Looking in their comms video: V1nny is surprisingly looking like a really good IGL, having almost perfect map reads on crucial rounds and keeping the team together to avoid overheating and overpeeking. Midrounding from the whole team also seems very good. Still a lot of mistakes, but they seem solid on adaptation and everyone is shooting. Sentinels will be their true test, but i think this team could surprise with more time

he was not igling on red canids. thats why people were so skeptical. he haven't igl'd in a year before loud

Jonatanniel Perelson IV

loud was never really that good on bind, historically it isn't a safe map at all. i feel like it was always a shaky map when it mattered and they never knew what to do with it. i think they might be more confident with it now, since they are letting it open for decider, but im picking it more as a surprise bet than anything

gonna be funny when G2 don't make it to bangkok

I don't think hiding is the right word but they have been competent and lucky enough to not show very much on these first few games. From videos i think they seem to be decent enough on Abyss and Lotus to let it open for this match

O ideal é não chegar na Lotus mesmo. Mas nova season, novo time, tem que ter confiança em si mesmo. Decisão não dá pra ficar contando com a sorte tem que jogar com o que tem

going first is basically giving the opponent a three-map veto AND choosing the final map... unless you bet on it and don't ban fracture at all lol (and i think sen might be safer with this than loud)

Loud fixed ban seems to be Fracture, and historically is a bad map for them, so it will likely be their first ban. It also might happen that they ban Abyss first because is their second ban, since Sentinels banned Fracture too and they will be forced to ban it instead of a potential Split ban, so Loud would have a "third" map ban, but i don't think they will play much with luck. Also they seem to have a decent Abyss so they might let it slide

On the Sen side, their first ban vs 100t was also Fracture, so it seems like not a good map for them; But with the tough map loss vs 100t, i think they might lose confidence and ban Split. Since it was their map pick i believe they might just have had an off day and still be confident on it, working on it for these past two weeks and even maybe changing the comp, but i don't know and i feel like they will just ban for now and work on it later (or at least not pick it first)

Considering that, i think Sen will pick Pearl, because it felt like a good map for them and they can antistrat the shit out of Loud, or Haven, which is more unlikely because it was their ban on first match (they might be expecting Loud to pick it instead). On Loud's side, i think it will either be Bind (Surprise pick that they haven't played + Lots of material on Sen) or Haven (Comfort pick + Sen may not be confortable on it), but im leaning more towards Bind. Decider depends on bans, but it might be either Lotus or Split, and im leaning more towards Lotus.

Pearl - Bind - Lotus

Feels like a 50/50 map pool. I think it will definitely go to Lotus and each team will at least take a map. With that map pool, im leaning towards a Loud 2-1 game, but it could honestly go any direction (specially with different pools)

PaperRex are the fucking worst nightmare of the armchair analyst. They do not make sense as a team. They make confidence based decisions. They play the game exactly how the fucking MOBA crowd hates it. Listen, there’s a subsection of playerbase out there that thinks the game needs to be defined down to the fucking numbers. The analytics. “Pushing up my glasses. Oh this lineup from this particular angle. Oh this composition doesn’t work in theory because this particular position of util 🤓.” YOU’RE GONNA GET SHOT IN THE FACE! YOU’RE GONNA LOSE THE ROUND! IT’S A GUN GAME! IT’S AN FPS! IF YOU WANT THAT, IF YOU WANT THAT PLAY OVERWATCH! IF YOU WANT THAT, PLAY LEAGUE OF LEGENDS! PLAY A DIFFERENT FUCKING GAME! THIS IS VALORANT YOU MOTHERFUCKER! YOU GET SHOT, YOU DIE! YOU GET SHOT, YOU DIE! YOU GET SHOT, YOU LOSE THE ROUND, YOU LOSE THE GAME! IT’S AN FPS GAME!

lets go i miss drx

lets fucking go

not watching the game is the GOAT back?

i said that demon1 is better
jawg yes is arguable he was pretty inconsistent as a duelist last year and asuna is not bad at all (although he has more luck than actual skill) but to me jawg is better

but i've said in another comment below: EG 23 feels like a bunch of ordinary players on a system that max potentialized them (except demon1, an actual generational talent). while 100t feels like all of them could be starplayers

neon meta was actually so insane

i honestly dont remember his jett being bad on ascension tbh he just needed some polishing (after all he was like 16)

do not worry. sen and loud are going to bangkok

yeah is kinda weird to compare different roles. but what i feel is that EG is a lightning bottle situation. aside from demon1, all the players are ordinary and got their max potential extracted by the collective, while 100t i feel like all the players could be superstars if they make the right choices

demon 1 no. jawgemo is arguable, but i don't think so too. eeiu is miles better than ethan

individually, 100t is better than EG 23. but individuality don't win games, most of the times

im going to kill myself

no. and loud also wasn't supposed to lose it either but they choked it anyway (not discrediting the insane team EG was too)

slow down, 100t is 100% better than both EG and Kru. but Loud looks better than people give credit for, and is not that unlikely

def possible and not too crazy to predict

what might also happen is they pick abyss first map which is also a mystery and will make the whole thing a mess. or even loud pick fracture, since sen banned it first, if they let it open. hard to predict

I don't think loud will pick Split because Cauanzin said on a vlog that they're working on a map pool to adapt to the opponent strenghts and weakness, besides Sen having lost 13-4 vs 100t i think they wouldn't pick it because 1) It was Sen's map pick and it could just be an off day 2) Sen has a lot of anti-strat material. I think they will either second ban it (Unlikely because it seems like they have two fix map bans Abyss and Fracture) or leave it open for Sen pick/3rd map. What i think they will pick is either Lotus or Bind, because it seems like good maps (let it open on both games) where Sen couldn't anti strat them (but also consider Loud couldn't antistrat Sen on Lotus). At the same time Sen also banned Haven vs 100t, so i think loud MIGHT pick it, but i think it will be a risky choice and they will probably bet on a safe map.

It's hard to predict Sen because it's been one game so we don't have a pattern yet, but i think they might pick Pearl or Split because it's strong maps (again, Split vs 100t might just be a off day - no one picks a map without being confident in it) of antistrats against loud, who has less material of them. So considering they might ban Split because they might not be confident on it anymore, im thinking it will be:

Pearl (Sen) - Bind (Loud) - Lotus (Decider)

I think this map pool is 50/50, Pearl is a good map for both on their showing, Loud Bind is a mystery but they could antistrat Sen (which seemed also great on Bind), and Lotus is a mystery. I'm leaning to a 2-1 Sen but i really think both teams could win and even pull it off a 2-0 on a great day. It's going to be close tho

i suppose so. he was open to offers for americas too so at least one org must've talked to him

hiiiiiiiiii dort

KC is still figuring out things and prob testing a lot but their vitality game really went to show how this team can be great if things work out

dont worry the GOAT less will bring champions to europe as a treat

Bottom six now have 4 teams that were (at least once) discussed as possible international contenders: M8, Karmine, GiantX, NaVi (with FUT possibly getting knocked out next round too)

many people will use this to talk shit but 1) still early season 2) i honestly think this is healthy and the league has leveled up a bit. While i don't think the general game level is that good as some people are saying, its definitely better than 23/24, and having more upsets is actually great. while yes the hyped up teams have disappointed a bit, i think other surprises are welcome (BBL, TL, FNC on form again? idk)

maybe they shouldn't have lost then

not even the best lurker in EMEA

solid because its really balanced
even when sen was shit they still almost won a pretty good loud, and vice versa
anything can happen

sen 23 was dogshit remember
they only really matched up on 24

That's Very Good FNs!

i got what about y0u?

let the team work out for some time check again after split 1

zellsis = pancada

unserious opinion

also pancada is smokes he should be compared to bang

another day another EMEA hyped up team getting dogwalked by the same teams as always

i disagree

but also wanna know a fun fact
loud has a 4-0 all time track record in maps against G2

been having two rough years but it seems this one will be more chill now. just waiting for things to get better and for january to end

i went to the beach yesterday so my back looks really red lol but it was worth it. now it looks like it will rain and i will go to the movies later today. good shit

why is G2 a top tier team for winning C9 but Loud isn't for two clean wins without losing a map against same-level opponents?

you guys are so premature lol cant you wait till kickoff is over and we actually have material so we can have this discussion

twin peaks

he's a cutie

(ignore tixinha i was watching on his watchparty)

https://imgur.com/a/fwhnpO7

LMAOOOO HE TAKING THE PICTURE WITH THE LOUD SIGN IM GONNA CRASH OUT

both

this is getting actually sad vitality is too good