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.

Jamppi with the highest VLR rating and the lowest kills on his team. Finnish goat

Must be some sort of side effect from being a Findom paypig

Plays for NOM. Looks like he noms on a lot of food

PRX is simple but effective.

I'm not sure about BigJuicyyyy's comment on S1mon's anger infecting EDG fanbase. However, I will say that any fanbase will feel hard done if you lose a player who was key to the team's success especially before an international tournament.

Midi did what he could in the circumstances, but he was far from optimal since he didn't know much English and that was XLG's main language to comm in. I am hopeful that XLG can bounce back since CN would be a much more interesting region if there was some close competition for EDG as well as the rest of the world. Wolves is looking promising, but we've seen Cinderella runs and purple patches of form so many times in VCT.

Maybe I'm getting my claims incorrect, but I heard that it was EDG fans that were cancelling YOU. I believe YOU's comments or BMing of EDG players might have had a factor in CN fans cancelling him, but this is as much as I think I know. The drama around that situation is so messy.

It happens all the time in different disciplines unfortunately. China is especially brutal with ousting players from rosters and blackballing them in the pro scene (example, YOU for XLG leaving after CN fans dredged up old matchfixing allegations levied against him despite having served the ban for this). I would love for S1mon to move to a team like XLG where they desperately need a player of his agent pool combined with his high ceiling for impact. S1mon would definitely need to brush up on his English, but it would truly make the CN scene a lot more interesting rather than go back to an EDG monopoly on the regional trophy.

c0m is not a big stats player. His impact comes from the details that the numbers don't show on VLR at a glance. Of course, it would be nice for LEV to have an overhaul and go the full LATAM route, but they really want to try the international roster as much as possible until their academy prospects come of age to play in Tier 1.

Don't know why you're getting downvoted. Jieni7 was not a suitable replacement for s1mon and it hurt EDG more in Stage 1 than VLR users think. Hfmi/zjc will hopefully be a lot better since he's apparently one of the best flexes in CN.

My bad, didn't see your follow up comment until after I posted my response.

I definitely believe in PROFEK and Sociablee. PROFEK is like a smokes masterclass in a lot of his performances. Sociablee is pretty solid too and could probably get better in performance for Stage 2.

"Ranked ass comp" which won Toronto

edit: thought the original commenter meant NAVI's comp. M8's comp is lowkey questionable since Veqaj is the flex and he's playing the main duelist role.

I agree more so with the Mini claim. Alecks openly admitted that Victoria (his partner) urged him to get Mini's advice and Mini basically provided the agents that PRX currently play. In addition, I believe Mini basically made it a plan for F0rsaken to be a leader since the hivemind strategy needed some executive direction.

Now that the map pool is changing for Stage 2 with Bind and Corrode in the mix, it might be more difficult for PRX to succeed. They definitely need to address some of their much weaker maps because the EWC, Stage 2 and Champs will definitely eat at their mental.

Sunset, Lotus and Icebox will be fine to hard pick, but their Icebox was looking shaky vs. GENG and FNC. Lotus is also the map that they got comeback'd on twice. Bind is a map that PRX are pretty alright at for the most part, but crumble against NA teams particularly. Corrode could be a fun map for them since it's fast paced and could favour a Sage pocket pick. Ascent and Haven are the last two with some heavy issues for PRX - I feel like they are spoiled for options in the proven comps - Meta-KJ or Yoru Double Senti for Ascent and potentially double duelist on Haven. I know with permabans, teams will seldom scrim them, but I would want to see PRX to try and make Haven something competitive.

I see what you're saying since kamyk looked like an absolute bot at Bangkok. Some Tier 2 players are locked down in contract jail though so it is understandable to an extent why an org would take a player who had even a few Tier 1 games of experience to fill the role.

Some NBA Draft behaviour. Waiting for the next prospect and being first in line to sign them is crazy gambling even if it's probably between FUT and BBL. Xeus is pretty insane mechanically - his peak performance is otherworldly, but I feel FUT lack strategic depth still. Loita and Lar0k would replace ATA KAPTAN and Qraxs I imagine which would lowkey suck since those two players are core FUT players. However, it is undeniable that Loita and Lar0k would be upgrades in both positions especially since Lar0k can play Breach and Qraxs doesn't play this - it would free up comp flexibility for MrFalin.

I still can't help but think Loita and Lar0k would stay at BBL (go to the main team) and replace the non-Turkish players. BBL could also promote Rose since he has been IGLing the other two for a while and it would round off a full Turkish roster. But at the same time Jamppi can comm in Turkish a bit.

How do you miss the whole: "F0rsaken has taken the leadership role" narrative for PRX at Toronto?

Still can't believe RobbieBk got dropped that quickly. A rookie IGL needs time to settle in and he could have definitely grown with the season. Meanwhile, Zyppan being kept on until the huge overhaul recently is still shocking since he has had middling performances for a while. He's an alright flex/initiator, but I would have definitely had kamyk swap for Zyppan. Clickk, I feel bad for but he literally turned out to be the EMEA PatrickWho so it only made sense to bench him. Comeback is pretty solid so far but he is the best Turkish prospect in his role.

BPM is pretty cool to include. RIOT might see it as an unneeded cost which is why they don't opt for it, but I think it's a nice touch to see how players feel in the heat of a clutch.

Another valid reason. I have seen purp0 using nose strips a lot.

I meant my answer sarcastically. EMEA trophy last year was literally an arts and crafts project.

Just helps with breathing through your nose. Definitely feels a bit overkill for esports, but if it helps them concentrate, then let them be. Some players are probably mouthbreathers so they probably want to stop that.

I won't forget G2 icy on Bind vs TH at Masters Shanghai during the Lower Finals. 0% HS and getting blown out by a team with a sub (though Patitek was super-sub mode). 0 VLR rating is probably impossible since you would need to get 13-0'd and provide absolutely no impact in a match. There's not even an analogous argument you could make since in the span of 13 rounds, a player could somehow do some damage to an enemy which would earn them some Combat Score and notch up their VLR rating by like 0.02-0.05.

Very true. What Sylvan offered for T1 on their Bangkok run to a trophy was his amazing positioning and knowledge of the smokes agents. Sure, any pro could learn smokes to a degree where they can play it sensibly for most rounds, but Sylvan had pretty exceptional timing and reads using his utility as a smokes player. It was also evident that Sylvan over carpe was the correct call since carpe still had bad tendencies to over-aggress as the smokes player leaving his team to either push or retake without smokes. Carpe is probably the better shooter, but you need someone with very good agent knowledge to make all these set plays viable.

Question is whether DH can adapt to his role quick enough and have similar impact with his agent utility as Sylvan. The EWC qualifiers, albeit very limited, didn't provide much promise as DH wasn't fragging out like he did for the academy and his agent impact was on the lower end. We will have to see if T1 has cooked in this off-period before Stage 2. It would be a shame if they missed out on Champs despite having accumulated so many points from Bangkok.

EMEA Stage 2 2024 trophy /s

This is true. I still prefer Monyet on Omen - Jinggg is basically Monyet in reverse. Jinggg's Omen does have amazing impact, but Jinggg's tendency to overextend and overaggress sometimes lead him into tricky positions. Jinggg on KJ was nice, but I think PRX don't run that any more since it's probably too passive and boring for Jinggg. Jinggg's Battle Sage on Icebox is definitely iconic as well.

His Jett was alright. F0rsaken was the better Jett player so he would play the agent as opposed to Jinggg a lot of the times. Jinggg's Reyna pocket pick on Haven was iconic as well. I can't imagine him playing Yoru since something is already trained on the agent and Yoru is a very cerebral agent as you have to pay attention to your TP timings, placement and make sure that you are flashing effectively for the team. Jinggg is very much a tip of the spear player with his aggressive plays - Yoru could facilitate that but the agent is ideally used like an info-duelist especially in ult.

I agree. His agent knowledge on Raze is unmatched. The satchels and plays he does is so natural and effective. The movement tech against Heretics was absurd.

Jinggg played those agents, but it's nowhere near his Raze's level. His Reyna was pretty great on Haven for a period, but then PRX never played that map ever again.

Singaporeans got that bread.

On the one hand, true. Jinggg is an incredible Raze player - arguably best in the world. His Neon when briefly used was also good. However, you could argue Jinggg's major flaw is that he can only play Raze, Phoenix and Neon well. In my opinion, the best duelist should be able to play any duelist agent and fry hard on them. That way you have objectively good map flexibility.

In terms of "all-time", you could have put Aspas, but that Toronto all-time low has got to be the biggest fall-off. I think t3xture could be in the conversation since he has been popping off insanely on so many duelist agents. Derke has been a beast for a long while. Kangkang has insane peak performances. I would still have Jinggg in the conversation since his Raze is undeniably amazing to watch.

Monyet literally won Stage 1 with RRQ and beat PRX in region. Sure it was whilst they abused the Tejo meta, but Monyet had a fair chance with his team to make a run and they did not at Toronto. Also, that is a big "what if" to compare if PRX continued with Monyet vs. how they continued with Jinggg. Monyet is a good player but he definitely wasn't as strong as Jinggg on Raze. Monyet was more flexible though so it enabled different comps. Though even with Monyet's flexibility, PRX would have probably struggled with roles and the "IGL" dilemma which was only resolved when Mini started advising Alecks how to structure PRX.

What role is hfmi gonna play? I am checking his VLR and his most recent stuff is either scan initiator, sentinel or off-pick agents like Gekko or Raze. He hasn't played a lot of Breach or KAYO which is what they were trying to replace after benching s1mon. He hasn't ever played Yoru as well which I believe was the agent that EDG wanted s1mon to learn. I am sure hfmi is great and could still learn but it definitely feels like a question mark for me.

This lowkey sad

Lowkey agree with original poster to an extent since Valyn's attitude can be hit or miss. You either love him or you hate him. I don't mind having a winner's mentality but you need to back it up on stage. Undoubtedly G2 were the favourites going in since they have the most dialled in strategic Valorant with a team full of aimers. However, it seems like they lost some of their quality by trying to streamline their comps into playing the same agents on as many maps.

Now, it is facts that G2 will more than likely dominate in Americas for Stage 2. Every other Americas team asides maybe Sentinels has a major flaw holding them back from being serious contenders for the regional trophy or many minor flaws that are piling up. I will however disagree with Valyn's claims that nobody remembers Masters as much as Champs because people will often remember the storylines of teams in the tournament. Some of these Masters events have the most insane storylines that make them memorable.

Big true. This was also just as Jinggg rejoined the team so they were rocky in the beginning but rode momentum very well

-jawgemo +shanks
-valyn +fns
-jonahp +artzin
-leaf +moose
-trent +mwzera

All jokes aside though, G2's map veto against FNC was pretty questionable. Understandable to target ban Ascent where FNC look strong on their new comp but picking Lotus into arguably the best team on Lotus has got to be one of the most confusing gambles. G2 definitely have a good Lotus but their comp is still nowhere near as viable as alternative comps. G2's Lotus was at its best when JonahP was on Viper and Leaf was hard sentinel - you have to wonder why they don't just revert to this comp seeing as JonahP and Leaf have their best performances on these roles in other maps.

Split was a massive disaster for both teams. G2 should have lost the first pistol, but trent is trent. I don't care if people keep riding on that he is a Tejo merchant, clearly not if he is putting up Top 5 performance ratings in the whole tournament playing Fade/Sova. Both sides kept playing way too tight on the clock or way too fast. You could make tons of what-if's and say the score could have been 13-X to whatever team if something happened. Split felt way too messy to say whether G2 could have won that out in another timeline. It really felt like their strategies were all over the place whilst FNC's Chron and Alfajer were having some of the craziest performances of the tournament. It's to the point where Alfa is rising in contention for an MVP.

Overall, I think G2's major fix is their comps. They really ought to fix JonahP's roles since his Breach has not been as great whilst his Viper is promising. Leaf as a hard sentinel on most maps except for Split which is going to be leaving the map pool anyways. And Jawgemo's performances might have been bad lately, but I have trust in his quality - I think they need to let him branch out his duelist pool so he can play Raze more often. G2 definitely took a huge setback after the Tejo nerf, but that's not really affecting the one who played the agent.

It seems like people have different criteria as to what makes a player the GOAT. If you take a real sports example, people call Michael Jordan the GOAT in Basketball (his success was with the Chicago Bulls), as well as Messi and Ronaldo respectively being GOATs in Football (their major success came in Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively). You can hold major success in one team and be the GOAT as long as it's for a long enough time to be consistently great. You can't be a one-season wonder and dubbed the GOAT.

Of course, with esports, it's a bit different since the minutia of skill in that game can mean a world of difference. It's why you have a game like Rocket League where the GOAT can include one-team legends like Jstn as well as Turbopolsa who won multiple titles across different teams - the latter would fit your criteria. At least for Valorant, I think the main demand to be in the GOAT conversation is the player's individual impact must be consistent and high - it's why Aspas has been in the conversation for so long despite not winning a trophy since his LOUD days.

Chronicle on FNC is the swiss army knife for the team. I think being a flex player is the hardest role since you fill in what the team wants. On the other hand, Chronicle has never been extremely standout when you have Leo and Alfajer on your team. You can swing either way on how Chronicle's GOAT criteria score can be buffed or debuffed based on his circumstances. Overall, I think Chronicle deserves a place in the GOAT conversation as he is a quality flex player with the most trophies currently.