I'm going to be real and tell the story.

On a beautiful day in 2023, Ardiis was streaming. He got a donation from a user named Keith. He goes something like "No offense bro, but Keith is rough". Ardiis rags on the name keith for a bit. Then the chat just started to joke that his real name was keith. The rest was history.

No reyna or raze? no harbor or skye? Wtf this America's region is falling behind.

Of course, we are going to get a ton of "this match doesn't matter", but the best part of today was seeing Soulcas perform great and to see Jampii become unleashed. I didn't watch the most EMEA, but from when I did it was a lot of Sayf carrying and a ton of Soulcas underperforming. I'm very glad he was able to do well, and Liquid are an ACTUAL team when he does well. Jampii was also insane, which is great to see looking at how good he was last year. Liquid look like a way, way better team when they are all playing good then when a single player plays insane.

I see your Jett, and raise you whatever this shit is

I refuse to pay. I don't pay for shit. My main entertainment is youtube. Most of the games I play are free. If I had to pay for air, then I ain't breathing.

You say this like EMEA doesn't have 3/5 of the worst teams in Franchising. Those teams looked like dogshit.

Navi haven't looked good enough to be ranked higher than PRX.

I'm WAAAYYY more confident that PRX can get a map of Fnatic than Navi could.

these are so bad LMAOOOOO

To be real tho, just rotate NRG to 6th and it's perfect.

AM 2 should be in B, AM 3 should be in A.

I just like Fut more than T1. Fuck those reimporting bitchasses.

Grouping in 4's, doing it from the bottem 4 up.

I'll explain a bit below, but here is the basic tiers

EG, ASE, T1, EDG
Fut, Navi, The other NA team, Liquid
DRX, PRX, Fnatic, Loud

9 - 12:

• EG: No demon1, simple as that. Jokes aside, demon1 being gone fucks literally all except their fracture comps. It's the same situation as how Fnatic went to Masters without Derke. They can just do their best. It's just that their whole system and vibes are shook without Demon1 there. Could they do well? Maybe, we've seen more wild shit than that out of EG.
• ASE: Does Life pop the fuck off? If yes, then maybe they can win a series. They did win the invitational prior to tokyo, so they might be first seed? They just lost the second invitational in 3rd, so I don't know if that will allow EDG (who got 2nd and 1st) to go over them in seeding? I have no clue. Regardless, it's if Life pops off.
• T1: Lucky ass team that goddead had a bad game. I'm in cripling pain daily as a Gen.G fan, help me. Legit though, I think they are probably the weakest team here except for a ASE where life plays well.
• EDG: I hate to put EDG here. I hate to. But, they have YET to win a series against an international team, and all 3 who they have lost to are sunsetting teams. PRX and Liquid in champs, both of which still brutally underperformed and Liquid imploded, and 100T in Lockin where they looked bad. I think they'd be the strongest of the bottem 4 if everyone plays as I'd expect.

5 - 8:

• Fut: Logically, they're gonna have some hard matches. I think they could do some shit and mess up some brackets, but (I'm going to use this for each team going forward) they just don't look good enough to beat the top 4.
• Liquid: They rely too much on Sayf playing well to be a consistent team. If sayf can just drop 30 every map then they could do well, but that is unlikely. They are just too inconsistent of a team.
• C9/NRG: I probably would have swapped this spot with EG if C9 makes it, and would have swapped Navi (changed from Fut, them turks insane) and EG if NRG makes it, in the event Demon1 could come to tokyo. But allas. I believe in the NA teams more than I do EDG and the rest of the lower of the bottem tier. Just not good enough for the top tier.
• Navi: They don't look like prime FPX and Cned doesn't look like 2021 Cned. Great team historically, good team now. Maybe if they figure out a set comp and suygetsu plays more to his 2022 ability, then Navi could challenge the top 4.

1-4:

• Fnatic: They have lost 2 maps. They have lost 0 series. As much as the bottem of EMEA looks like 3 of the 5 worst franchising teams, Fnatic still crushed them. When they lost a map vs Fut, they lost 3 more rounds. When they lost a map to BBL, it was when their statistically best player was replaced by a sub (if you stat check it, make sure to make it regular season only. I'm keeping it for dramatic effect). Fnatic are a force to be reckoned with, and are easily the favorite heading into Tokyo. They really have no weak ends. Here is the other thing, from my knowledge of Japan and Valorant, Fnatic are also the likely crowd favorites. What Loud had pushing them in Brazil, Fnatic will probably have in Tokyo.
• Loud: They look like greek gods out there. They and Fnatic should have a lasting rivalry through the next few years as the leaders of their respective regions. If i was to guess, them and Fnatic would get a rematch in the Tokyo grand finals.
• DRX: They are DRX, literally the top 4 team. They just look better than every team plced below them.
• PRX: These men bullied DRX. These men will bully you. If they have a good day, then just FF the match. There is no point. PRX is a top 4 team and still the wildcard of the tournament. They aren't the favorites, but they are my favorites. They could also be a crowd favourite, due to being a pacific team and how Something used to play in the Japanese league. Idk. This is W gaming, but with a 3rd fully busted aimer. One of them will pop off on a map. The question is: Can Fnatic or Loud stop the fire before it spreads to the others? DRX couldn't. Let's just wait and see.

That's the essay for the week.

I don't think DSG really had enough to set up yay even a portion of what he was during the envy days. It'll be interesting to see if DSG can pull together ideas to use him well in this current meta.

i would personally love to see them use Ardiis' versatility more. No, not his KJ or that bowlshit, his initator play (like on Kayo) back from his Navi days to flex Victor onto a constant entry role. I'm surprised they have yet to do that.

I do think Zekken should be over cryo, even if he isn't a primary duelist. He's top 3 in ACS in AM. He's better than cryo in every stat except first kills per round.

He's a content creator.

SEN John Cena 将带着这支球队走向胜利，你这个小丑

Rob Moore also follows Loather, Ludwig, Crashies and John Cena. Guess Sen have a new Co-owner, analyst, Recon Initiator, and Chinese Translator.

Mini has been with Fnatic, thick and thin. People clown on them, but they've mostly been a top 5 team their whole existence when they don't have covid. He also won a lan and has led Fnatic to multiple flawless domestic showings.

Sean is on fucking Shopify Rebelion as a content creator. If there was one person he would want to work with THE MOST on Sen, it would be Zekken. Rob Moore also follows Ludwig, Loather and Crashies. Guess we got a new Owner, analyst, and Recon initiator on Sen.

Let marved fucking learn to IGL, please. Every other IGL in, like, Val as an esport is a defacto mechanical DOWNGRADE (excluding like 3 guys in Pacific). If you can let marved cook himself into a fucking visionary (i mean look at his lurks, he sees the game so well already) then you have the single IGL in the west who isn't worse than everybody else in the match.

Asuna for Zekken is dogshit, it's just a straightup downgrade.

PRX didn't have anyone play bad. I don't even think they had a maraculous win, it seemed just like they were the better team.

From all the interviews and the attitudes the members have shown, I don't think any of them would really want to step down. Tenz seems to be locked in, Zekken is always vibing, Marved has a brand to keep up, Sacy doesn't seem like a guy to step down, and Pancada literally said during common grounds that he wants to win with these guys. As for trades, I have no clue (but nobody has any idea) but Sen can't really trade for anyone. Skillwise, every player is a downgrade. I've seen the shit about Asuna but he is inarguably a worse Zekken in every way: Vibes, skill, versatility. I'd assume that we'd get an ascension poach rather than a trade with another franchise team.

Gotta just be a bait to either

a) Bolster the coaching staff before LCQ (with whom I do not know) or
b) Confirm that this roster will participate in LCQ unchanged or
c) announce a new 6th man, likely Zombs or a player from the T2 scene (Like Add3r... not just my TT copium)

Breaking up a roster or fiering Kaplin after beating Furia with an IGL on his second match would be WILD. Sen have to keep these 5 rolling, since Marved is only going to call better and the team is only going to mesh nicer.

D4v41 is doing way better (copenhagen level) and mindfreak isn't throwing anymore. Just topped off with Something going insane every game and F0rsaken looking like a top 3 player in Pacific. Jingg is just chilling, he isn't underperforming but he hasn't been required to carry at all. I'm proud of this team again.

before it comes up, map diff motherfuckers.

I think france and turkey are like a huge majority of the viewership in Europe. Turkish teams have historically carried the EMEA scene in terms of views, and france is a region just now being capitalized on.

Nah, think of the logistics. Masters is in a much better metropolitan area with the single biggest demographic of Val. I know we ain't getting either of those big 2 viewer bases, but if Istanbull can handle a crowd then Japan can most definitly handle a crowd.

They were great all split. this system with one split to LCQ is so rough for everyone, and I hope they do well in LCQ (as long as Gen G isn't involved).

Zeta is great, I wish them luck in their future endeavors.

I'm still severally depressed, but at least they beat TS. They can do this.

But damn, YALL COULD HAVE WON A FEW OF THE LAST 6 PLEASE.

Meteor my goat, sylvvan my young goat.

Gen G wasn't playing good for a few weeks and yall wrote them off like they were karmine corp. They're still a really good team.

My goats.

Brother this is a short post for me.

I have no hope in life. Have fun T1 fans, I've given up.

Sentinels look like they'll be good for LCQ. I'd probably say that the only things that beat them is either a dg+mw pop off (like, they beat Furia with dg performing, they'll need mw to go off to beat sen) or Demon1 and Jawg popping off. They have a good enough squad to establish that any team needs their star to be a star in order to win. Like, when pancada is the lowest fragger you got, that's a solid sqaud. Plus, look at all the advantages Sen is going to gain before LCQ. Everybody gets a chance to go home (Marved, Pancada, and Sacy had to move to a different country and Zekken is a youngin) and that month or so of extra prac lets Marved get way more comfortable at IGL. Plus, playoffs and Masters are going to realease a ton of new comps, meta's, and strats that Sen will definitely capitalize on. Finally, AM looks like the strongest overall region with it's top 3, I think any of NRG, LOUD, and C9 could possibly beat Fnatic. I mean, Fnatic is still the favorite, But I'm betting on those 3 teams and DRX over what we have seen form Navi. If an AM team wins, I believe AM gets a bonus slot in Champs which would exponentially boost Sen's probability of getting to champs.

Sen got 7th now right? They have a better map differential than 100T, so they'll hop over them for the LCQ seed.

I mean, it literally changes nothing since (unless LCQ is randomly seeded) Sen would still face 100T no matter who's the upper seed. It's just kinda funny, small dub for Sen.

Just like to add that 100T beat everyone they tied except for Sen, but they get last from map diff. Funny as fuck.

I know nobody cares about this because of Sen, but if Fut lose (or throw) vs BLL, both Turkish teams would qualify since Vitality loses the head to head against both teams. Just thought it would be fun to say.

Me when a defensive oper player succeeds in a defensive oper meta, but doesn't succeed in an offensive based + double smoke meta

:O

Leaf did the exact same thing in 2022 when the meta was against his playstyle, now its the same for Yay.

That's what you earn for being the best all season.

Marved and the mandem gonna make a dunknow bonkers shit ya feel me?

Couldn't furia also also miss it if they lose to Sen, Lev beats Loud, EG beat NRG, and 100T beat MIBR? It would make Sen and Furia the only 4-5 teams, but Sen would get head-to-head. Or are we not talking about this situation because it's more farfetched?

I am wrong in saying that, if Furia lose to Sen, they'll lose the tiebreak (to both Sen and 100T) and miss playoffs?

Winnipeg (That is what we in the business call a joke)

Throw me on that shit and I'll make Plat Chat look sane

that is a you problem brotha

(This is not at all a shot at Dazzle but) Once Dazzle gets going (he's had an off period so far with TT) then I legit think they could make a run in the playoffs. I love the guy, he's doing great support, but once he gets his fragging back it's over for the competition. Again, he's not doing terrible, still being a champ on support.

Turtle Troop for Champs 2024.

A val team is a huge financhial burden, but expecially for someone not really known to be involved with the Val scene. Lud and Toast have done Val streams and videos, and were actually somewhat involved with Val content, Xqc isn't like that though. It isn't something he can really farm like the other two have/can.

Paper Rex mode gonna go crazy, let em dream.

(Let's be honest, this is just to iron out the kinks for LCQ)

I've been saying that they should run in Paper Rex mode. They quite literally have the best player comp to run no IGL. Just let Tenz and Zekken duel, Marved work the map like nobody else is there, and Sacy + Pancada to finish every round in style. I don't get dropping deph cause a) no 6th man and b) he'd be a solid vibes guy to support the team.

Yeah since Chamber has been gutted and is now unviable, but Jett has been nerfed a ton and is still a great character. 2021 Jett was as busted as release Chamber.