verno would be cool too, but N4RRATE plays fade and gekko so it lines up decently. Only thing idk about would be sova but maybe he could play jett and zekken on sova idk just brainstorming? Back to Xset days lol

I think they can keep Zellsis if they get a higher firepower initiator assuming Sacy leaves. Great leadership and has shown he can play even if he's had several rough games this regular season.

N4RRATE would be insane

EMEA bias is insane. Cloud?? No aspas?????

Probably won't unless its a good final. Even then idk timing just sucks I remember watching the AfricaTV final and it was crazy late

Don't love the format either but there is no world in which Furia should be at an international tournament

I still think you have to put 100T at least in B and EG in C (MIBR loss meant nothing), but that loss to LOUD was shocking. 100T do not look good

No cause now they're guaranteed to face either G2 or SEN, who are the strongest teams to face in the single-elim round

Brawk, Verno, Zander, and Mada are the people that come to mind for me as some of the top NA prospects rn but who are some other T2 talents that could make an impact in T1 next year? Asking so I can make a stupid post about how to fix C9/NRG

idk y this posted twice but idk how to delete it

I'd love to see it cause I think they have the pieces to make a run, I just need to see it before I put them much higher. Aspas is so much fun to watch when he's not playing against my team lol

They look really good but haven't shown the ability to win on an international stage. I hope they do well (I think Kingg is crazy and deserves to win something), but since their Shanghai performance, I need to see more before I belive in them internationally. All that to say I would love to be proven wrong and have LEV show up and maintain their domestic form at internationally. I'd put them solidly in contender if not frontrunner if they are able to do so.

I don't know I haven't watched

They won a masters this year and haven't dropped a map this split. Any team could crash out even the top tier ones, but I'd say in terms of the ability to win Champs they're definitely frontrunners.

No cause if 100T and LEV win then they'll qualify from playoffs and points won't matter for them so SEN will qualify. I think

That's why I put if they are in their stage 1 form. I think 100T has the potential to win if they are in that form, but if they show up like they have been this stage then I'd put them in the bottom tier.

SEN need to lose out and for LEV to lose out.
In this scenario LEV and SEN are tied for champ points but LEV has the H2H.

I think

Obviously who's going to Champs isn't guaranteed (at least for the most part), but given what we know now who can realistically win??
These are just based on my opinions, and my knowledge is heavily Americas biased cause I've watched the most of those matches.

Frontrunners: TH, SEN, GENG, PRX
Contenders: G2, 100T (if in Stage 1/Shanghai form) FUT, FNC
Need an insane run: DRX, LEV
Either already are in or probably will make champs, but can't win IMO: 100T if they play like they did in Stage 2, Talon, KC, EDG, FPX + whatever other CN teams make it

Also whyyyy are we back to doing a group stage for Champs???? The Swiss seemed to be so much better from my perspective

100% is rlly good, but not unseen lol. I've seen several people get 100%

idk bout that, but my point is that Aspas and Kingg are assumed to be great and have been, and Tex has stepped up a lot

I could totally be sleeping on them, I have them below NRG and LOUD cause I feel like they have a way higher ceiling than Furia, but I also have not watched many Furia games if I'm being honest.

Gotta see more from 100T before I believe that they're back in form cause they have looked pretty bad this split. As I said, they have a high ceiling and could potentially make a run at champs, but I can't put them in the top tier rn. If they were in form they would be above G2 and probably above Lev.

I'd say c9 would be the closest to being a "fraud", but they made it to playoffs by winning their games, it's not like they got in because of some weird tiebreaker. Even if they don't look good, they still deserve to be in playoffs.

Do I think they will make it out of playoffs? No

Possibly, but they're out of playoffs and lost to them both in Split one so it's hard to put them above

Ig I mean they should've done more to try and get him to stay. Main point is losing aspas led to them having a rough year

Don't hate it, but what's Demon1 gonna play when he's not Jett? Double controller?

Rankings now that we know who's going to playoffs:
1 SEN - Highest ceiling, look to be getting back into their form but need to stop giving away leads if they want to do well at Champs. If they come to Champs in peak form, only a couple of teams can contend with them.
2 Leviatan - Very in form throughout the regular season (shades of 2023 LOUD), looked rough at Shanghai but has Aspas and Kingg, and Tex is also looking decent. I genuinely have 0 faith in C0M but I would be happy to be proven wrong.
3 G2 - Looked shaky against KRU but has looked very strong otherwise, had a deep run in Shanghai and could do so again at Champs.

===Very Large Gap===

4 100T - Has the potential to make a deep run at champs or get knocked out in playoffs, either way, a higher ceiling than any team below them.
5 KRU - Probably won't make it far in playoffs but have the potential to make it to champs if they make some keznit magic happen.
6 C9 - I've never seen a team look so terrible and still win in that match against NRG but they made it to playoffs at least. Will need to do better as a team because OXY is not dropping 30+ in most matches against the top teams. I would be very surprised if they even made a run in playoffs, let alone make it to champs.
7 EG - Tragic end to the season, but made it closer to playoffs than the rest of the bottom of Americas, Jawgemo is cracked most of the time.
==Gap==
8 NRG - 12-5 to 12-14 is an Atlanta Falcons Super Bowl-level throw.
9 LOUD - Lost Aspas and just could not recover from it. Rough year.
10 Furia - Who cares
11 MIBR - Worse than the 2023 regular season KRU

Idk if it is this one-dimensional but IMO SEN is favored on Raze maps and NRG is favored on Jett maps

They get icebox in that case probably but I don't think they ever stood a chance on Split or Sunset

Fr international trophies and head-to-head are so unclear and ambiguous. This ranking would be more accurate if we base it solely on the 2 maps that NRG has played since kickoff.

Better than -22 lol

-22 in 2 maps is crazy I cannot lie

SACYYYYY

Ik there was a player that was like Jonah6 or smth

I agree they look insane. Right now I would put them at #2 just because of the difference in level of competition, but they have a legit shot at winning Madrid.

Whatever your time zone is it's the first game I'm pretty sure

Both EMEA teams lost to this??? Not a good look

Still lost cope

IMO
Ascent: LOUD > SEN
Breeze: LOUD >= SEN (Neither has looked that good)
Icebox: LOUD >= SEN (Map in Americas final could've gone either way)
Bind: SEN >= LOUD (New comp looked pretty decent)
Lotus: SEN >>> LOUD
Split: SEN >>> LOUD
Sunset: SEN >> LOUD

I think it probably comes down to Bind/Sunset for map three and I would favor SEN in both

W IGL and player for sure but definitely benefitted from playing FPX and the corpse of EDG

Realistic but I think LOUD would have more of an advantage on Breeze than Icebox. If this is the map pool I would be pretty confident in a SEN win

Maybe, but either way they have to let Split or Lotus through which is just rough for them

IMO SEN clears on Sunset, Split, and Lotus so what is the map veto going to look like?
I don't know if LOUD has a map they 100% clear SEN on, maybe Ascent but that probably gets banned by SEN, plus LOUD got destroyed by GENG on it. Icebox was close and SEN reworked their Bind so I feel like map pool-wise SEN has the advantage no?

My guess would be LOUD ban Split, SEN ban Ascent/Breeze, LOUD pick Ascent/Breeze, SEN pick Lotus, LOUD ban Sunset, SEN ban Icebox, and Bind remains.

TenZ had the highest ACS of anyone ever in any Masters/Champs that tournament.

-5 with 15 assists and wins the last round of the game with 2 kills in a viper ult. Yeah he sucks

I have LOUD 1 and SEN 2 but I'm still just so happy they finally made it to an event. 3 years is crazy

What a game my goodness

MY KING

Why drop SEN to A+ and keep NRG at S? If we're going based on who's the most proven NRG hasn't done anything yet besides beat 2 of the worst teams in Americas.

Current form
Demon 1>= Zekken (D1 Better Jett Zekken better raze)
Crashies >= Sacy
Ethan > Zellsis
Victor < JohnQT
Marved < tenZ

IMO its super close. NRG has better individual players by a small margin, but SEN are far more proven as a unit at this point. If all prep was equal I would say 60-40 SEN right now at beginning of season. But since SEN has shown so much and NRG hasn't, I think its 60-40 NRG favor.