the W13 been looking damn good these past few races though

I was going for "Optic is so bad" then just shortened it to "Optic's" then removed the apostrophe. My bad, will bait better next time.

Like why do you even need to study light anyway. Fuck Snell's Law and who cares about the refractive index of mediums smh.

RB18

If the entire Sentinels team disbanded and all of them became free agents, I think Sick would still be the one most sought after.

My personal list would probs be:

1. SicK - Excellent flex player, would probably fit in any team, great aim and game sense to top it all off.
2. TenZ - Still a premier aimer, might be useful to a team that needs a Chamber main/OPer.
3. dapr - Became an initiator player when SicK left but I still believe he could be a decent sentinel. Nothing special but pretty solid still.
4. ShahZaM - Hasn't been fragging like he used to but still a pretty decent IGL.
5. shroud - Past his prime but is obviously the most experienced player in the team (tournament-wise). Can be in the "Hiko role" back when he was in 100T in Masters Berlin.

ShahZ and shroud are interchangeable too tbh

Liquid can win Champions if they weren't Liquid

suygetsu wasnt this good when he was in forze

and sadly it looks like the worst team is Liquid big F

Real leaked script:

Iceland 2021 - Sentinels (NA team that people thought to be the best in the world)
Iceland 2022 - Optic (NA team that people thought to be the best in the world)

Berlin 2021 - Gambit (EMEA/CIS team that beat Optic/ENVY)
Copenhagen 2022 - FPX (EMEA/CIS team that beat Optic/ENVY)

Champions 2021 - Acend (EU team that underperformed in Berlin)
Champions 2022 - Fnatic (EU team that underperformed in Copenhagen)

While I agree that they are young and will probably just get better over time, it's insane to think about how Gambit/M3C (except Redgar) are all younger than the DRX players and have already accomplished so much.

Yup most likely

heat

Hopefully that changes this year though when I try to make another survey after Champions.

f0rsakeN, Jinggg, Mako, stax are top 20 for sure.

mindfreak, SugarZ3r0, Meteor have top 20 potential

Zmjjkk might also even crack the top 20 depending on how he plays in Champions

I agree. He wasn't a bad player, but as a Jett player, a lot more was expected from him.

64

I would personally rank Chronicle in the Top 5.
Sheydos and Redgar were ranked 22 and 23 respectively in the polls. Last Champions though, d3ffo did have a higher K/D than Sheydos and Redgar but I personally would still rank Sheydos higher.

https://www.vlr.gg/59886/2021-player-ranking-survey

I've closed off the poll before 2022 started so the results won't change. I still have the complete results though which includes 180 players.

Here's the top 20 ranking after Champions last year. Who do you think has fallen off this list and which players do you think deserve to be in this year's top 20?

According to 65,173 responses and the top 20 was:

1. GMB nAts
2. ACE cNed
3. SEN TenZ
4. TL ScreaM
5. NV yay
6. GMB Chronicle
7. FNC Derke
8. KRU keznit
9. C9 leaf
10. 100T Asuna
11. ACE zeek
12. SEN ShahZaM
13. TL Jamppi
14. ACE starxo
15. TL Nivera
16. TL L1NK
17. GMB d3ffo
18. NV crashies
19. SEN SicK
20. 100T Ethan

This isn't an airport, no need to announce your departure

Well, Liquid has always consistently been EMEA's 2nd-4th best team. Somehow, they were just never the best even when the power rankings shifted a lot.

2021 Stage 2 and Reykjavik: Fnatic, Liquid, Gambit
2021 Stage 3 and Berlin: Gambit, Acend, G2, Liquid
2021 Champions: Acend, Gambit, Liquid, Fnatic
2022 Stage 1 and Reykjavik: FPX, Fnatic, G2, Liquid
2022 Stage 2 and Copenhagen: FPX, Fnatic, Guild, Liquid

not a val player but Twistzz kinda hot tho

yall are sleeping on zeta tbh

Flexibility: Jamppi > yay
Consistency: yay > Jamppi
Peak: yay > Jamppi

yes but soulcas is pretty fucking good tho lmao

he's a rifler, not an oper
but honestly, he's probs a better oper than d3ffo at this point

ㅤ

oops i meant starxo mb

great for him tbh since didn't he say he wanted a more aggressive role but was on support duty with Liquid? Still not sold on vakk and MONSTEERR but the trio of cNed, L1NK, and starxclooks pretty solid.

edit: I meant starxo my bad

But it hasn't been 8 years since they played has it? You don't go from being called a top 3 player in the world to not even being in the top 10 just because you haven't been in the international stage in a few months. Being absent from 1 or 2 LANs doesn't discredit your overall skill. It goes the other way as well, playing great in 1 LAN doesn't automatically make you a top 5 player in the world.

yay and f0rsaken are top 3 for sure but Shao and ardiis are not top 3 and 4.

recency bias
Chronicle, nAts, cNed, nukkye, ScreaM, TenZ, leaf would all be in Top 10 contention if they were in this LAN

Iceland 2021 - Sentinels (NA team that people thought to be the best in the world)
Iceland 2022 - Optic (NA team that people thought to be the best in the world)

Berlin 2021 - Gambit (EMEA/CIS team that beat Optic/ENVY)
Copenhagen 2022 - FPX (EMEA/CIS team that beat Optic/ENVY)

Champions 2021 - Acend (EU team that underperformed in Berlin)
Champions 2022 - Fnatic (EU team that underperformed in Copenhagen)

Obviously this doesn't work if PRX wins which I would not have any problem with.

had a closer match against Paper Rex

Despite it being 2-1 in favor of PRX. Optic and Fnatic both got the same number of rounds off PRX (21 rounds) despite Optic playing 3 maps.

Fnatic beat literally only the same teams that DRX did, which is FPX with a sub and Leviatan

This is true but this doesn't really discount Fnatic's strength, it just shows that DRX are a lot closer to Optic/Fnatic. It can honestly be FNC>=Optic>=DRX or FNC = Optic >= DRX.

edit: disregard this, accidentally replied to the wrong comment

Ah yes, George Bush's Valorant account: gdubz #911

Why are people denying that Fnatic is not equal, if not better, than Optic?
Fnatic opponents this LAN:
FPX twice (finalist, but won once)
PRX (finalist, arguably top 2 in the world)
LEV (3-0'd KRU in Challengers)

Optic opponents in LAN:
FPX (finalist)
Loud (kinda underperformed this LAN, but a very good team)
KRU (also a good team but not top 5)
DRX (good team but not on the level of EMEA teams)

are all so good. Fnatic, FPX, and one of Acend, M3C, Guild, Liquid, and maybe even G2.
Acend, M3C - already won a LAN
Guild - proved itself to be a world-class team
Liquid - depends on their 5th man but is good on paper
G2 - decent but inconsistent

finally getting the international recognition he deserves? One of the best players in EMEA but FPX wasn't a world level team before SUYGETSU and ardiis joined. He used to be FPX's best player and now he isn't even asked to do a lot because SUYGETSU and ardiis are both monsters.

Who I think they'll get: zeek
Who I want them to get but will never happen: nukkye
Who they'll probably get: neither of these two

its sad not seeing Steel Ball Run in most of these lists

cant believe no one has said evangelion yet

A major for the most handsome esports player ever, Russel fucking Van Dulken

ScreaM
Nivera
Jamppi
L1NK
Lakia

Probably won't happen but a man can dream.

Pretty hard though since stats can sometimes be inflated if the player plays in a "weaker" region. If only international stats are counted, it would leave out players who are undoubtedly talented but can't get to the international stage like Wardell.

Hell no. Maybe the only possibility this happens is if ScreaM retires and Jamppi becomes a dedicated duelist.

I know, but he's not playing rn so I'm not sure if he'll play in Masters too

This might sound crazy but NA might actually have a chance to beat EMEA teams this Masters.

Russian players might not be allowed to go. Basically, Fnatice wont have BraveAF, FPX won't have Shao and SUYGETSU (maybe even ANGE1), and M3C (if they qualify) might not be able to make it at all.

Chronicle
nAts
cNed
Derke
yay
nukkye
leaf
trent
penny
ScreaM

Honorable mentions: Shao, TenZ, Cryo, Sheydos, Mistic

I only counted the games where they played as smokers.

He'll only get like around 6 podiums this year anyway. Top 4 would be LEC-VER-SAI-PER 75% of the time and Hamilton has to rely on any two of those four to DNF so he can get a podium.

Still hoping for Verstappen to win the WDC. He DNFed thrice and got 9th once last year yet still won. If Red Bull stays reliable for the rest of the year, he can probably win it.

Meanwhile in EMEA:

M3C nAts: 134/88/48; 1.52 (actually fucking insane)

M3C Chronicle: 89/63/55; 1.41 (also fucking insane)

FNC Mistic: 203/148/87 ; 1.38

TL L1NK: 134/120/65 ; 1.12