Monster Hunter World: Iceborne was actually very good in my opinion, Rise's expansion Sunbreak was also good but not as definitive as Iceborne.

TBH I enjoyed the expansions for the Sword/Shield and Scarlet/Violet, but more just because they added my favorite pokemon into the games

instant classic

time to go back to the all white AF1s meta

GC goes throughout the year (i think NA open quals actually starts before kickoff tournaments do) plus i think challengers might be able to fill the other time

I think part of it could be stability. A lot of the better pro athletes in traditional sports have been playing their whole lives (in basketball most people start in elementary school and play through high school and at least some college), and in europe some play professionally at a young age. They do also have a pretty long off season, which allows their body to recover, and some do complain of fatigue, especially teams that make deep playoff runs in consecutive years. In traditional sports, due to media rights deals and other sponsorships, athletes are paid millions and sometimes do not even play. However, in esports, while some players have been playing for a long time, they don't know when the money will run out, and what the format will be next year, let alone the meta. Their job is anything but guaranteed. They could be let go due to something outside of their control, or the money could just evaporate into thin air as we have seen recently.
You aren't really taking into consideration the amount that players in esports actually play the game outside of official matches. Sure, teams are in front of the cameras for anywhere from 40 to 110 hours a year, but they are also practicing (likely) at least 6 hours a day in and out of the server, and also play the game/stream outside of practice. All traditional sport athletes practice as well, but they also have recovery time that they can spend without having to physically play. Esports athletes, I feel use more of their non-practice time in the server playing and reviewing during the season.
Additionally, the staff for a lot of traditional sports are extensive, with mental health specialists, coaches for just about everything, and coaches do their best to allow the players to keep succeeding, for example, Steve Kerr would allow Steph Curry to play golf during the season.

youre right, there's probably a lot going into each decision and i just hope other tournaments can fill enough of the year so we dont have as much of a long off season next year

tbh depends when/how many you take, don't overwork yourself just because your friends are, speaking as a student from a very competitive high school who suffered from extreme burnout both in high school and early college.
i only took three as a result of burnout (and the big C), but my rankings out of the three I took are (hardest to easiest)

1. AP US history
2. AP Stats
3. AP Environmental Science (class easy, not many people get 5s)
   it does all depend on your willingness to self study and how you best learn, teachers, etc of course

I feel like reacting to the format after only one year of partnership is difficult. Sure, on paper the new format isn't super appealing, but we don't know how well the overall viewer experience will be with tier 2 hopefully filling in gaps between the major tournaments and international leagues. We lost a big international tournament due to no LOCK//IN, but we gained one in Masters Madrid.
Remember how much backlash we heard after the announcement of the LOCK//IN format, yet now we don't really talk about it just because of how memorable the final was. I'm by no means a rito apologist, but I want to see how they implement this format before passing judgement.

11 TDs and 5 INTs in playoff career starts...

I think Looney has unfortunately hit his ceiling, a lot of injuries early into his career have lowered his physical ceiling. People forget he was getting KD comparisons in HS due to his mobility and athleticism at that time. he is a great rebounder and a great pnr partner but i dont think he needs to necessarily be developed. i think as it stands his role alongside TJD as a javale mcgee-type athletic big is working, just needs polishing

The only problem I see with breaking up the big 3 is that the Warriors won't get back as much value in a trade for either klay or draymond as they can provide for the dubs.
cp3 has been surprisingly good this year especially when looking at poole on the wizards, and wiggins has been going on an upward swing. call it copium but i think they should hold on to one of them
one of the problems with the roster as currently constructed is that there are just too many guards for there to be enough minutes, especially when the team is fully healthy. they obviously start steph and klay, then first off the bench has been cp3 and gp2, but moody and podz have both proven themselves, but kerr likes to play joseph a lot as well. when you look at forwards it gets easier, but not by much

what even would the nets have sent in return? milwaukee even had to involve the suns to get dame

screw Valorant rostermania, how good are the bucks now that they have dame instead of jrue holiday?

For the regions with two slots yes, winner of series 3 will auto qualify as first seed, then the highest circuit points is second seed, but that's only for NA and EMEA.

im just interested to know what bro thinks a good username is lmao

for real

can vouch for that last part, reporting without anyone above you is very tough financially

Somewhat disappointed to see the same format with small venue, small crowd, and limited slots, especially after what most of the players said last year when a similar format was announced. This year, after averaging over 100k viewers last year, (even when most of NA was unable to watch live due to time difference) I think players expected a larger event, especially when this is the only Game Changers international all year, outside of NA bringing in some LATAM teams in third party tournaments.

GC Report was blocked from sending this news out by twitter being broken...

If SR wins this series, they qualify for Berlin regardless of the outcome of the grand finals, which would then just be played to determine the seeding between the two teams.
If MSF wins this series, they only qualify for Berlin if they also beat C9 in the grand finals, with C9 then qualifying as the second seed through circuit points. If MSF wins this series and loses in the grand finals, then C9 qualifies as the first seed, and SR qualifies as the second seed.

oop

I hope Breeze is in the map pool, both teams undefeated there in this tournament, both looked very strong, refined and comfortable on both sides.