Sooo, this aged well 🤣

I mean, If the 5 players can play near their peaks they should be top 3 in the world, the question is: Can they?

I have a few point to consider. People usually don't get as much support to become a pro player as they would if they chose to study for med school. If a 18 year old decides to go pro, he probably won't get any support from his family and friends, and without it he won't be able to dedicate himself as much as he would as a resident student.I think that's what Zellsis meant when he said you can take a blueprint to become a surgeon. Although the path is hard, it is much clearer and socially accepted.

I also think Zellsis meant becoming a top pro valorant player (Tier 1 player). Tier 2 is dying and most pros there don't make much money. Riot also only consider Tier 1 players as Pro. So, with all due respect, i can see his point, you have to become one of the best 30 players in NA to be a real pro player. You'll probably have to do that without any financial support from your family, you only have 10 years to even try, and if you didn't start as a kid, chances are you won't be able to become one even if you dedicate yourself fully. It's a harsh path. Both are hard, and both should be respected.

I'd say:

NRG Crashies > A-
KRU Keznit >> B
FUR MWzera >> B

Tier S (Superteams):

-SEN
-NRG
-LEV

Reasons:
They should be the clear favorites this year, but each of them has a red flag. NRG doesn't have an IGL with experience on the role and maybe didn't have as much practice time. LEV changed their communication to English despite not beeing the first language of most of their players. They're also already having internal problems, if NZR leaves it could spell doom, they won't have enough time to practice with the new player before the season starts. SEN already showed too much during the offseason, the other teams have a lot of material on them to counter strat. They're on top because they have proven themselves against top competition on the AfreecaTV Tournament.

Tier A (Superteams?):

-LOUD
-FUR
-C9
-G2

Reasons:
LOUD would be S tier, but they lost Aspas, the best duelist in Americas last year. His shoes are hard to fill. His replacement QCK played for FUR last year and has lots of experience and firepower. I believe he'll grow to become a much better player on LOUD, Saadhak has shown his ability to guide young talent time and time again and i believe he'll do the same, but until them, tier A is fair enough. C9 is this high because of their performance against FNATIC on Red Bull Home Ground Grand Final. FUR should be close to C9, they faced each other on Superdome and went 3-2 in maps. But they should both be a tier behind LEV since FURIA lost 3-0 on the Finals. G2 had a poor offseason, but their roster has potential. They should be at least a tier behind SEN since they lost 2-0 to them twice recently (Showmatch and SEN Invitational).

Tier B (Teams):

-100T
-KRU

Reasons:
Kru is here because we don't have enough info to put them higher or lower. They never played seriously during the offseason (only with subs or full trolling). But they could still be good. 100T didn't perform well on Red Bull Home Grounds, they've lost to DRX and FUT pretty badly, but they didn't have Boostio on the team yet, they'll probably get better.

Tier C (Teams?):

-MIBR
-EG

Reasons:
MIBR lost twice to a Tier 2 BR team (XIT) in MEG, XIT is not a bad team and will probably be an Ascention contender next year, but even so, this is a red flag. My hope for MIBR is their coaching staff, Frod and BzKa are incredible coaches, they should make this team play as best as they can. EG Doesn't seem to care, i don't know who is in the roster, just like MIBR their only hope is the coaching staff, good luck Potter :)

These are my takes on the Americas league, please share yours as well. Happy 2024 everybody XD

It depends, but i think no team will be willing to pay his buyout. He'll remain on Sentinels bench until the end of his contrat this year. Them he'll tryout for MIBR and FURIA. I still believe he is a GOATED player and Will be in T1 2025.

I don't know, NZR is really good, already have chemistry with the team, and have a better agent pool. C0M is great with Sova and Viper, but LEV already have a goated Viper (kiNgg). I think overall this is a downgrade.

NZR, he was the IGL for FURIA before he went to LEV. He's quite experienced in the role.

LEV hype is actually real, on paper they have players good enough to compete for internacional titles, the only thing that held them back last year was their duelist player, but now they've replaced him with Aspas. They could easily be top 3 in Americas. My only concern is their communication, the team now speaks English despite not being the primary language
of 4 of the players.

Fnatic vs Sentinel
Sentinels because of Sacy and Pancada. Some are calling them traitors, but i still support them (I also heckin love Tenz).

C9 vs PRX
Cloud9. They've been streming in Brazil and people really liked them, specially Zellsis.

Navi vs Kru
Kru. They have Xand, and most of their players we've had problems with are not on the team anymore.

Zeta vs Leviatan
Zeta. I love underdog stories, but it's pretty unlikely they'll win. LEV looks like one of the best teams right now.