Imagine those lasting longer and being at a better strategic position, not sectioning off a small area so you can go brrrrrrr

You gotta be in my walls, that's my entire life story.

Simply, I hope it's a Wall Oriented Controller, with more aggressive options

Basically a version of Viper meant for a more aggressive approach like Omen. I think it'd be great to introduce a real alternative to Viper on maps like Breeze and Icebox. I'm also hoping that it's more a settable wall like Astra, but not nearly as long, just a normal wall (~45-60m). Keep Viper there as a great lurker, but add in an aggressive alternative so we can continue to see variance in play and keeping different playstyles engaged.

Also, I'm so excited for the Chamber nerf in the competitive scene so we can all see the Yay Yoru.

I have no builds for a character. Might make one though.

I can rule that one out, I have shit aim.

I'm excited for any non-EALCQ watchers to rank them in a 13-16 spot when they have a truly top tier Fracture, and can make top 8 depending on the seeding.

I seriously wouldn't be surprised if they take at least a map off a high tier team. Through LCQ they proved they were absolutely lethal on Fracture, so against any non-fracture god, Edg could take that at least. Depending on their seeding, I'd put them in top 8. Of course, we can't truly know until Champs.

Idk man, I am two trying to figure that out.

I'm a common VLR shitter who only posts 2-5 paragraph messes of information, hard facts, and personal opinions on a large variance of topics. I'm just bored as shit at 3 am.

I figured China would be good, but I didn't do enough research to check if they were good. I'm all for China being crazy at Val. That's a large demographic of viewers that Val can get if it becomes big. Like, it's the third biggest viewed LoL league. I'm all for viewership.

Best match of East Asia LCQ finna happen

If big Ed wins, like, WINS against NTH I'd be surprised, same if NTH did it.

I'd expect within a 2-5 round different max.

But seriously id Ed slaps NTH then they should be put in the top 8 at champs.

I have no stakes in either team except I like Meteor he's chill, but I'm for the game. I hope everyone has a pleasurable viewing experience.

I'm all for clowning G2 fans, but Korea is quite literally the worst region at this point bro.

honestly fair

That's why I put a tldr for anyone who didn't want to read my word vomit

Tl ; Dr - I think Riot is scared due to Europe and Korea (biggest LoL viewers) having significantly lower views in Valorant. Due to this they have significantly less leagues (3 rather than 12) with significantly less total teams (30 rather than 117). Meanwhile NA and Japan have become big hits for Valorant, and because of this the America's league and Asian League have a large amount of both teams to bring in the views and spread fans. NA, Japan, and Turkey are the cornerstone of views in their regions while Europe, Korea, and Brazil will be the main focus of bringing in more fans of into Valorant from their big LoL viewer base.

I'll tell you know, this is a long thread. Lot's of stats and shit. So, in short, I'm using current metrics to figure out the goal of franchising for Riot. Covering a ton of questions that I've seen on VLR in the past few days, and I'll try to answer them.

NOTE : This is using outside facts and what makes sense to me as an individual. I'm not covering snuffed teams and shit for franchising, but I'm trying to figure out why this is an approach Riot is taking.

Question 1 - Why is Riot making 3, 10 team Regional Leagues?

As we all know, Riot has said there will be 3 separate regional leagues : The America's (LATAM, Brazil, North America), EMEA (Europe, CIS), and Asian Pacific (Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, etc.). The big problem here, in my opinion, is the 10 team limit in each league. That is a limit of 30 international teams. So, at this point, I'm getting into my stats. I took a look at Riot's other large game with International leagues, League of Legends. Lol was release in 2009 and received a birth to competitive leagues three years later in 2012. Valorant has gotten a slightly similar start, being released in 2020 and now getting Riot leagues in 2023. From my findings, and swiftly passing by LoL as a whole, I could find that 2 leagues kinda started in 2012, Korea and Brazil. Later on, in 2013, NA, Europe, and China all got league stuffs as well.

At this point, almost 10 years later, there are 12 main leagues and 117 teams participating. So, Valorant has 30 teams in 3 leagues while LoL has 117 in 12 leagues. Well, that's fair since League gets way more viewers, right? LoL does get more views, but not way more views, especially for some 10 year old leagues. There are just two mainview leaders : Korea and Europe. Before I talk about those two, I'm gonna talk about some of the closer Regions of Valorant vs LoL viewership.

This is taking an Approximated average of Lol in the last 3 years while taking the Stage 2 stats for Valorant.

LATAM - LoL and Valorant are at a similar point, Valorant is just a bit more popular having an average viewership of around 10k more (36K vs ~24k) while having almost the same peak, hovering around 90k in Val and 80k in LoL

Brazil - LoL in Brazil is around 3x of what it's viewership in Valorant is. Consistent for the peaks (140k in Val vs around 300k in lol) and the average viewership (40k in Val vs 120k in LoL)

Asian Pacific and Vietnam - In Lol they have separate leagues but in Valorant they were both represented in the APAC region. In Asia Pacific (LoL), average viewership is from 15k to 20k, peaking from 55k to 95k. Vietnam does like 35k - 45k average, and peaks all the way from 120K to 230K. APAC in Valorant averages 33k, and can peak around 70k to 100K.

Now, let's talk about the LoL giants of South Korea and EMEA and how fucking sad their Valorant view ship is in comparison. Each region lowballs peak view ship of 700K and can reach peaks of 1.0 million (230k - 300k average) in Europe, and South Korea is the BIGGEST getting peaks of 1.3 million views. EMEA is less sad in Valorant, where that can do peaks of 150K more recently when BBL plays while in Stage 1 they could hit over 200k peaks. Over the two stages, stage 1 averaged around 95k while Stage 2 dropped to 69k.

Now Korea. averaging from 200k to 250k per match while being able to deliver the biggest peaks in LoL when T1 plays. They must be HUGE in Valorant as well, right? Peaking at 36k viewers in both stages and having around 14k average viewers for their matches. That is a huge shell of their production in LoL.

So why do I talk about these two huge regions in such a critical light? Because they carry LoL, I feel like Riot expects more from these regions in order to feel success in a competitive scene. I didn't talk about China, but they are around the 3rd biggest viewership in the world, but have no feats in Valorant. Like, the Chinese Valorant stream had 56 viewers last night while K1 was playing. Regardless, the fact that the two largest regions for Lol are the 3rd and least viewed regions for Valorant is a major concern for Riot's confidence. Maybe Korea will wake up one day and Valorant in the region will spike. Who knows. But, until that day, I doubt Riot will have enough confidence to have the regional leagues in Valorant to the degree of LoL.

Some wide eyed readers maybe notice how there are some LoL leagues I didn't mention. CIS I didn't mention since it overlaps with EMEA's Valorant league and, well, I couldn't find it on the viewership site that I'm using. Same think with the Oceania league, which roles into APAC. Finally is Turkey, which seems decently popular with around a 60k peak. But, roles into EMEA. Just REALLY makes the EMEA Valorant viewership look even more sad.

But here are the big two, North America Valorant and the LCS, along with Japanese Valorant and the LJL. LCS, the fourth largest league in LoL and the LJL, which is around Latin America in terms of viewership. I saved these two since NA and Japan have now shown to be the two largest regions for Valorant. The two biggest in Stage 2 as well as NA in LCQ who is averaging around 200k viewership in NON Sentinel games, while Sentinels can pull 450k and 625k viewers for domestic games against small orgs. Japan has also been the most rapidly improving region, but that's another talk. These two teams are the hope of Valorant, and if they can grow further it'll progress how wide Riot can spread leagues.

So what was the point of the whole section : I think Riot is still a little scared the Valorant won't become a big (top 5) esport. I think the reason Riot is keeping this to 3 leagues stems from a few factors in which the lack of European and Korean involvement is the largest. It's like when you go through progression in your life, whether it's a new job or moving to a different city, and your support pillars don't assist you. It's scary to not have what you had thought was guaranteed assistance is not there.

So, Riot got two new regions to support them in NA and Japan, and from that they decided to pursue smaller leagues than what is good for the professional ecosystem and favoring one to grow the sport's reach. Now, what do I mean with this? I think the reason Riot is only having 30 teams under them, as well as choosing good overall orgs rather than consistent Valorant orgs is to grow the esport's play and viewership through external means. For example, T1 is likely going to get a Korean spot instead of continuing in North America. As they are one of the biggest Korean LoL teams, this may bring in LoL fans that cheer for Korea. My point with it being 10 team leagues is to continue to draw in viewers of other esport's like LoL, Overwatch or CS:GO through the display of these larger orgs. The other side of a 10 team region also builds fandom of teams outside of just someone's home region. What I mean by that is the large group of Japanese fans and North American fans will see a lot more games from teams in other regions. Then if franchising ever brakes into smaller regional areas, like back to East Asia and Asian Pacific, Japanese viewers that liked maybe Bleed for example, will watch more APAC games. Also, committing to just 30 teams allows Riot to give each team way more broadcasting, exposure, and pure funds to make the game bigger.

In all reality, I don't really get why Riot is limiting the teams. This is the best way I could rationalize it. I feel like the EMEA region will depend even more on stealing away more CS:GO fans due to any ill-will from the other regions just getting less showing then EMEA always has. Like, Turkey is EMEA's biggest sub-region, and from what I've heard they're only getting 1 spot. Anyways, I've ran out of words for this post. If you've read this far, thanks. Have a great day.

From what I'm hearing from other area's franchising, it's very surprising to me that Sen will make it. From what I understand, Riot don't give a shit about the orgs commitment to Valorant. I saw that in APAC, Paper Rex (aka the most global Asian team) didn't make it. Same guy said a franchise with NO Valorant connections / commitment made it. So for a team built off Valorant, Sen making it is surprising, despite how they carry viewership. I expect at least a few global orgs to hop out of the America's to regain a Korean spot.

In all reality, the single most locked team internationally is 100T due to their deep connection with Riot as an Org, mostly in Valorant, but also due to them being a very trendy and up-and-coming brand.

Fair.

Yesterday I got timed out in Valorant chat, and I thought it was for saying Trump. I was wrong, it was fuck. SWEARING IN CHAT IS NOT ALLOWED IN A SHOOTER. FOR A GAME WITH SWEARING IN AGENT VOICELINES.

Why am I mad now? There was one of the terrible post map songs that riot gets. So, quick recap. You can't swear on the cast. You can't swear in the chat. But ya know what Riot is fine with? A song with the whole ass N word.

THEY ALLOW THE NWORD BUT DRAW THE LINE AT FUCK. GOOD SHIT RIOT.

Also, not against swears in songs. Just against Riot being mentally inept.

People are dogging you for saying EDG is up there, but holy shit. It takes a special group to 13-3 and 13-7 a top 3 team of any sized region. Very impressive by them but I do think they gotta be in contention if they keep up the pace.

I think it's more Faze being better than 100T being worse. Of course, Will ain't a Chamber. I'd rather him on Kay/o, Asuna on sage, and stellar on a K/J for Ascent. But on Map 1, Supamen,(daddy) was 22 - 9 - 10. He went lethal, then slowed down. But map 2 and 3, Babybay CARRIED going for 24 and 27 kills respectively. That's why Faze can just be better than teams. Supamen, Dicey, and Babybay have some of the highest raw ability in the region. They can each popoff and act as a superstar, and it just let's them skill diff. Then, Flyah and POISED are both very good role players.

Tl Dr : Faze can skill diff anyone in NA, not just 100T.

Mother fucker I just got timed out for 600 seconds in the Valorant chat cause I saw a fuck ton of DRX shit so I just said they don't have a true superstar like Yay, Jinggg or Suygetsu who can just win your team a whole map by themselves. Thats why they fall behind in close international games. Instantly booted. Idk might have been having swears in there? It's not like it's a shooter and have voicelines with swears.

Edit : I said Trump card. DID I GET BANNED FOR TRUMP?

supamen is my guy. I'm a former RISE flair. He's insane.

I wrote this whole thing then accidently closed the tab I'm dead inside

ANYWAYS

LCQ. We all have loved the fucking closeness of the NA LCQ and I've spent a LOT of time watching the APAC LCQ as well. Of course, I'll be watching the EMEA LCQ starting later today (and then in like 20 hours East Asia is going on too). I hope to the Valorant Gods that the EMEA LCQ is even half as close as the NA or APAC LCQ. So, here's some of what I'm talking about.

These are the NA LCQ scores.
19-17 = 1
17-15 = 2
15-13 = 3
13-11 = 4
13-10 = 2
13-9 = 1
13-8 = 1
13-7 = 1

I did the math. 10 out of the 15 total maps have been a two round game at the end, with 6 being overtime games. The average total rounds of each map is 25.9333 / or 26 rounds per game. That's an average of an overtime game. That is insane. Every single match has had at least one map that ended with the two teams within 2 rounds of one another. It's so cool that a region can have team #3 and team #10 on the same level. Every match is a nail biter, a coinflip. Any round thrown is LETHAL.

For APAC, I took the top 6 as they were notably closer than having the whole LCQ / all 12 teams. APAC LCQ has been great btw. Any other degen's just chilling at times like these, watch APAC. It's more patient than NA (NOT PAPER REX THEY THEIR OWN SHIT) but not as boring and defaulty as EMEA. Anyways, top 6 has been close. Note : two 13 - 5's happened in the same series of Order vs Team Secret. Here are the stats of top 6 (Upper semi's + Lower round 3, and further)

19-17 = 1
14-12 = 2
13-11 = 9
13-10 = 4
13-7 = 1
13-6 = 1
13-5 = 3

That's an average of 23 rounds aka a 13-10. Regardless, 12 of the 21 maps were within 2 rounds. VERY CLOSE GAMES.

So, that's what I want from EMEA, and East Asia too. That's it. I just love how there have been so many close games and with APAC finishing up [currently 12-11 for Boom (2 maps) vs Onic (1 map)] I need to keep these constant thrillers in my life.

Anyways Boom just won. GG to them. A little blip on them, I was big on them in stage 1 with how they were a "super team" and they didn't deliver then. Same with Stage 2. So, I lost hope in them. I'm glad they won, they really deserve it. Especially after another 13 - 11 thriller. Thanks' for reading, have a great rest of your day.

He's been my favorite player for months, but I've been just too scared to get hate for throwing him up in a tier with Marved. After that series, I think my opinion can be truly let out there.

608k peak viewers for Sentinels vs Guard.

PRX vs FPX peaked at 783k, so decent lead.
#2 at Copenhagen was 596K by PRX vs Optic.

Sentinels are actually different, viewership wise. This has also led me to believe a Sentinels vs Zeta Division game would be the largest game in Valorant history, by FAR.

Bro has the lamest Util in NA

There were posts yesterday about viewership and the common answer was 150k. I want to prove bozo's wrong when I called a 210k minimum.

It's up to 185k for those 5 streams just 2 minutes later.

From 5 streams - Valorant (YouTube and Twitch), Shroud, Tarik, and Kyedae - Tally up to 170k viewers. That's not counting every single other smaller stream. That's already more than any Stage 1 EMEA game.

Real Answer?

OpTic vs Xerxia

Content Answer?

Liquid vs Playing more than 2 good games

Correct Answer?

Zombs and his watches vs Brazil and that damn scooter

I think it's that the largest global enjoyer of Valorant, the NA viewers, are kinda gatekept from watching APAC due to it being at our like 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM for the first game (personally it's my 9:00 PM). That leads into a lack of recognizable names and orgs since we haven't been able to get into as much as EMEA. Timing stops a large viewer base from gaining an emotional entry outside of getting in through Paper Rex and Xerxia. It's not a game that lacks, but is different. It isn't the big dick aim duels of NA. It isn't the no movement until 20 seconds left of EMEA. It's the set-look aggression and funneling of APAC.

Tl ; Dr - NA doesn't want to stay up real late to watch teams that they don't know, so they don't learn the game and clown it.

like it's 3 am for me, I got into APAC watching (and missing a lot of) Paper Rex games.

A working Faze owns SR.
A working C9 owns SR.
If Shroud is a 'B' level controller^, then Sentinels own SR.

^(think supamen or bang, lower than "marved" level [A] but above "hazed" level [C]. A for star players, B for Star moments, C for Consistent play)

Have people seen the Data on Sen views? At minimum, 220k peak. Maximum 310k. Like, they did 216k in Stage 2, now they have Shroud and are the spotlight team of NA. Anyone saying less than 200K is actually a joker.

Sen have provided the most viewership outside of Japan. That's when they were bad. They were the most viewed in Stage 1. Sen = views.

Um my pick 'em is fucked. Not that I got game 1 wrong, it's that I kinda didn't have a way to get it right (Notice, 2 griffins)

https://www.vlr.gg/pickem/b9979006

To be fair I'm pretty sure I had ORDER losing.

The true Waifu of every season is Robin, and it always will be.

How the fuck does the nerf affect pro? like oH No OuR eCO iS soOooO bAD nOw.

Just buy OP, Kill someone, TP. Same thing, just less free.

This is 7 hours late, but watch parties are counted for stats. It's not just main channel, it's every sub Valorant channel (different languages) and every external channel too (like Tarik counts).

100% true statement

Sentinels at LCQ will be the only thing to rival Northeption viewership LOL. If Sen plays well and get to semi/winners finals, that will be the only thing stopping a Northeption top viewed team.

I looked and reviewed a few stage 1 stats, and Sentinels vs NRG was a 271k peak (then another at 266k and 259k), with Japan's highest being 227k. Sentinels were also 4 of the top 5 games in NA stage 1. They may be a team of streamers, but holy hell does that help them with viewership.

based on stats btw.
I'm putting: region - peak viewers the game - average viewers - top viewed team (just from top 5, i ain't paying for deep stats) + their place in region

anyways

1. Japan - 291, 787 Zeta vs Northeption : Grand Finals - 112, 410 - Zeta Division (4 of top 5 games) 2nd Place Japan
2. North America - 216,858 Sentinels vs LG : Week 1, Day 1 - 93, 599 - Sentinels (Top 3 games) Tied Last
3. EMEA - 159,693 BBL vs Team Liquid : Week 2, Day 1 - 69,521 - BBL (Top 3 games) Tied 8th
4. Brazil - 142,367 LOUD vs NIP : Grand Finals - 41,455 - LOUD (All top 5 games) 1st place Brazil
5. APAC - 107,100 Team Secret vs Xerxia : Losers Final - 33,257 - Xerxia (4 of top 5 games) 2nd Place APAC
6. LATAM - 89,633 KRU vs Leviatan : Grand Finals - 36,175 - KRU (Top 3 games) 2nd place LATAM
7. Korea - 37,556 DRX vs Maru Gaming : Grand Final - 14,246 - DRX (Top 4 games) 1st place Korea

So basically, Japan is fucking massive and NA is the only one close in viewership. I'd like to say I have APAC over LATAM due to a little bit of personal moderation. The top 5 of APAC are all above 80k, while the top 5 of LATAM is an 89k and 4 50k's. APAC had the most games while LATAM had the least. Also put Xerxia as the biggest team when team secret is arguable to be there, idk. Why did I do this? again, idk. It's 4:30 AM for me and I'm bored. Also, I put the places due to the fact most region best/better teams are the most watched except for BBL being surprisingly big and Sentinels still being the biggest org in NA regardless of their shit play. They also got Shroud now, and that's importance since people are watching because of shroud. My friend doesn't watch VCT. He's watching LCQ for shroud. The people on the brink of watching Valorant are being pulled by Shroud. It's kinda funny imo.

Thanks for reading, and remember : Japan is Valorant's biggest region now.

EDIT : From the top 3, EMEA is down bad after Stage 1, NA is down because Sentinels were shit this stage, and Japan is up like 50k.

I was thinking a ton about NA franchising today and I had a few thoughts I wanted to share. To preface, I've seen a lot of whispers and a couple pro opinions that have led me down this path.

The NA 8
I'm calling it that because I've heard that the America's division will have 8 NA teams then the rest is LATAM and Brazil. At this point, we as fans have very little news on teams that are favorable in Riot's eyes, but I've got a few personal Ideas based on who Riot rejected already. First off, I'm surprised by Shopify Rebellion's early out since they had big into the gamechangers aspect. It was crazy how effort in Gamechangers was not even a real factor, simply based on how early of an exit they had. Secondly, it's basically a given that any tier 2 level squad was not given serious thought, like Akrew, NYFU, and Complexity.

At this point I'd like to (possibly) jinx some teams by listing them as 'locks' for franchising. They are :
Sentinels (110%)
OpTic (99%)
100 Thieves (95%)
Cloud 9 (93%)

I'm going to stick to these 4 for a few reasons. C9 and OpTic are more so historical teams that have a legacy before Valorant on their side. They also hold huge legacy's inside of Valorant, one as NA's last hope and the other as NA's current hope. 100T have shown an unapparelled commitment to Valorant, has represented the region globally, and is currently one of (if not) the largest growing gaming organization. Then Sentinels bring in more views than any other team. They won the first international lan. They have the largest game wide meme associated with them. They have the thicccccest trio of players in Rawkass, Shroud, and Zellsis. THEY HAVE FUCKING SHROUD. I know he's leaving afterwards, but it still stands. To be honest, idk who the other 8 will be. But I want to move on to another thing with NA franchising that I realized more after a Yay clip.

"The Largest region into 8 teams"
NA is the largest region in terms of commitment to building talent, and now all those teams and players with so much talent are fighting for 40 player slots. This occurred to me today when thinking of Gen.G. They haven't gotten out of Val yet, but they are letting their roster go. the first thought is "of course, they're going out of Val now" but my second thought was this : What if they are preparing to build a brand new roster out of those let-go talents? Then Yay also kinda talked about this with how all those talents were being pushed into these tiny amount of real slots. Like, top tier rosters like Guard or Ghost may not make the cut. That's a working team that you can grab and go with.

Franchising Itself
Of course, not all teams will make it, and the large NA tier 2 scene will die with it. So, next is two ideas from myself to keep the NA scene alive. This mostly comes out of problems I don't want in the future for Valorant in NA. First is a real Academy league. Not International, but just a region wide academy league to run alongside the real league. with there being (I believe) 15 slots for all of NA, Brazil, and LATAM, that might create a problem with scrimming. Adding an extra 15 teams to the pool will allow much more scrim opportunities. Just as a base, not all teams have the same scrim hours so that alone closes off some available scrims. Adding an extra 15 teams gives more flexibility of hours and more availability during buy hours. then with the academy teams as well, that's an extra 75 slots to play with as an up-and-coming talent. The reason I'd like this to be a riot funded league is to both incentivize proper funding and development of these Academy teams, along with the monetary aspect of making a team able to afford having another team. This academy level would be different and allow 14 and up rather than the 16 and up in other Riot tournaments, simply due to being more focused on a largespread encouragement of talent rather than being the best team in the world.

Second is a more basic one of more third-party tournaments - which I think Riot has already committed to? Things like the Knights or Nerd Street tournaments. But, what I would like those franchised teams to themselves hold tournaments. Even if it's like a combo tournament held by 2 franchised teams, I feel like this is an easy and good way to continue to encourage a healthy tier 2 scene. Like, that'd be at least an extra 6-12 tournaments for teams to play in.

That's really it. I don't have really much to add, I just wanted to put out some thoughts on how franchising would be in my mind and how Riot can keep a healthy NA scene. I'm much MUCH more concerned about keeping APAC healthy. Like, DRX and PRX cant even play together. That region is so much more spread than the rest. Anyways, have a great rest of your day if you read this far.

Jinggg's showstopper is just so bad man. Check him PC that ult sucks for him consistently

Yay (Chamber / OP)
Babybay (Dive - Entry)
Xeppaa / Asuna (Initiator 1)
Bang (Smokes)
Vanity (Initiator 2 / IGL)

Vs

Tenz (Chamber / OP)
Koalanoob (Dive - Entry)
Eeiu / JohnaP (Initiator 1)
Marved (Smokes)
FNS (Inititor 2 /IGL)

Holy shit it was hard to find an IGL for America that would fit cause the other 4 positions drop off with a different IGL.

I like when funny man run in with Neon and his main hoe double blastpacks behind him while also his father is giving the entire other team a major concussion.

PRX better + have a regional title

"If you care about regions, you're a 5 year old"

• some random twitch comment guy, 2022

The fucking chat scrolls fast but I caught that

Whenever FNS aims I swear he gets tremors mid-aim

This is my new way of Rock-Paper-Scissors