honestly who knows lol https://www.vlr.gg/pickem/eaa7443f

https://www.vlr.gg/pickem/665fee54
i expect this all to be wrong, as usual

should be yeah

fr

nobody expected this /s

they do play show matches (but really the main thing is that CN has only been out for a few months; teams that just joined are still figuring out their rosters…i do think it will be better next year though)

fr

if blg get 2-0'ed i need them to pull a kone and scatter to the seven winds once more

i don't even care who wins i just want a series (edit: it's a bo1 my day is ruined-)

stew my goat

i’m going all in on the RA train with RA 3-1

impersonation's against TOS so yeah you can report the account for identity theft (lol)

https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2801947?hl=en#:~:text=Content%20intended%20to%20impersonate%20a%20person%20or%20channel,see%20content%20that%20violates%20this%20policy%2C%20report%20it.

someone tell lil bro-

it's really bad cause they added enthusiast AFTER they started blowing up as well while still using I to pretend they're KK so they're 100% tricking people

it's everybody plays (because the franchise teams haven't been confirmed yet) so once the franchise teams are known, everybody else left will play for the spot

it's china's version of ascension (it's a tournament where winner gets promoted)

highest points out of all the non-franchising qualify (?) to CN ascension (don’t quote me on that)

doesn’t weibo also have two imports?

language difficulties improve team cohesion fr
(esp cause jdg probably wins worlds this year if asian games doesn’t blow up their roster)

the 1000+ episodes are there to test your dedication

my brain says weibo but my heart says imay (JUST FOR THE MEME POSSIBILITIES OF THEM IN TOP 8)

iceking left for tyloo on his own, if i recall correctly

imay also shitstomped rng in scrims recently (whether that means anything is up to you) but they are on par with some of the other teams here

can’t wait for ascension to just be two edg teams (tyloo and imay) o-o

also iMay is edg’s academy roster and they have a lot of cracked aimers (strats still need work) but it’ll be interesting to see if three edg teams make it into the final 8 lol

damn what team did jdg pick up? (unless it’s a new rookie roster?)

what do you mean?

probably didn’t expect sales so they saved money by not hiring a graphic designer LMAO

wait which tyloo player?

ignoring the synergy issue, edg plays around nobody’s solo flanking (to the point where i think it’s pre-planned) so i don’t think it’s so much him as opposed to just something they’ve been trying out

China:

• routinely makes insane clutches to win rounds
• threw the game into a 3v5 two seconds ago for no reason, hence needing the clutch to win

the reason why china will catch up has a lot more to do with their esports infrastructure than just population (though player base is also very important)

like the amount of attention and support built into their system is to the point where chinese esports players are sometimes actual celebrities

also who would you switch coaches for? after is one of the few og chinese valorant coaches that has seen success + you can’t import a coach because of language differences

hh 明年再见！！

the fact that it was that close for top 4 does give me hope that they’ll improve over the offseason (especially because a lot of their issues are discipline and learning a slower pace)

nerves definitely seemed like a factor (kk doing shit he normally doesn’t do because he thinks he needs to save the game)

i mean they are deadass essentially all teenagers (and it’s not only edg who’s really young, but their oldest member is 21 with an average age of 19?)

is it more discipline or strats? (either way, it’s not aim so with the launch of a chinese league, i wonder what sort of regional flavour that’ll be…if it’s not ‘you get shot you die’)

even maintaining tokyo placements should be seen as a great achievement (since it shows that it wasn’t a fluke and considering that edg still has so much room for improvement with really young players, the sky’s the limit!)

kk is the star player but it’s smoggy and chichoo who routinely pull out crazy clutches and get edg back into the game when kk isn’t styling

loud are expected to win this event-

CALLING THE AMBULANCE FOR ME NOW BECAUSE MY HEART CAN’T TAKE IT

kangkang reyna is wild (i'll probably eat my words in 40 minutes lol)

WHAT IS GOING ON

the difference between hope and reality right here (i say this as an edg fan lol)

the people thinking edg can win this have very obviously not looked at chinese social media lol-

i mean he’s repeatedly said that he hopes everybody will support chinese valorant as a whole (on chinese social media) so it must suck to kill the dreams of your friends (esp cause kk did NOT show up vs eg)

i’ll have you know it’s ACTUALLY 8 bots, a walking ult orb, and smoggy

even as a nobody apologist he’s actively been getting worse and someone on the coaching staff needs to tell him to stop-

he used to play well and then for some reason has just been getting worse lol

the reason why edg’s not as hyped is because either they’re going home or they’re sending really close friends home lol (why would they be happy-)

i don't think most people with eyes (i say this as an old edg fan lol) went into champs having particularly high expectations for either team (esp. not blg) so even making it to playoffs, i think can be considered a success for both teams (though if edg loses against blg it does mean they just haven't improved as much as blg has)

they do have an academy team, yeah (cause kk and haodong routinely joke about losing their pay checks-)

tyloo is actually their second team…cause i’m 70% sure edg funds them (?) and like the two teams use the same facility (hence why abo joined them)