Same reason anybody would invest in anything, they believe there is upside in the industry as a whole.

All super teams have failed, but I don't think we've ever seen a super team like this. Genuine argument that all the players are the best in role, at least in the region.

This argument should be null when we just watched a team of 4 rookies and a second-year player win champs.

That guy just spews nonsense, the max rewards from qualifications that a open team can get is 1.1million. While that is a lot of money and a step in the right direction, that's less than the stipend the partner teams get for quite literally just being a partner. Compound that with bundle sales, and auto qualification to kickoff, and you start to see the uneven playing field I'm talking about. Not to mention only 4 open qual teams are allowed through, so placing at a cup or a masters event is already mathematically harder. You'll then have more partner teams placing higher at events, meaning more money for them. No matter what way you spin it, this system gives the partner teams a significant advantage over the open qual teams financially, and esports orgs already are not profitable. Trying to play as an open org in this format is agreeing to fight uphill, which to me will ruin the esport as not many orgs are going to want to pour money into a losing battle.

having to earn money vs. partnered teams who are given money regardless of winning or losing. Do you see the problem with that? The unpartnered orgs will have to financially ruin themselves if they want to offer competing salaries to players when they're on the verge of getting poached, because the partnered orgs have money to spend from Riot on top of organizational money.

There is no long term benefit of playing well as an open circuit team lol. If the T2 teams that choose to play in the open circuit win masters, their players will get stolen by the partnered orgs, and they'll have to start over from scratch with new players. Essentially any non partnered team will become a feeding pipeline to the partnered orgs, and that's just a terrible model to have if you want real competition.

I think out of all the changes in VCT for next year, this one is the worst. Realistically, only one or two teams (MAX) are going to choose brazil as a subregion, leaving a ridiculous amount of players from brazil without an opportunity to join a partnered org. I foresee the same happening in korea, latam north, and turkey.

I get why they are trying this out, as they kind of want the roster construction of pre-partner VCT where a team was represented by players from it's country, but the game has evolved past that. Teams like GenG and T1 or BBL and FUT. All the top duelists from those regions (BuzZ, Hyunmin, Texture, Dambi, UdoTan, Xeus, Larok, s0pp, Woot, Kachoww, etc.) are split between four options essentially, or another org would have to use an import slot on them. The grandfather rule will buy a year at most, but for the future of valorant, this will only extend the gap between the top teams and the rest.

1. Kind of hard to replace your linchpin IGL (kingg) for an unproven rookie, especially when the rest of your team is also rookies with no exp. Erde just kind of got unlucky with the person on the main roster playing his role being that important.
2. Money; even if LEV did take that risk, they'd have to continue paying Kingg to sit on the bench basically, which probably compounded on the decision to not promote him.

Obvious gear up for the kozzy signing

You don't see many trans people in the main circuit partly because of skill and partly because of politics. There are definitely some trans GC players that could hang in the main circuit, but 99% of vct teams are not willing to take the risk associated with having a trans player for them to just "hang". Flor got a chance because she was head and shoulders above most players, and even she didn't get a real fair shot (albeit the controversy probably didn't help). The only way I can see a trans player getting a chance on the main circuit is if their mechanical skill is overwhelming, similar to Flor.

Been that way since the 2024 champs run honestly. Dude just knows what to do in the clutch.

They nerfed her directly after that champs, that was the last change made to her... If she was still "broken", why weren't teams playing her as heavy in 2025, or this kickoff?

Just because one team and one player are able to still utilize the agent well, now it's broken.

Genuinely confused where all this crying is coming from considering Neon has been the same for like over a year now lol. Nobody called it broken until Nongshim started winning.

cry more, Waylay is more of a terrorist than Neon.

You don't exist...

Going to pred it now, this kid will be the next big thing out of EMEA. Canezerra vs. Kozzy 2029 Champions Grand Final book it.

I WANNA CRACK I WANNA CRACK I WANNA CRACK

Every gun's a spray gun if you put your mind to it.

I genuinely don't understand how his shotguns work, I swear his judge one shots from any distance.

It's undeniable atp

Best two teams @ the tournament

Was always bound to be good.

This argument is stupid; the advantage is having to win LESS matches to win the tournament. Not only that, but you get free VODs on all the teams you can potentially play. There's genuinely no way to make it "fairer" without completely tipping the scale against the group stage teams.

Unironically think him and timo are the main reason 100t are even still alive. The other 3 have been subpar.

This is what happens when there's fresh faces/new talent given a shot.

You can't replicate the hunger these teams have.

Probably was audio, heard the clove coming and was basically trying to kickstart his reaction process while also having his crosshair in a wide enough spot in case he was cleared. That's why he peeked himself once he saw the tip of clove's gun barrel. KangKang does the same thing a lot (he'll do small back and forth movements with an op), but he does it without any cues. It's essentially a way for aimers to keep their reaction/muscle memory process engaged. It's hard to stay posted on an angle for a prolonged period and still have heightened reactions.

Am I the only one that is getting the same vibes?

I think this team is good and they are playing well, but they haven't faced any real test yet. I think they make it to Santiago and get slapped up ngl, their duelist duo is a bit underwhelming skill wise, but their support players are pretty sick.

Jett is being played by many teams on Abyss, specifically when you have a good OP'er (MIBR being an example, albeit Aspas is a different case).

Putting Woot on a kayo there and having comeback be on jett or even maybe yoru would work.

I think they're trying to preserve role structure. Need to adapt the old Optic/FNC method where you have your oper play the op agents and have someone else entry on the maps that need it, even if it breaks role structure a bit. Woot has already shown he is capable of being a world class entry, literally makes no sense to play fade gekko on bind instead of having him raze/waylay and comeback on chamber, then move riens to skye or something. Putting woot in a victor/alfajer type role where he entries on the chamber maps and plays the non-op duelist/flex ini on the others is what their best bet is.

Deadass straight bullshit, he clears 75% of the duelists in Americas last year.

LEV NRG MIBR SRB
EDG TYL XLG WOL
PRX GEN FS DRX
FNC TH KC VIT

Best player at the Champions tournament? That doesn't automatically make you the best player in the world for the year lol. If that's the case, then Pancada was the best player in the world in 2022, and KangKang was the best player in the world in 2024. Would you then agree with that?

lmao neither of them were ever considered the best player in the world, nor were they unknown commodities. Both of them were T2 staples that just never got a fair shot until NRG.

It's demon1 still and probably will stay that way. came from T3, subbing in mid season to end the year as a champion, MVP, and consensus best player in the world.

We probably won't see a rookie do that kind of thing again considering how much harder the game is now that everyone is ridiculously skilled.

Problem with Deadlock is you just can't play her as a solo sentinel in the current meta. And there are too many better options out there to consider a double sentinel comp on most maps (Yoru, Viper, Kayo,etc.) I think if she's ever played, it will be on Bind and Corrode, and it will have to be with a Chamber or Veto imo.

.14 1600
immortal 2

This list has enough valid names to tell me this is serious. No aspas and texture is crazy, both of them have to be mentioned in a mechanics list imo.

What do you guys think is the hardest role to excel in only considering pro play?

I personally think duelist or recon initiator.

Yeah I think he turns 18 like midway through kickoff.

12 teams, 3 per region consisting of upper final winner, middle final winner,and lower final winner.

Was also doing all of this 5-10 years ago... This is like picking up Scream in the big 25.

Does anybody know if the ranked gun buddies at the end of acts are going to be the peak rank you hit that act or where you ended the act?

It's Kangkang, anybody saying anything else is wrong.

Probably do just need to get used to it. Or you can always turn the actuation down. Coming from a regular mechanical, took about like 2 or 3 weeks of consistent playing to get movement back in order.

They released a smokes agent meant for reyna players and wonder why her pickrate is so insane. There shouldn't be an agent that can heal themselves and res themselves.

I think Demon1 and Havoc can find teams again. I'd add BcJ to this list though, bro was a top 3 initiator in the region before franchising and somehow never got a fair shot since. Granted, skill floor at the pro level is higher than ever before; I just I think the EG 2023 run after benching him may have been looked at by teams as "he was the problem" kind of thing.

Abyss: Yoru, Astra, Harbor, Vyse, Sova
Corrode: Waylay, Fade, Veto, Omen, Kayo
Bind: Raze, Skye, Chamber, Brim, Deadlock
Haven: Jett, Omen, Viper, Breach, Cypher
Pearl: Omen, Killjoy, Tejo, Gekko, Phoenix
Sunset: Neon, Reyna, Clove, Sova, Vyse
Split: Raze, Iso, Sage, Omen, Skye

I think I got everyone, but i'd say most comps are viable (sunset one might get stomped in pro play lol)

Pretty sure DRG comms in Chinese still, think vookashu just knows chinese. But XLG comms in english cause I think rarga doesn't know chinese very well.

I think FNC is as close as possible, not just cause of the sustained success but they created a new thought process on talent imo, like I feel they were the first team to turn a duelist into a high-level player in another role. Not a lot of teams were really maximizing talent as much as they were looking to fill roles back then, and now you see the opposite. Reduxx, Zekken, Tenz, Cryo, Forsaken, Smoggy, etc. All former duelist players that became/will become top level players in other roles. I just don't remember any of this happening before Alfajer, but I could be wrong.

I don't understand how someone can fake being non-binary. What is the difference between a player saying they're nonbinary vs. actually being nonbinary?

I'll be real, he's an upgrade over any of the brazilian teams duelists besides aspas. Could fit right in KRU's lineup too.