Yeah I can see that. The likely KRU/TL match will be a good one I think. KRU has been improving with each international event, and TL have placed no lower than 4th.

You better stick to your word. ;)

Deserves to be? I mean, they lost, they took 4th place for playoffs - similar story to masters 3 EMEA qual's. They played like shit and got nothing but some points for it.

So no, not really. But they got the opportunity to potentially prove us all wrong. I am a little shocked that they'll be getting the full circuit points reward and not, say half of it - would make a lot more sense especially with giving FPX their deserved top 8 finish points.

Love this. Glad I don't have to go digging for random stats to fuel my love for making hopefully accurate predictions.

Thanks - and I am indeed a helicopter. <3

I can see it - but I don't see the two teams coming out of that group consisting of NIP or Zeta either way :/

yeah, fair enough.

Means a lot, thanks! :)

.

Thank you! <3

Long post, tl;dr at bottom of each major bold section if you don't want to read it all, enjoy!

Groups announced, little behind, but here we go. Predictions are after the "let me talk about the groups first that no one will read" paragraph, labelled in bold

Group A:
Fnatic vs Ninjas in Pyjamas
Zeta Division vs DRX

Group B:
Liquid vs KRU
Optic vs XERXIA

These are interesting. The double rematch from champions in group B, we all know how both of those went, or so I hope. Also Fnatic and DRX being in the same group, with some *weaker** teams with them.

• • More in terms of seeding than anything else - NIP looked good, but LOUD only dropping 2 maps in the whole season without any reasonable international results to show prior to it? Kind of shows you where Brazil still stands, looking like I'll be proved wrong, but just facing the facts here.
• • Also, I respect the Japan representation, but they have yet to really have any decent result, as a region, they are 1-6 against international competition. See if Zeta can do anything CR weren't able to... Get out of groups... (doubt it).

Group A Predictions
Fnatic, although likely 2 players down for at least the group stage, pending Derke's recovery (please be fast..), should get through group stage, only really tested by DRX - this will be a good rematch, would love to see it with the full rosters from both teams. DRX takes this one in a close 2-1. Fnatic closes the group out against NIP in the lower bracket.

DRX, looking once again really strong throughout the season are still yet to prove how good they really could be on the international stage, falling short to the Masters 3 winners in Gambit, and again, falling short to two top 8 finishers in Cloud 9 and Fnatic. They should get out of groups this time as I wrote above, pretty comfortably too.

tl;dr - DRX > Fnatic > NIP > Zeta

Group B Predictions
I said it already, lots of rematches to happen here, some good matches to follow either way those matches go, with the potential of TL vs Optic as well.

KRU looked very shaky throughout the season and even into the playoff stage, likely due to the news surrounding keznit, their star player. If this guy can show up again, I could really see them winning the whole thing. But you have to get through a pretty damn good group and then beat a regional winner (or g2) to have a decent chance at doing so. yikes.
They overcame their region with a lower bracket run in the LATAM playoffs. Unfortunately for them, they have to play through these groups while LOUD get a few days off as their regional brothers weren't able to take down NIP to give the the bye.

Optic, my god. - this team is looking scary - with guard somehow besting them in some crazy games. This team, rivalled in my eyes by only DRX for how good their quick executes late in a round are, are looking like another favourite for the title. Again, some tough competition to go through, but I'll keep it short and simple. FNS never loses (unless it's to guard, unlucky).

Liquid - do they deserve it? Probably not, they played like trash in the finals of EMEA, getting bested by FPX a second time and losing to the eventual champions, G2. I put in a previous comment that I don't really see TL making playoffs over KRU and Optic, especially. But, similar to what I said about NIP early in the post, looking at previous results, TL have achieved a top 4 finish in both international events they've gone to, who says they won't do it again? Me (oops).

XERXIA - Yeah, I don't really watch APAC matches, sorry, not much to say here. This is a tough group for them, good luck.

tl;dr - Optic > KRU > TL > XERXIA

Playoff Match Predictions
With Optic & DRX winning their respective groups with runner ups in Fnatic and KRU, I could see some matches going exactly like this:

Some prerequisites will probably have to follows by Riot prior to making the playoff bracket.

• Teams from the same group cannot be on the same side of the bracket.
• Group Winners also cannot be on the same side of the bracket.
• Teams from the same region cannot be on the same side of the bracket. The only exception I could see to this would be the obvious EMEA where there could be 3 teams in playoffs.
  Following these, I've come up with this:

Guard vs DRX
G2 vs KRU
LOUD vs Optic
PRX vs Fnatic
^ the drx/kru combo could be swapped as well as the fnatic/optic combo. But based on my guess of seeding, that's how I got it.

Disagree with anything? I'd love to read some replies. I tried to be as unbiased as possible, and focus more on how strong teams looked in their respective regions as well as previous results.

this would be my tierlist:

Deep playoff run: Guard, Optic, KRU

Has potential: Fnatic, G2, LOUD, PRX, DRX

No playoffs: LEV, TL, ZETA, Xerxia

D Tier: RIP... NIP, I mean.

I do think Lev beat NIP to give KRU the playoffs slot. KRU seemed off during the season though, maybe due to the keznit issues - maybe they'll be back in form for another deep run. Can't count them out.

Fnatic playing with potentially 2 subs, only 1 confirmed for now puts them down a tier for me, if I'm ranking the tiers as I did.

#Worldle #27 2/6
⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩
https://worldle.teuteuf.fr
mmm

wp.

in threes - as it is x set if off x jordypurp

800h
prob derke or mr. streamer s0m

honestly 5Head
I kinda just play anything but yeah astra/sova "main" with raze when I cba to go big brain mode

kobs

In NA it's 4 teams for an 8 team double elim bracket in playoffs. EMEA was always 6 teams with top of each group having a round 1 bye - much better format overall, but I suppose to make future qualifiers easier, 8 teams in NA makes more sense

Alright. While I would've loved to see this match-up in the grand-finals, TL and C9 is sure to be an absolute banger, please give us PanPoc to cast this rito.

All I'm saying is, Cloud 9, Boston Major, EU favourites?
Cloud 9, Valorant Champions, EU favourites?

INTERESTING...

I would like to proclaim, there is a reason why I left those "could take this" in those, those games today were insane, and like I said in my original, I'm really not shocked that x10 took that against a shaky envy

The VS we saw today however, did surprise me - very wp to c9.

I really enjoy reading these posts - do keep these coming.
Get ready for a long reply ...

tl;dr -
ACE/TS : Icebox for TS, breeze for ACE (close game), ascent decider (close game) --> Overall a super close series, Acend looking kind of weak shaky this tourney, Envy didn't perform against them so this is solely from the VK series + maybe some of red bull home ground.
If fracture is third map - it's easier to say Acend would win on a map where I haven't seen TS play, but I hope for a super close game here in any case.
-->
If ascent decider, TS 2-1
If fracture decider, ACE 2-1

TL/C9 : TL 2-1 if map picks are as you said, unless c9 take a decisive icebox with leaf completely going OFF to take momentum into the third map and get a solid first half, but closing out against TL isn't easy. Third map is sure to be a banger in this case.

Full Post:

That first one was hype - I love to see others joining me on the TS hype train - I had said it before in a post, I believe, but I'm not too happy with how Acend have played. I think I mentioned yesterday that Envy looked AWFUL against them, so I'm not taking their "clean" win against them as a positive for Acend - but rather how shaky they were against VK as a big weakness - while I do think they'll pull a lot more out of the strat book here, your map bans make the most sense for me.

Not only do secret look decent on haven - but it is indeed, Acend's perma-ban (unless they have some crazy stuff on it that they're hiding)
Secret's best map is by far icebox, and after the bind ban (if they don't ban bind, Acend maybe 2-0, but this would honestly be so shocking), I can see a clean win on here if they keep cNed grounded - which they seemed to be able to do against d3ffo in the first round.

I actually wouldn't be too surprised if Acend pick up a breeze here, a wide open map for a team with crazy aim - and their newer comps I could see this actually working quite well for them.

I don't see them picking a fracture off the bat, fracture as a decider however? That's left to Secret to decide I guess.

I could see a clean 13-8 or better on icebox followed by a close 10-13 on breeze. Fracture as a third map is impossible to predict, I'd have to give a 13-10 either way as I believe TS get the choice of side here, but I'd squeak it out to Acend ; 2-1

Ascent being a third map, however, I can see TS taking - Acend looked rough on it against a super shaky Envy - close map in any case // TS 2-1

------------------------------
Liquid vs Cloud 9
MY.
GOD.
TL looking super good with the brother buff, and if leaf and xeppaa aren't in full form this series, this should be a 2-0. I don't fully agree with the 50/50 that you gave seemed to give it, albeit not for haven, but if cloud 9 take a decisive icebox, I can see them carrying the momentum to a solid first half on haven (or breeze)

Cloud 9 are looking super good, and with a close series against a favourite for this tournament in Fnatic, then looking dominant for at least the first half in every map against VS, who was in an interesting, to put it lightly match against fnatic, I would really love to see a rematch between those two teams, but I think my flair says it all here - I do have TL in a close series. 2-1 either way.

Bold Take: Winner of this game is making finals.

I'll even give a sneak-peak into my reply for the post you'll likely bring us tomorrow:
GMB are my heavy favourites over X10, but I do hope for another SEA team to keep it close against them. I'm not going to give this a 2-0 by any means ^-^
KRU taking only 1 gun round through a whole series against FNC again? Nah. but 2-0 FNC.

Thank you for these threads ^-^

tl;dr - VKs 2-1 in a close series, TS stand a chance // VKS stand a better chance than TS against Acend

• VS 2-1 in a nail-biter, mid-round calls from VS are better, overall skill from c9 is better --- TL against either will be LIT
• Envy 2-1 x10, they looked trash against Acend and x10 could honestly take this - Gambit probably wipe the floor against either.

i have a feeling VKS TS will be a lot closer than that - TS kept it close against Gambit, by not being blown out 2-0, yeah ok they got 13-0'd...

I still have VKS winning, but a 2-1 seems likely. I also had TS (as Bren) making playoffs in M3 before they couldn't make it - so I wouldn't underrate this team... Having said that, I also think VKS stand a MUCH better chance against Acend in playoffs.

For the other two games, based on previous results - c9/vs could be a really close 2-1, similar to that c9/fnc series (11-13, 13-11, 12-14) or something like that, I give the edge to VS for mid-round calling, rather than being better overall. I'd consider c9 to be more skilled, but game-knowledge wise.

That Envy game will be interesting. They looked super shaky, I made the joke of "they look like they haven't prepared anything since losing to gambit" - they were completely atrocious. Acend didn't look much better to be honest - but with two below-average performances has to end in someone winning, right?
Envy and x10 is sure to impress, unless for some stupid reason envy hid some stuff just to hopefully beat whoever x10/vk and get into playoffs. If this is true, envy 2-1 (saving more), if not x10 2-1, yeah, I said it, x10 winning? what?! yeah.

In any case, I'd rather Envy win, as an Envy v Gambit rematch would be a great game and it's a true shame to see SEN have lost and deny the SEN/FNC rematch. But super well done to KRU, super happy for them - see if they can take more than a couple pistols over FNC this time round ;)

I think right around the 550 mark

Here we go again. A few predictions on how champions will be formatted

To preface this, Berlin refers to Masters III - Berlin, Champs, well, refers to Champions (I will refrain from calling both of them Berlin for the time being).

Pools! :
1 - Gambit, Sentinels, Acend, Vision Strikers
Gambit, being the highest seed in the tournament alongside the three regions with the highest average placements at LAN events each with their respective top seeds.

2 - Vikings, X10, KRU, CR
Vikings, X10 both top seeds in regions with multiple (2) participating teams at Champions; Kru and CR both top seeds for their respective regions, yes being seeded above the other NA and EMEA seeds as they won their regions.

3 - Envy, Fnatic, Keyd Stars (Vivo Keyd), Team Secret
All four of these teams are 2nd place finisher for NA, EMEA, BR and SEA respectively, so belong in a pool all to themselves.

4 - Cloud 9 Blue, Liquid, FURIA, Full Sense
All four of these teams are from the NA, EMEA, SAM and APAC LCQs and will be seeded 13-16th.

Groups:
Now, with how Berlin worked, each pool above was slotted into four different groups effectively randomised, as long as they (Riot) avoided regions such as NA, SEA and BR being in the same group. Now, there is still 4 EMEA teams, so it will most likely still be possible that two get seeded into the same group - this should not happen, however, I'm literally using a random number generator to this after writing this paragraph.

Each group was selected using a very simple random number generator from numbers 1-4, if it selected a team from the same region as a team already in the group, strikes will be put through that team and it will be moved to the group below, also being replaced by a new team, randomly.

Group A:
Sentinels, X10, Keyd Stars, Cloud 9 Blue --> Liquid

Group B:
Cloud 9 Blue, Gambit, Vikings, Envy --> Team Secret

Group C:
Envy, Vision Strikers, Crazy Raccoon, FURIA

Group D:
Acend, KRU, Fnatic, Full Sense

There you have it, four groups, one of which ends up with two EMEA teams who would not meet in the first round of the tournament similar to Acend vs SMB due to Acend and Fnatic being in pools 1 & 3 respectively.

In each of these groups, Pool 1 teams would play Pool 4 and Pool 2 vs Pool 3 in a double-elimination style bracket.

Should this bracket somehow come true - look for matches such as:
SEN vs TL
C9B vs Gambit
X10 vs VK (Patiphan vs Heat)
VS vs NV (not opening match)
Fnatic vs Acend (not opening match)

bro don't leak me :(

Would need to see groups before even trying to process a valid prediction haha

\o/

100T 2-1 Acend
SEN 2-0 NV
GMB vs VS coinflip, Gambit all the way, 2-1.
G2 2-0 KRU

100T 2-1 SEN --> Will be a great matchup on LAN
GMB/VS 2-0 G2

100T vs GMB is my finals vote

:'(

A: VS, Acend - Acend after losing to SMB once win the rematch to secure champions (BIG STORYLINE)
B: NV, vivo - I think vivo just barely edge out Kru, tbh I think BR > LATAM anyway, close game though between the two
C: 100T, GMB - LAN exp for 100T, close series between the two in uppers anyways
D: SEN, Bren - bren are looking good, I mean surely x10 losing out (yes without patiphan, fine) should already be something to factor in for the region as a whole. This is my "upset" group. Bren making playoffs would be considered an upset in my book, and I'm fine with that

GMB 3-1 NV, Gambit wins \o/

SEN, NV, GMB, Acend, VS, fnatic are the 6 teams that I kept track of to qualify for champions. Pretty sure Bren does with how I did my picks as well.

Edit: I'm no fortune teller or time traveller, but I was damn close - really didn't expect Gambit to take Haven when I made these picks (or even a coinflip decision to be made for who gets the map ban..)

Can't wait for champions where bo5s have so much more to play for with 7 maps.

NV takes down 100T to qualify for champions alongside SEN

GMB vs SEN. I really should've predicted GMB to beat 100T so I wouldn't have to deal with these matches.
I, along with plenty of others, would probably rather see 4 EMEA teams at champions, which requires GMB to win this tourney. So yeah, GMB 2-1 ...
SEN higher seed so:
Ban split, ban haven
SEN icebox, GMB Ascent, bind decider
10-13 // 16-14 // 15-13

NV vs Bren
While I'd love to see Bren succeed all the way through to semi finals, they fall here to, in my eyes, one of the clear top 6 teams in Berlin.
NV 2-1

100T vs Acend
With Acend already qualifying for Champions, I think 100T know they have SO SO SO much to play for here.
100T 2-1

SEN vs Vivo
SEN continue sweeping all the way through to this match. 6-0

Vision Strikers vs Gambit. Shit, 2 of my personal top 3 at this tourney.
GMB 2-1

Loser GMB/100T win here with ease, I have GMB 2-0 Havan.

Steel vs NaTs, interesting, for sure. 100T 2-1, LAN experience on their side.

Vivo 2-1 Zeta
Heat, after getting 2 matches worth of experience on LAN alongside the rest of his team, take this one in a close 3 map series.

NV got blessssssssssed, unless heat pops the fuck off and knocks them down in match 1, they 2-0 KRU here.

Acend 2-1 SMB on the rematch (SMB won first time), Acend qual to playoffs & pass fnatic in points leading to a champions qualification along with Gambit. --> Both with points, who knows if one of these teams wins berlin ;)

VS 2-1 SMB, super close series again, this one will be SUPER good

SMB 2-1 Acend
Super close series with SMB taking split decisively and a close bind game that Acend takes. Third map either haven icebox remaining.

VS 2-0, not even a really close series

EMEA:

Duelist - Cned (obviously)
Flex - Soulcas (can literally play anything... very well)
Initiator - Kolda
Smokes - Redgar (IGL too)
Sentinel - Nats (obviously)

NA:
Duelist - yay (NV)
Flex - Asuna (100T)
Initiator - Levi (TSM)
Smokes - Dephh (XSET)
Sentinel - Dapr (SEN)

idk if putting asuna up there is cheating since he's 100T's only duelist as they play 1 duelist comps, but I essentially put yay as jett, asuna up there as a reyna/raze.

The rest are fairly obvious. I think crashies is top sova in NA, even if/when sinatraa comes back I think crashies will still top the list, but I can't have him with yay, and I'm not gonna swap out El Diablo for anyone other than maybe TenZ, can't do that with dapr.

not like there's a whole lot else to talk about on a valorant esports forum lmao

If they do well at LCQ I think they should be rewarded a slot next year, but I think a whole change in format needs to be in place for VCT 2 - points should be rewarded at each qualifier not just finals, there's a real problem with NA teams only needing 50 points to guarantee an LCQ spot...