Zywoo really lost to Łukasz Rossander

I've heard rumours that for the first bundle (classic, player card, ), every team will have the same design except with different colours and logos.
No animation either.

They will play the losers of yfp/glazers so its pretty difficult.

Might be the worst i've seen SR play in a minute.
Oh well props to 1337, played some smart rounds.

Is this the worst we have ever had?

It feels like the icebox changes have failed to fix the core problems of icebox.
Ascent is a good map but is incredibly stale, pretty sure its the only map that has been in the pool since release.
Breeze seems to be in a pretty poor state since the changes.

"x ruined music" or "music is better back in the day" is a terrible opinion.
We are in the day and age where the most music is being created and the most diverse music and ideas are being explored.

If you think things are worse, you are only scratching the surface of the music industry.
Yes, certain things may have negatively impacted certain artists or songs but there are so many artists unimpacted by it.

I think the edge that zekken has over Cryo is his flexibility.
Zekken has the ability to play multiple agent roles, team roles and a deeper agent pool, which he has shown throughout his career already.
That edge was shown in full display during americas last year where we would often see an awkward cryo raze map etc.

no way they just won that round.

It does feel like a rebuilding year of such.

I really like the attempts to tap into the regional markets, the use of regional ambassadors for co-streaming in their respective languages is clever.
If these attempts are fruitful it would definitely benefit the future of Polaris.

This may be the weakest the league has ever been.... and maybe that is okay.

If we look back on Polaris Split 2 2023, none of the top 4 rosters are in Polaris anymore.
With the majority of the players being exported to a higher level or more financial viable teams in other leagues. (greener pastures)

Tier list:
S: Apeks
A: HTW
B: METIZPORT / Formulation
C: Apinaorkesteri / SweetNSour / Onlyfins / Whocars

With the way riot views tier 2 as a whole, I feel like Polaris is the representation of that. (for better or for worse)
Numerous young players given opportunities this year to compete and develop, just look at apinaorkesteri as an example.

The league seems to be doing a lot better on the social media and back end side with the new organiser (mist games)

Turtle Troop kept their spot due to them winning the relegation event.
https://www.vlr.gg/event/1458/challengers-league-north-america/play-in-relegation

The two empty NA vcl spots?
Well we don't know if a roster will be made to obtain those spots.
To retain a spot you would need a roster made up of the core of a NA VCL 2023 team.

Okay NRG will most likely beat furia.

but that furia loss to GE was so fake, and i'm saying this a #GEBELIEIVER.
It was literally a meaningless game (literally had no effect on the tournament) in the off//season whilst most of the team had stomach issues.

Mwzera

Happy birthday.

You have to give props to riot for the innovation it takes to create formats that maximise viewership and minimise competitiveness.

Off season just got even longer

He's hit or miss for me.
Like some songs feel like they could be a shit post whereas with other songs you can hear how it impacted the sound.

I like this one quite alot though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeLQOfb6IBU

Pretty balanced groups.

I ranked the teams based mainly on achievement.
Of course a team from 2023 would beat a team from 2021, you don't really need to explain that.

FNC 2023
NV/OPTIC 2021-2022
GAMBIT 2021
LOUD 2022
EG 2023
FPX 2022
-
PRX 2023
LOUD 2023
EDG 2022-2023

Can't really judge 2024 PRX off of a couple of meaningless off//season events.

You're Telling Me a Shrimp Fried This Rice? 🦐

Both games are animals with guns.

https://x.com/Disguised/status/1750534098081448288?s=20

Pretty smart.
This MYSG roster would be a contender for ascension.
Being able to use bleeds facilities is a big bonus.

Bleed get to continue developing the region.

Honestly it could be DSG becoming an affiliate team for Bleed.
Yay will probably just be in the announcement video.

Onlyfins isn't even an org.

Every recent SA import seems to come through that GR Agency.

They have signed/represented DOS9 , ARDNKING , LBY, SEVERINE, FROSTMIND, 7SSK7, ANQ.

damn Boaster my multilingual king.

But yeah getting a slice of that french fanbase would be nice.
France arguably has the best fanbases in esports.

Yeah it's pretty incredible how many top level fps players hail from Russia.
Especially in cs, there is a very good support system in place.
A lot of orgs investing and many orgs have academies.
The likes of new talents like donk + shiro + monesy all emerging from that system.

In valorant with the CIS league being removed it has sorta stumped the growth of new talent in the region.
Although this year we have seen so "newer" faces like vo0kashu, jemkin and something shine in their new opportunities in asia.

Leo Faria using the "we are listening to the fans" gimmick like a bar of soap.

Surely they can't allow that Group A in emea to happen..

Seeding based on 2023 performances with rosters that have changed players and coaches.
I can see a lot of "upsets" happening.

Wow this is cool.
NDAPR is something i've been wanting for a long time.

With the true-first kills are you using a trade window, as in a kill that isnt traded after X amount of seconds?

Personally, I don't think off//season events hold much weight.
So many things can change between the events and the VCT season, including major meta shifts.

A lot of the off//season events also include odd formats which we would never see in VCT.
(Best of Ones as an example)

I just see them as something fun to watch, like a more professional/organised showmatch.

Demon1 has the potential to be the best player of all time, I agree.
In 2024, with his Champs MVP, he is the best player at the moment.
Will he be the best player in the future? We cannot be certain.

It has been a meteoric rise for the 21 year old however he needs to sustain this success.
Yay had arguably the best year for a valorant pro of all time however due to what happened in the following year, he's not remembered as fondly.

If FNC have another great year and Alfajer racks up a few more MVP's then Alfajer would be the furthest ahead in the trajectory of becoming the goat.

lovers rock vs wanzeru
very interesting matchup

It's Hype.

https://x.com/hypeVLR/status/1701902276586066003?s=20

How come PRX doesn't abide by that rule?

Probably because GoNext has a polish core.

Horrendous take + Drake is literally Canadian.

Investing in MYSG is pretty smart.
The league should be open for the taken this year with Bleed ascending + Enigma disbanding.
and honestly the roster is very good, could be a strong contender for ascension.

Congratulations!

No shame in losing to this oxygen super team.

https://tiermaker.com/create/vct-2024-all-teams-924719-5

https://imgur.com/a/TuuJCbk

Each tier isn't ordered (i'm lazy)
This is roughly how I feel about each team.
I don't have much faith in these chinese teams at the moment.

It's the perfect mix of cracked kids, the overspill of tier 1 talent that leaks into tier 2 and the accessibility of high level scrims.
It just needs a constant level of org support and the orgs above being willing to embrace the next generation.

Shao over Less in 2022, then we almost have a list of the 3 MVP's for the year.

Hopefully that YFP roster can make challengers cause I wanna see Bones in Tier 2 man.

I completely forgot about mada.
His time in SR in 2023 warped my perception on him, cause he was on a flex role the whole year and he didn't perform as well.

I watched almost no valorant in the off//season so I can't really comment on how good he is back on duelist now but I remember his raze was always pretty solid.

Well it feels like (in tier 2 NA) its between him and koala.