Honestly, considering how short the entry into site is Brim wouldn't be a bad shout. His stim beacon would be great for rotations

There is absolutely a possibility Monyet could be dropped. We may regard EWC as a less serious tournament compared to Masters or Champs, but it is still a tournament for them to base player performance. Dropping crazyguy means losing an IGL and a player who can play the flex/flash-initiator role. Monyet is great on duelist and I think that could be a reason to keep him - embracing double duelist - but mindfreak's agent pool is closer to Monyet's as a direct replacement.

Of course, there is a completely different possibility of mindfreak joining BOOM if BOOM stay up this year. Dos9 is great, but you could easily drop him to go full Indo and allow for smoother comms.

mine are rancid

I see Monyet being dropped after his EWC performance. Mindfreak could call, but he is best doing his own thing and being clutch

Honestly, I agree. PRX could feasibly play the meta comp: Jett (Something), Sova (F0rsaken), Omen (Jinggg), KAYO (Patmen), Killjoy (d4v41). They could play the Yoru-double-sentinel comp as well with a Vyse instead of Cypher. Hell, they played a comp very similar to FNATIC's against DRX in the EWC qual grand final. The only difference was a Deadlock for Vyse, but you can easily swap around the agents with Patmen playing Vyse. D4v41 is probably the best operator-player on PRX so him on Chamber makes sense.

FNATIC comp plays to all of the players' best abilities whilst being functional for the map. Yoru-Omen-Sova-Vyse-Chamber all benefits each player on FNATIC: Kaajak is extremely successful in 1v1s and picking due to his aim so Yoru serves as the best get out of jail agent. Boaster is very tactical and Omen has fast impact to open any site. Sova's scans and drone gain so much information across the map and Crashies has proven ability to set up his teammates with his darts. Chronicle could feasibly play any agent to a high ability and the sentinel role suits him a lot as he is a calculated, patient player with the aim to take aggro fights with a Vyse flash. Alfajer is a solid aimer like Kaajak but anchors sites well so Chamber is a good secondary sentinel given his aggression.

Fade is good to aggro hit sites, but Sova offers range and so much damaging utility. I would say a Yoru instead of Jett could be good synergy for Fade, but I would wholly swap Fade for Sova because of the range and anti-trip utility

True, but I also think swapping d4v41 and patmen's roles on this map would be good. Patmen is extremely good on Viper. d4v41 has been proven to be great on KAYO

PRX did it first, but I think they executed pretty poorly. I don't see Jinggg as an Iso player as he is almost a pure aim agent and Jinggg is a movement player. Something could play Yoru and F0rsaken could play Omen. D4v41 would have to learn Cypher. Patmen would need to learn Sova or play Fade in an extremely effective way on a Sova-dominant map.

The alternative would be PRX using a comp similar to GENG where they have a Viper-Omen smokes duo, Sova, Killjoy and Duelist. Even then, at this point, PRX avoid Haven like the plague and would be forced to play it in a Bo5 if they were to go through the lower bracket.

Your point stands as much as Stephen Hawking

That's fair. Him and Jawgemo have some of the best Neon movement. I picked Victor since he was the early adopter of the agent before she got insanely buffed as well as Miniboo who played her quite often in 2024.

Smoggy is a fair pick. I put Nightz since he was mowing down everyone when he was on RANKERS. He was outperforming Cane on a few occasions

My personal take/adjustments:
Viper - Less,
Cypher - Nats,
Sova - Leo,
Phoenix - Jinggg/Scream,
Jett - Aspas,
Reyna - Scream/Jemkin (0/14 Goat),
Breach - S1mon/Ethan,
Fade - Stax (Clip vs FPX where he kisses the mouse),
Harbor - F0rsaken (He played this agent so much in 2023),
Clove - Nightz (I genuinely believe nightz is a Clove one-trick since he dominated on this agent)
Neon - MiniBoo/Victor.

Honestly, GENG players are all fine. They can all perform great, but their key weakness is looking like their mental is easily shot. Maybe they need a sports psychologist or a better one if they have one already. It always seems like the games Munchkin is having a bad time are the games GENG loses.

Lowkey wish they swapped miniboo and wo0t's roles more because wo0t's aim and movement is actually insane. Miniboo is great, but wo0t looks unstoppable on Jett

Yeah, it was on Philippines a few minutes ago

The map veto in the final definitely helped a lot. No Haven or Ascent is a big advantage for PRX. Haven is their instaban (which I still to this day question since there are so many viable options for them to play that map competently). Ascent is their secondary ban, but it's especially effective against FNC since their comp on the map is really strong. Pearl is basically a guaranteed map point. Lotus and Sunset are PRX's playground. Icebox and Split, PRX are very good but probably not the best on these maps.

Respect for humility. G2 definitely seem to be fumbling after the Tejo nerfs. Trent was pretty much fine at Toronto but definitely looked like a shadow of his form at EWC. Jawgemo being Yoru-only for the majority of the year might hold him back, but maybe some more games on Raze or Neon will bring him back to that crazy form he had at EG. JonahP on Viper for more maps since he was pretty great on the agent. Leaf playing hard sentinel rather than Viper would also help since Leaf's positioning and timing as a sentinel is great.

Then don't make an account lmao. You don't need an account to view the games

It's okay. PRX got cooked this time. Be so for real right now, G2, Fnatic and GENG are the main teams which could convincingly lock out PRX. Fnatic right now looks so dialled in so it might be their time to finish the trophy cabinet.

Only if Munchkin doesn't get rattled. Munchkin bottom fragging is usually a bad sign for GENG since he tries to overcompensate for the low performance. Foxy9 and t3xture are cooking still.

EWC and then potentially a Champs trophy if he keeps up this insane run of form would make him the undisputable GOAT. Won everything he needed to win.

If they should've won it, they would have won it. But history is set and they lost that final. They seem a lot stronger now though after sweeping GENG and now getting revenge on PRX. Chronicle is hitting some next level performance too. Hopefully it keeps on through to Champs since I want to see FNATIC complete their trophy cabinet.

Edit: Bare in mind that FNATIC have a more favoured map veto here. They get to pick Ascent so that's a guaranteed map. FNATIC also banning Lotus is a smart move since PRX are quite strong on that map. PRX probably should have banned Split that's the map they haven't played in a while and FNATIC haven't either. Icebox is at least more open since you could VOD review the Icebox game from the Toronto GF. Not much can be done now though

Honestly, just gotta go bald at that point. It's a good trend in the Val community since every player who buzzes their hair turns into the final boss. Plus Zekken's head shape is alright for bald. Bare in mind that Derke was bald at 20 as well.

This is very true. Nicknames for players stick after being delivered on a notable clip so it will usually be casters, streamers or fellow pros giving these nicknames for the fans to regurgitate. Casters may not say verbatim t3xture is Mr 4k all the time, but they will have referenced it quite a bit since that is what he is known for.

Alright, so you seem to be misconstruing the notion that PRX is a smaller org. Compared to orgs like FNATIC, NRG, G2 and the like who have had insanely long presence in esports with teams across dozens of game titles, PRX is indeed small. They are big in the presence of Valorant, but they are a small org compared to the history and reputation that other established orgs uphold.

People outside of APAC wouldn't have known about PRX before their insane Copenhagen run. However people would have known about FNATIC or TSM well before Valorant so these are GENERALLY SPEAKING bigger orgs compared to PRX. It is not an insane take to call PRX a generally speaking small org given that they do not have many teams in esports - in fact, they only have 3 officially listed on their website which is tiny compared to other orgs. Their presence in Valorant is huge now after years of success, but they had to work their way into being noticed rather than fans immediately recognising the name.

Now based on your final sentence, PRX fits that metaphor since they have come close in the past (Copenhagen, Champs 23) but missed out. PRX was always thought to win the first trophy for APAC since they made it further than any team in the past. Now after being uncrowned for years, they get their promised title and deserved international success.

I see what you're saying and this is definitely more community-inspired in terms of using the nickname for wo0t. Again, I wasn't taking a diss at wo0t since I've never personally heard the nickname for him used by official casters. Bren used the nickname for PRX most likely because PRX is a small org compared to the majority of the others at the international tournaments. PRX is a prince because they are a younger, smaller org. Your interpretation is of course valid and it makes sense for wo0t since he was hardcarrying TH at Shanghai.

Perhaps when Bren used it, it's not meant to be a literal like-for-like meaning (as it is a reference going towards A Song of Fire and Ice where the prince is basically meant to combat impending doom) but just being the young org getting the trophy that they so nearly got but missed in the past.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym3kcYlb9E4 At around 1:00, Bren drops the line: "The prince that was promised to finally be crowned"

Has to be Big Baby for t3xture. JennLee dropped that one during an interview and it's a funny one because of how he reacts to his 4ks

I thought this was an old school CS nickname for crazyguy

I swear this exact line was used during PRX's trophy lift in Toronto. I haven't heard it being used for wo0t. No diss, but I just want to know if this is more of a Turkish val community reference for wo0t

Wildgooner

Literally what he said. Boaster is #1 in calling but his aim is at best top 5 among IGLs. Even then, I would argue Boaster has such inconsistent aim since he can fry one map and go pi on the next.

I mean there is no other way to put it. His behaviour towards management and practicing was difficult and China is as I mentioned notorious for having players blackballed for the most minor reasons that NA or EMEA teams wouldn't fuss that much over. The culture in China is just simply different. S1mon is definitely hardworking and talented since flash initiator is arguably one of the toughest roles to master for consistent results. Getting those high assist numbers is the sign of you doing your role right on flash initiator.

Unfortunately when the meta changes so drastically, you have to accommodate one way or another especially if your org has a distinct star player like Kangkang. S1mon on Yoru could have been crazy since S1mon's flash util on KAYO and Breach proved to be elite level at Champs. And as for practicing in general, you have to uphold a level of professional standard at the highest level of gameplay.

I still feel bad for S1mon regardless, but you need to look at the context of how things run culturally in China and that EDG is basically Kangkang so you have to work around him.

S1mon going to XLG would be nice for both him and the org - it's probably the most feasible thing in your statement. Winning champs is a whole other story because XLG seem to be in a flip-flop situation albeit they keep playing with an incomplete roster (No YOU for Toronto and No NoMan for EWC). Rarga's performance seems to be waning and I worry that it was because nobody is properly setting him up like YOU did. In such a case, S1mon would be an ideal candidate in terms of experience and quality in the flash initiator role.

I won't say much about him becoming MVP because XLG's chances to win Champs are pretty low unfortunately unless NoMan improves in roles like Breach/KAYO and Rarga can find some of his confident aim that he had in Stage 1. Flash initiators, in my opinion, are the least likely to get an MVP opportunity since they are the ones to set up their teammates the most and it trades off in their fragging numbers usually. Even with insane Assist numbers, the ACS and Rating would not be much higher compared to Duelists, Smokes or Scan-Initiators.

I understand that it was just a dream so that suspension of disbelief is nice to have, but S1mon is unfortunately in a hefty contract jail and/or blackballed from joining other Tier 1 orgs because of his behaviour towards management being so difficult.

Seems like it's partly the contract jail and another part that other teams might not want to deal with S1mon's behavioural conduct. China is pretty notorious for excluding players if they have controversies or some level of bad rep within a team. Definitely sucks given how young and talented he is - winning Champs within less than a few months of joining the team and providing high impact is pretty difficult to come by especially on the flash initiator role.

Neon Ult is a continuous beam and she is in her sprinting mode rather than just normal running. Jett Ult has perfect shot accuracy but you actually need to be precise rather than hold down left click.

Skye is definitely out of meta by a long shot, but Sage and Phoenix have been oddly popular niche picks on maps like Icebox and Pearl.

As an Arsenal fan, we can never have a wholly secure team. We're either missing a striker or missing defenders. Our midfield has always had some good options throughout. Having to deal with Mustafi whilst having Aubameyang and then no true striker with one of the best defences in the league.

XLG got to be one of the unluckiest teams. Losing YOU before Toronto due to social pressures from opposing fans and then NoMan not at EWC since he missed the squad lock-in deadline and probably didn't get VISA in time. XLG might have missed their opportunity to see their potential.

I was lowkey hoping EDG would break the curse but it's inevitable. EDG at Bangkok definitely weren't the same as they were at Champs, but they are a lot more of a shell of their former selves without s1mon. Though this should serve as a lesson that you need to try and uphold professionalism even if you do feel like you're being thrown under the bus. S1mon definitely got dealt a tough hand basically being in contract jail, but hopefully someone at EDG realises he was the final puzzle piece to make EDG a worldbeater.

This is an aside hot take, but if EDG kept S1mon with the meta going into Toronto, they would have qualified and put up a good fight. Tejo seemed to have disrupted how EDG played their game and now Tejo is gone from the meta. It's now so open that S1mon's agent pool would be a heavily viable option especially with how effective he was with his utility.

EDG won at champs, congratulate that you numpty.

The short story of it is that the meta before Yoru being heavily picked was Jett and Raze were far too dominant in the meta. Combined with Skye basically being the most important initiator and offering such high informational value with a flash basically made Yoru an afterthought. Yoru's skill ceiling and skill floor are pretty high so it took teams a bit of time to adapt to playing with a Yoru as opposed to a flash agent like KAYO or Skye. Yoru is a lot more aggressive, but can cover more space as a result of it.

Neon and Iso nerfs as well as early Tejo definitely sealed the deal for Yoru to become the meta duelist in 2025. Yoru-Breach-Tejo was far too broken since you got 2 flash agents, 2 info agents and 2 aggro space-opening initiator agents. The synergy is probably among the best Valorant has seen for a long while since it could have been played on so many maps.

Yoru is pretty great on a lot of maps. His TP offers fast rotations and on a map like Corrode, it's a pretty great option. Flashes enable other roles to be used for different utility such as double-smokes. The clone is pretty great to bait out trips and his ult is basically like a faster, longer-lasting Sova drone which can flash and body block. There are definitely other agents which more optimally take space, but Yoru for the most part can work on all maps with enough agent knowledge.

Scream's aim in CS was insane, but CS has always had a history of players needing the balance between mechanical aim and tactical utility being used. Scream's aim was maxed out, but I believe his utility was kind of meh.

Canezerra statistically in both Tier 2 and ranked is insane. He definitely needs to work on his agent pool a bit, but he can fry on any agent because of how dialled in his aim is. His clips feel like he's playing against Irons and Bronzes. There was a recent clip of him on Icebox where he is trying to find the last kill and Eggsterr is trying to yoink it - Cane finds the last guy and deletes him with a rapid flick. He seemed so nonchalant about it as well. Suffice to say, Cane has some insane potential based on stats and the eye test.

To compare him to other young prospects: Zekken is probably the gold standard since he has been in the higher end NA scene since he was 16 whilst playing for XSET. Zekken has had insane experience and timing to just about meet the requirements to play internationals and high-tier Valorant year after year. His agent pool has been pretty great too.

OXY has been a pretty well known ranked demon, but I feel most of his exposure came from the memes around him since he was always regarded as LFT-OXY. OXY's clips are nice and he definitely pops off in ranked as well as pro matches, but OXY's notoriety coming up in Tier 2 was partly down to his identity as well as his individual skill - G2 in Tier 2 was absolutely dreadful so it only highlighted his quality more.

Reduxx was pretty crazy for Oxygen alongside Verno and it landed him a future Tier 1 spot for SEN when he turns 18. Verno was pretty standout since he was an initiator going crazy statistically. I think a final honourable mention is nightz since he was part of the original Rankers roster and was insane on the Clove. Cane has clearly surpassed nightz who might have been a Clove one-trick based on the stats fall-off.

Scream is pretty insane. Sliggy regards him as one of the best, if not the best, players he's witnessed in scrims. Granted this was early Valorant days, but Scream has been an aim monster for a while. Shame that he couldn't reach heights and fizzled out on KC.

His aim is way too jittery and most controllers usually have much calmer and steady aim since they play for lurks or hard anchor.

Why are you upset for people expressing judgment over an opinion? It's the whole point of the up/down-frag feature. The user is not even upset - you're being upset for him lmao

Just my personal take, but Deadlock is one of the more proactive sentinel agents. You have to be a lot more aware of people flanking through your sound-based trips and tossing gravnet can sometimes be risky - missing the target completely or hitting your teammate accidentally. When he was frying on sentinel, it was on agents like Cypher who had more airtight set-ups, less likelihood of working against your own team and a lot more information. free1ng was looking pretty good on Sova and I believe that free1ng is more of an information-based player so having him on Cypher could be beneficial for him.

The very obvious downside to this suggestion is BeyN is already playing Cypher it seems and Flashback could easily play that agent as well. I think Flashback is probably gonna be used for double dive with HYUNMIN since Flashback was playing some duelist roles before he left. It's difficult to point out what DRX can do with their 7-man roster, but I see it as Estrella is hard benched unless he has a specific map where he pops off with the team and Flashback being the super-sub for maybe double-duelist comps if they want to try it out again.