Countries with a core lineup in the VCT , as in 3 players from the same country on the same team.

Smart by drx to crash the stream, nobody wants to see this team in this dire of a state.

Thats just based on VLR rating, which was added way after those events, which has now influenced peoples opinions.
It always felt that people thought nAts and marved were the mvps of their retrospective events.

Pretty sure nAts was the Berlin MVP.

I don't think ive seen loud play this badly maybe ever.
Is being a duelist affecting saadhak calling? because it seems like it.
Mibr shouldve won lotus comfortable if it wasnt for pistol rounds + individual excellence from Loud.

There are good talents in brazil but there is a lack of good igls / structures to help transform them into good players internationally.
Also these midseason moves were influenced by player availability, the best tier 2 Brazilian players wouldve required a decent buy out because ascension is so close.

To be fair i would be annoyed if I was a furia fan.
Finally winning a game after losing 10 VCT games in a row and then back to losing.

It has already been confirmed that the new SEA league will get the most slots out of any region in ascension.

Acting like dual flexes.
If you drew a venn diagram of their agent pools, you would probably cover every agent in the game.

no shame in losing to the best clutcher of 2023.

Good set plays and ideas helped them start the year strong.
Some of their cool plays, like that yoru/astra can only be done so many times.
Magnum calling isnt at a top level yet.

At the end of the day, the year is still a big success considering the size of the rebuild.

hes gonebros..

ex6tenz reportedly no longer the head coach.

Navi might be dead.
Luckily they had a good split 1, so they will probably still make playoffs.

More likely a huge coach shuffle.
Especially with this gentle mates move.

BOASTER in the clutch
the clutch meister is back.

"Its basically 5 players + wingman versus 4 players + wingman" -- Josh "Steel" Nissan

Twitter thread: https://x.com/valesports_emea/status/1805602253174169612
Youtube explanation on the overall tier 2 changes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXAKzpjsMwE

Yeah i checked the rule book you are right.

El ganador del Split de Verano de la VALORANT Challengers Spain: Rising Mediamarkt e Intel 2024 tendrá acceso a la fase Challengers Ascension.
El segundo clasificado siguiendo el sistema de “Championship Points” tendrá acceso a Play-in de Ascension en caso de realizarse.

Its the remerging of the leagues again, which is how it used to be before franchising.
It does suck but at least now there is some Portuguese/Italian represenation instead of spain having all the slots.
Dsyre has done a tremendous amount of good in the italian scene, really liked their approach especially with their academy roster.

Yes, guaranteed playin spot.
Also, Barcelona would require ramboot to lose to ucam aswell as winning the whole split to qualify.

Oce is not that bad, the exports from the region are doing well like swerl.
They have just historically had limited opportunities and a lack of investment.
Don't forget they beat Lakia's dplus at last years ascension.

I think the americas looks worse than it is because the top team keeps changing as teams dip in and out of form.
Pacific looks at its best right now imo, some of the middle teams are finding their groove.

It has never been about the players.

It was a typo, 3 teams will qualify from the second premier qual.

https://x.com/VALO2ASIA/status/1805238833052885108

Riot has reconsolidated SEA back into one big region.
The change will unite Indonesia, MY/SG, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and HK/TW into one challenger league.
This results in APAC now having 5 challenger leagues: South East Asia, South Asia, Oceania, Korea and Japan.

Update: SEA split 3 format announced.

https://x.com/VALO2ASIA/status/1805242104282825176

What do you guys think?
Personally it makes the challenger league easier to follow however it could really hurt the development of certain nations/subregions.
Really hope they try to maintain each subregion having 2 teams in the league, valorant being popular across so many nations is one of the most enjoyable things to me. Losing this edge because one region starts to overtake SEA would be a shame.

Probably a head to head tiebreaker, where 100t beat g2 2-0 in stage 1.

What an incredible call.
Great inserts from furia.

Shameless game copy and pasting overwatch maps.
They even ripped and reskinned dust2.

Immovable object vs unstoppable force.

Really need to see them on a team together one day.

Nah, slightly unpolished but alot of cool stuff was shown.

Everyone stealing their shit.

This kinda displays a problem emerging with the next crop of players lacking Lan experience.
There really isn't that many good domestic (NA) Lan events outside of the collegiate scene.
Every VCT game is so important, you need everyone to be ready.

I think 2 years is a better middle ground for the newly ascended teams.
Riot requires you to have facilities in the hub city for your respective region, orgs do not want to invest in good facilities if you are only guaranteed 1 year of VCT exposure.

A lot of the issues people are having with the VCT performance level is just due to what partnership/franchising is, allowing security for teams no matter the performances.
Having a league with teams that is not based on competitive performance will always result in less competitive games.
Relegating these partnered teams before the end of their agreements just breaks the logic behind the system in the first place.

I will pretend that I did not see that

Seems like another negative change for the tier 2 landscape?
Promotion only guaranteeing 1 year of VCT exposure.
Only 2 guest slot teams per region makes it even harder to break into the elite.

They just held W for half the rounds, a good neon player is scary if you arent prepared.
Almost threw a round versus pistols because of it

Good changes.
Iso still has a playable niche however his ability to become a bully in multiple duels is reduced.

He was also part of an "EG Development team" that was training with the EG staff and in the LA facilities.
This roster was: sonofcar , katsumi, ali, lear and truth

Lets just say sonofcar did pretty well.
https://x.com/EvilGeniuses/status/1790815958564548669

I kinda hope they try and form a spanish project, i've enjoyed that attempt in their LoL division even though some results have been mixed.
It is a lot harder to do in valorant and may kinda hedge on their ability to get fit1nho. Some Latam import could make it work though.

I felt like it was coming, KOI has struggled to find their footing in franchising so far.
Strange to do it mid split though, that vitality result mightve been the reason.

He was not supposed to enter the pitch until the ball was out of play.

trust the process #GEFIGHTING.

I don't actually dislike this years roster, however I would like GE to completely clean the slate going into next year.
I struggle to see a long term vision with this current iteration, none of the players stand out from their teammates.

Duelist: Swerl. Give him a blank piece of paper and let him write whatever he wants. (might be unrealistic)
Initiator: Skrossi. The king of india returns to his throne, good for the brand. Sorta reinvented himself in tier2, deserves a shot at redemption.
Controller: Techno. Probably the best upcoming talent india has to offer right now.
Sentinel: Dragon. Hes a beast.
Flex: Pl1xx (might be unobtainable) /Minimise: IGL with experience in multiple regions.

6TH: Lightningfast: good player but I think his skillset is best suited to a role that is not controller. Please try and find this guy a good affiliated scheme.

Coaches: Warbirds (might be unrealistic) + Stackmandu

Why so many OCE?
OCE is a talented fps region which doesn't have a franchised team drawing from its talented pool.
We have already seen the success of oce imports in VCTCN.

Actually i take that back. I dont want these players to be tainted by that organisation and its fans.

Each teams points tally isnt finalised yet, still a lot of games to play.

Top 3 teams in split 2 playoffs qualify.
The championship points table will not include teams already qualified.
So if the table stays as it is and Gen.G end top 3 in split 2, then yes prx will qualify.

Masters 2 was Shanghai.
Masters 1 was Madrid.

So its just champions now, which has 4 teams qualifying.
With the 3 best teams from split 2 playoffs qualifying directly.

There is also a 4th slot based on championship points, which attempts to reward an additional team that was consistent throughout the year.
The team with the most points that has not qualified yet will make champs.

https://www.vlr.gg/vct-2024/standings

The way the season worked was by splitting a round robin into two splits, with each team playing 10 games.
So in this split you will play the other teams (that you didnt play in split 1).
The best 6 teams based on overall record will qualify for split 2 playoffs.

Probably wanted Benkai on initaitor because he is igling now, good to have him more involved.
However, now you are in a situation where both blazeking and benkai don't look comfortable or experienced in their roles.

The team just completely fell apart in late round scenarios.

When fnatic comes knocking its a different type of knock.

Hiro probably, he's played pretty much every role at the vcl level.
Although they might allow chronicle to flex more as he has shown to be a great sova in the past.