ardiis (he isn't too bad and he's probably as good as koalanoob anyway), bring in sultan, and if you really want an import, move angel to assistant coach and import an igl.

I'm ngl, the only reason you are able to make this prediction with this confidence is because you know which teams looks good/bad based on the performances so far during kickoff. Before kickoff, it would be near impossible to predict pacific since the top 4 teams are a coin flip and people were lowkey putting DFM in the top 4... now look what happened now.

China is just flip flops with people expecting FPX, BLG, DRG, and even Wolves to go to Bangkok. Trace did kind of meh in the off season as well, so people were expecting them to fall off.

Americas had a high expectation of mibr (bc aspas), NRG, LEV, and even EG to an extent and they had mediocre results during kickoff. Although, I have to give it to you, G2 were always going to be a contender to make Bangkok.

Tldr; I think if you tried making this prediction without kickoff, you'd probably score around 50% accuracy, since before kickoff, you had no info.

I was like "this comp couldn't be THAT bad" and I checked and it was actually that bad ._.

knight was on cypher not chamber

Nah, the weak link was FFs. Everyone else had their moments.

I think I was the most disappointed in slowly tbh. He was literally frying everyone on yoru. Guess what Tyloo does? PUTS HIM ON EVERYTHING EXCEPT YORU :(((

Edit: Yeah he's still doing good, but like c'mon. that's like having yay and not putting him on jett/chamber. The answer is right there :L

while being igl too, he's finally reaching his peak again (those who know remember his ascension run)

the second he is of age, teams are probably gonna insta snipe him

imo, boaster was decent last season, but he just had confidence issues. He just auto assumed that he was losing every fight. Now, he realized that he isn't as bad as he thought and his aim training is finally paying off.

Vyse is really good on Pearl and like every team has played pearl rn, so they're getting used a lot.

The map pool is just meh for kj tbh. KJ is only a must-have on Fracture. Bind and split are cypher maps, Pearl, Haven, and Lotus have KJ interchangeable with other sentis, and Abyss is a bad KJ map in general. Pretty much, since KJ is not a must pick, teams are experimenting since they have the extra wiggle room. Like, pearl is def a good vyse map since the flash is so good for b long.

I think I can see abyss having 0 duelist, but Jett is so good I'm not sure if it will ever see it.

im ngl, I thought Beyn was the future with how he was fragging on range smokes. And then he got put on initiator. Shit was tragic :((

I kind of see the vision? What I think they're going to do is have freeing on info and Beyn on flash on double initiator maps. Every other map is a double controller meta, so they can run freeing on viper (which he actually has experience on) and beyn on skye/gekko/tejo. Also, I would be hella down for freeing clove on abyss instead of the common omen pick. I also would not be shocked if they experiment with double senti, since they have two VERY good senti players.

Wait, why is that roster lowkey decent

I think he has high peaks (like the game against NRG where he just shit on everyone for match point), but he's occasionally inconsistent. If you look at the games where he's locked, he's dropping like insane kd. However, in the games where he struggled and seemed inconsistent, his team was doing bad overall, so I think people rate him highly because they think that G2 is a better system, and if he proved that he has the capability to shit on high level teams with inconsistent help, he probably has the capability to become even better with more help.

Also, EG 2023 was sort of built around helping Demon1 get into good positions, so jawg was often sacrificing himself and doing whatever it took to give D1 the win con. EG 2024 is completely different with jawg being the main guy, so he definitely saw an uptick in absurdly good games. Therefore, if he is the main guy on an actually good team, there is a high probability that he will hit those absurdly good games consistently.

But that's just my take on why people think he's a top 3 duelist in Americas. Personally, I'm kind of on the fence about this, so take my words with a grain of salt.

tldr; He has high peaks, performed well even though he was not the center of the team, performed even better when he was, and only did not perform when the rest of his team did not.

The main issue I guess is if the player has ADHD and need it, but they could probably have a medical exemption.

Really? I haven't heard anything about this. Nothing on the APEKS page or oderus page or their respective twitters. The only thing I found was APEKS saying "oderus, go hit the aimlabs" but I'm not really sure how to feel about that.

he's assistant coach

Tbf, apeks have not announced their fifth yet and they have like <10 days left, so I would not be shocked if they place 12th due to lack of significant practice. However, I am somewhat a believer, and I do think they'll at least beat KOI if they adapt quickly enough

tbh I really need to go back to controller. I've been flexing a lot, which is really not good for my consistency lol

Honest question, are you an RB fan or a TEC fan? If you're "both," then which are you a more fan of?

Considering freeing is a senti main and he’s off roleing rn, he can only get better really. I don’t see them being good until like 2-3 events in though since they’re probably still very uncomfortable in their roles.

tbh it's too early to put anyone as favorites. Rosters staying together don't necessarily mean they'll be just as good. 2023 PRX was an unstoppable force. 2024 PRX was still an unstoppable force... like 50% of the time.

(wrong k1ng)

Ge getting third wouldn’t be on my bingo card BUT lowkey possible

Tbh that’s not that hot. Smoggy and chichoo were better statswise iirc

From what I heard, freeing is igling now

I mean, I see a world where they could lose lower final. T1, DFM, GENG, and DRX look good rn, so I wouldn't be shocked if PRX potentially lose before they make it to upper finals

I mean, I would hope so. Tuyz hadn’t played duelist on the professional stage for like 2 years before playing duelist on loud, qck hadn’t played duelist professionally in at least 1 year before playing duelist on loud, and saadhak pretty much never played duelist professionally. Dgzin is literally the only other guy besides aspas that played duelist recently before playing on the big stage on the role lol.

EG were "trialing" yay, but he is allegedly on track for a contract.

don't you have to win at least 3 games if you have a bye, so it's not "a" bo3. Unless that's not what you mean?

(need win upper quarter -> upper semi -> upper final (OR if lose upper final, win lower final)

lowkey if you have a duo, you could hit like immrotal

pretty sure they just speak english

I wished they would've run a jett/yoru or a jett/phoenix comp tbh (minus kayo). Something like:
jett - something
yoru - forsaken
sova - davai
omen - mindfreak
kj - jinggg
has the opportunity to go hella hard

that's fairly in line with what most people expect minus kru going on a lower bracket run

lowkey carpe cooks on sheriff (and only sheriff...)

Well, it sounds like your problem is you crouch spray too much. Therefore, the solution would be to not have a crouch button in dms until you lock in

Don't have a crouch button so you can't crouch spray

Inb4 triple controller + jett meta where you spam 8 smokes in one choke bc riot made an oversight and let the smoke effect stack

What job? And why can’t you ask someone you know irl lol

their clove is just better I suppose, unlucky

I feel like Phoenix is kinda underrated rn. If played right, you can ult, at worst, every third round on maps like ascent, abyss, haven, pearl, and pretty much ANY map that has attack sided orbs. Basically, farm two orbs -> die -> farm two more orbs -> die -> ult in third round. That's assuming the player is like really bad and can't get any kills at all without ulting. With kills, you can ult like second round in.

Look on the bright side, at least you're doing reading of some sort! It could be worse I suppose...