So a team being the fastest to discover a way to utilize the new agent = no skill. I'd actually argue that takes as high of skill than anything else. You can literally look at the flip side argument, a team that decides they want to play tejo only has 5 DAYS to practice him. So if a team decides it's worth it and is able to actually have success with it, how exactly is that a "joke" and "no skill"?

I mean his util can literally clear a site almost by himself, I think we're going to start seeing no sentinel comps, and people run triple initiator again. What sucks if that's what happens is the meta will become even more retake heavy. Like against a comp running Jett, Tejo, Sova, Breach, Astra? You just can't hold any site realistically.

Once again, ALL the teams are going to have this "problem", so it effectively isn't unfair anymore. If a team is able to implement the new agent in a way that helps them win with short notice, how does that discredit their win/the event? They were able to adapt their comps faster than the others, who once again also have the choice to try to adapt or just go with what they practiced.

That's on them for not adapting then lol. A team that wins off "abusing" an agent better than other teams deserves to win, and if they can't adapt after that agent is no longer "abusable", then they won't be able to win and that's fine. Idk why everyone complains about stuff like this like not all the teams can play the agent or something. It's on the pros to be creative and see where he can fit in comps.

Vitality

I mean she might be the easiest agent to play in the game, idk if there's really a way to not use her properly. Literally just smoke and take fights, that's all her kit really is good for lol.

Makes no sense to me how they can go from releasing a balanced agent like Vyse to this. Shouldn't be a way for a breach ult that kills people to make it into the game.

ngl, I was including imports cause they play in that respective league, but even excluding that, EU still has the best sentinels. Benjy, suygetsu, yetujey, alfajer, nats. It's not even remotely close honestly, that might be the role that's the clearest.

What regions do you think are the most talented for each role?

Imo, it's Americas for duelists, EMEA for flex/sentinels/initiators, and Pacific for Controllers.

Bruh I just checked his stats. Was he too young to be picked up by a team? Cause I've genuinely never seen numbers as high as his.

Raze/Neon
Fade
Breach
Astra
Deadlock/Vyse

I think whatever team(s) run some variation of this comp will have the most success, but it's all dependent on if these agents stay near their current state.

How can talent rise if you have to be apart of the VCT ecosystem to be able to get into a "high" level queue? You'd be playing against nobodies, the reason ranked right now can signify talent is because all the top pros are who you're playing against lol. Realistically too, very little pros (especially top ones) would play regular ranked if such a queue became a thing. Didn't tarik run something similar and like the radiant ranked q's became barren? Idk, I think having a radiant requirement would be good, but a pro requirement just defeats the purpose of climbing the leaderboards.

I don't think the FPL would translate the same, because there just aren't the same avenues to pro in valorant as there is in CS (way less teams invested in Val), so ranked is like pretty huge way for players to get their chance/get noticed. I think allowing only radiants would work, but only allowing contracted pros (not even all of them by your suggestions), deserving up and comers wouldn't be able to get their chance like primmie, karon, demon1, etc.

I might be biased, but i'd say the chichoo ace on lotus just off the fact I've never seen such re-adjustments so accurate and quick, it literally looked like he had some type of aimlock. The KangKang guardian 4k too, I actually thought Heretics was actually gonna comeback before that round.

Didn't even suit that meta is a technically correct statement, but I don't think that's necessarily a disadvantage. Being able to have variation in your comps is a huge advantage, and they were the only team that actually got better by taking their main OPer/star OFF chamber.

When aspas was playing chamber and they had essentially no entry, they were struggling more than when they had less on it and kept aspas on entry agents, something teams had started to abandon on certain maps (when triple initiator/double sentinel comps were at their peak on ascent/icebox/etc.)

Realistically, it's Chichoo considering the level of comp in 2024 vs. 2021, but not accounting for that it's Nats, he was the first non-duelist star.

I think they'll be decent, but they need another IGL if they want to be top 3-5. I don't think nature is a good enough caller to maximize the talent they have.

NGL Leaf might be the most 40-year-old looking 21 year old ever.

100t, LOUD, C9, 2G, EG in no order.

NGL DFM can definitely win kickoff lol. They looked good, even better than GenG looked imo. I still think T1 or NS are gonna win, but DFM and PRX are right there too.

You can be the goat if you're consistently ONE of the best and have trophies to back it up. No player in the game has been the best in the world for multiple seasons. So there is no definitive goat in the game, but Chronicle is definitely on the shortlist of players who should be considered.

"Author's Note : It is worth noting that Riot Games issued this warning to Benjyfishy before announcing the allowance of gambling sponsors in the VCT on November 28, 2024."

Reprimand player for gambling but allow your company to have gambling sponsors. Lol

There shouldn't be sova nerfs, they've already nerfed him. The fact is the only other recon initiator's recon abilities are just not as good. The dart will always be better than the eye, the drone is better than the dog on most maps, the solution should be buffing fade. increase her dogs range, maybe make the eye smaller in size so it's harder to shoot, or make it activate faster.

Yeah it's the same for me, I believe it's because you can get used to ranked being a coin toss as far as what your team will be like (skill, comms, etc.), so you might be subconsciously putting less focus on the game itself. For me, it's just not enjoyable to be on a team with no comms and/or teamplay, which is like 80% of ranked games, so I even find myself sometimes doing braindead shit because i'm not mentally invested in the match.

Lmao he's basically the youngest to do everything. Hope he keeps frying, this is ridiculous.

I mean he's technically already tier 1, and was the best player at the SOOP league by a fair margin, so I think he'll be ok. But I probably would say it'd be the biggest letdown for a debuting player, which isn't really much competition cause the T2 pipeline only really became prominent last year, before that teams were just recycling pros.

suspect...

Can someone explain if this kid is actually the goat? I saw him and one of his teammates with like 1.6 ratings and then all the rest of his team had sub 1 ratings. and they still won the major. I don't watch CS but by the stats it just seems like he is miles ahead of who he's playing against to the point he can just carry. Is he like the CS duelist equivalent for his team?

90% sure it's gonna be batujnax

Sayonara

Ngl they'd struggle against serbia and albania without at least some of the first team guys lol

Wondered why they kept this guy over Kristal, but i'm starting to see it. He might be top 3 players in the CN league this year.

Is this guy like the Woot of SA? He's been frying since I last saw him in ascension; he's like one of the only duelist players i've seen who's good at all duelist agents too. I don't watch Brazil T2, but i'd imagine if he can perform like this against teams like KRU, he is destroying ppl in T2?

https://www.vlr.gg/130680/optic-gaming-vs-team-liquid-valorant-champions-2022-ubqf/?game=95118&tab=overview

This series came to mind, specifically ascent. Never seen a player just outright win as many fights as yay did that map.

Classic riot maneuver, OP the shit out of an agent, then when everyone complains, nerf it to worse than it was pre buff. Last stage is when no one plays neon anymore and they slightly buff her again. Same thing they did to chamber, iso, viper, gekko, etc.

I mean they were still one of the best teams prior to her with the old c9 rosters, don't think they'll be seeing too much dropoff.

Terrible changes if true. They looked solid at RBHG, but C9 gonna C9 ig. #FreeOXY

As much as I'd like to think it's bait, i wouldn't put it past c9 to sign someone and drop them after one offseason tournament.

Compared to 2nd at masters, and winning champs the year prior. While they might have had a good year objectively, it is still disappointing considering what they'd done prior. That's all i'm saying, I think EDG can be the first team to lift another trophy after winning champs.

Every team that's won champs has had a disappointing year after, whether it be roster changes or just a falloff in performance, but I believe this is the first year we'll see that change, and for one simple reason: Offseason. This is the first year that the champ's winning team is participating actively in offseason events AND has no roster changes. Whether they look good or bad rn is another argument, but I believe this will overall help keep the edge that EDG has over the CN region and allow them to craft creative comps/ideas going into the year.
Clove/Breach Lotus, double smokes Abyss were introduced by them, and by the looks of their ascent vs. PRX, their permaban from last year, they've improved on it a lot. I could just be on high dosages of hopium, but I think this is the year a champs winning side gets another trophy.

Suprised no one said mac n cheese. Not thanksgiving without the mac

Classic case of ass pulling made up stats to support your argument. Works like a charm nowadays, president Donald Trump is a great user of this strategy

I know coaches and assistants can watch other teams play and what not already, but I think it'd be worthwhile for a team to have a dedicated scout that's only job is to find new talent early. Players like Oxy, Demon1, N4rrate, were all either not being pursued hard enough or straight up were just ranked demons, and they've all become world class talents, better than most t1 mainstays. If winning is as important as teams make it seem, why not have a real scout that can find these kinds of players before they generate too much buzz? I think what Heretics did is the way forward for VCT.

So fun to watch, it's almost like he plays on instinct, every play is too quick.

They very well could have, but what the hell does that have to do with edg lmao? You're saying a team THAT WON AN INTERNATIONAL WAS NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO MAKE ONE IN A DIFFERENT REGION. That is a fundamentally flawed argument.

How could they struggle to make internationals when they won an international...? against the top teams from every region? Terrible take.

Yeah it would be 12 lol I forgot, but he is not better than zekken and aspas (whatever team he ends up on). imo, he is very slightly better than oxy, but that's a debatable one i'd say.

TBF he'd be the best player on like 8/10 americas teams

More I think about the best vct performances, the more I realize how almost all of them came from duelists. Is there any performances that are really above the rest on other roles? I can only think of like Marved 2022 iceland and maybe Leo in tokyo.

Wait how is the schedule better for 1-1 teams? Either way if you make it out of swiss you will have to play a bo3 + bo5? All it does is add an extra third bo1 you have to play.