Spice is literally a trigger response of pain. It definitely has a masochistic quality to it. And I proudly represent it since I love spice.

That ending really curveballed any opportunity to discuss things properly but I always like to waffle on these topics. Japanese food is a lot more mild and intimate in flavour profiles. I will say this now that I much prefer spicy food or foods that have some deep level of seasoning like a mixed masala. However, this isn't to say that Japanese food tastes bad to me. It's just a lot more mild in flavour than what I am used to.

I will say that if you haven't had authentic food in Japan then you haven't fully experienced the quality of Japan's food - their fish is especially high quality and any other foreign sushi by comparison feels like a cheap imitation. Unagi or eel meat is among the best due to it being refreshing and filling at the same time - it is expensive in comparison to other fish or meat. The ramen and udon is very hit and miss. I personally find the meat in ramen is underseasoned and has a mushy texture rather than a nice bite, but that is just a small sample of my personal experience. As for "spicy food", Japan is not known for spicy food. Japanese spice tolerance is among the lowest and you might prefer Korean food given that they mess around with chilli spice more.

Now, you're entitled to your opinion, but to flame people for liking Japanese food is a bit weird. I think it's definitely an acquired taste if you're coming from heavily seasoned cuisine. Don't get it twisted because spice is life to me. But sometimes you got to roll back your palate to enjoy some of the intimate flavours of food. Spice tolerance aside, there are flavours you might be missing because you're just searching for some kick from masala or chilli peppers.

Side note, we all lack vitamins in some capacity so it's not even the dig you think it is. I know I take Vitamin D3+K2, C and Zinc supplements and it has helped me quite a bit.

HERE COMES THE D00M

Chicken and potato curry with rice.

I would say if the maps are like 13-6 to 13-0, then it is a stomp. However, rounds never tell the full story since you can get a lot of very close, entertaining rounds in some of these stomps. And likewise, you can get some really boring, ugly Valorant in close matches. I will say that if you do get a barn-burner of an overtime, you're usually winning as the viewer.

I know people will complain about 2.0 bundle, Prelude-style finisher, but I think this Neptune Phantom is honestly more fitting than Neptune Vandal. Plus the melee has a unique quirkiness to it

Give her hot chocolate and then the moment she has cream on her upper lip, call her Sideshow.

I'll be honest. Neon in 2022 was a much weaker form of Jett and Raze. The strafing speed was slower and the energy recharge was a whole minute to get back to full. She was usable in certain scenarios such as Victor on Haven for Optic and F0rsaken on Fracture for PRX. But she was a far cry from game-shifting due to her limited usability throughout the round.

Yoru is a high-floor and high-ceiling agent. At best, Yoru can do very impressive amounts of pressure and distraction. However, if someone were not so experienced or comfortable on Yoru then he looks like a troll pick. I still think there are ways you can play Yoru that the pro play is not considering because it requires a long-call plan which for the most part in pro-play is not so viable. I'm very glad Yoru is becoming more and more viable and meta for pro-play since he is such a fun agent.

It's still rumours so surely they will find some sort of solution. I can definitely see him going to M8s or another EMEA team if they need a flex. I just think that they need to rework on how everybody in that LEV team plays. Demon1 is still not a first-contact duelist.

Valynshallah is kinda tough though. Could have done Valynt or Valint if you wanted to flame.

True, ain't nothing like your Jett or other duelist entering 3rd, last or worse going on a random lurk mid when they could be fighting to enter site. I see what your saying though since in pro-play, Jett has very limited map options. At best, she can play on Abyss, Ascent, Icebox, Breeze, Haven, Pearl and Split. But then we have seen new metas revolving around Yoru on Split, Abyss and Pearl; Neon in Pearl, Lotus, Sunset, Fracture and Haven; Iso in Haven and then Raze fits in for Bind, Sunset, Fracture, Lotus and Split. Pro-play is evolving and using so many new comp combos that it's refreshing after seeing Raze and Jett dominate for so long.

In terms of ranked, you can feasibly play a lot of agents which aren't optimal for a map until a certain skill level. I believe it was Sliggy who said you can get to Ascendant or even Immortal off of aim alone. You will definitely see in higher ranks that players pick agents closer to what the meta demands, but you can get away with comfort picks on most maps for a majority case of ranked games.

There are several issues looming around PRX. They seem a little less creative now so they are easier to read from enemy teams. Their discipline is really bad in the worst of times. They do not know how to deal with anti-ecos so they get thriftied or lose out big economically. Their mental is just genuinely the most bipolar since they can be truly impossible to play against like Boostio said after VCT Champs 2023 upper final, but they can completely implode once they are read. They lack a proper voice to take lead since they prefer the hivemind calls and it is tough to find the grit to fight back when you don't have a leader to set the example of what you should do round-to-round.

Not really. Jett for the longest time has had some of the best entry util given how fast she can dash in. She is useful to this day because her dash is a great bailout tool like the Neon sprint/slide or Reyna dismiss whilst also being a great space-opening tool because you create an amazing distraction when you cloudburst + dash.

Neon was genuinely broken pre-nerf. I'll give you a timeline of her changes.

8.11: Neon had a balance/nerf to her concuss (2 charges down to 1, but the wind-up is faster and the stun lasts longer), a buff to her sprint where she can strafe at max-speed (6.73m/s to 9.11m/s), a buff to her slide (2 charges up from 1 with no movement error whilst sliding and her weapon instantly comes out), her fast-lane wall was shortened in duration but dissipates longer, and last but certainly not least her energy was buffed from 60s recharge up to 20s recharge (LITERALLY 3x FASTER).

To comment on these buffs, she basically became Octane from Apex Legends where she can basically be at top-speeds and shoot back with 2 bailouts. More importantly, the buff to her recharge is the most key aspect to her kit. She can run around for more time in the round. But people are crying because she had her slide reverted a bit.

9.11: Her slide went down to 1 charge, crouching-accuracy if you were to shoot and slide, ultimate costs more and lasts 10s instead of 20s. All fair buffs considering her ultimate recharges her energy back to full when you hit the ult-button, she gains another slide off of it and it is aimbot so you only get punished if you have bad aim/tracking. Not to mention that her energy recharges back to full after each kill. So by halving the time her ult lasts, it forces players to be more considerate and tactical with the ult rather than hit it and oppress a round like it's nothing. Her energy recharge has remained the same and she is still fairly difficult to deal with when you're up against a skilled Neon.

Only if he goes to a different team in a different league and rips it up

Most diverse in NA since... noot noot. American, Korean, Mexican, Icelandic and Fijian. But I doubt that they were the nationalities they put on VLR since mili was apparently Norwegian on Liquipedia.

IGL/Sentinel: Nats
Duelist: Something
Flex: Chronicle
Scan Init: Trexx
Smokes: Suygetsu

Cloud is a really good scan initiator but I definitely prefer trexx. Sheydos used to be such a beast - definitely would have picked him for initiator in his Gambit days. Shao would be the go-to smokes, but Suygetsu has greater firepower in my opinion and he has shown that he can be quite good on smokes. Kr1stal is another pretty good IGL/scan initiator. Rarga and Jemkin are amazing duelists, but Something feels slightly ahead.

The whole noot noot situation felt really poor on Riot's end. Upholding integrity should be first and foremost in Valorant. Letting a cheater play and eliminate teams whilst they're ban evading is just so wrong. And the fact that the identification system is still so loose just feels like an opening for players to give GC a shot so they can have a little platform in a welcoming community who won't question some of the things happening.

FlyQuest Red is a legit org so Bob probably plays for them to get contracted pay. BlueOtter is a "professional" challengers team which probably means that they're good enough for VCL, but aren't big enough to pay the players properly. Bob probably sees FlyQuest Red as being a more viable future since the team could be the best in NA with SR out of the picture. But I still see VCL as a better challenge for any player given the quality of players is much higher.

I noticed that as well the other day. NA game changers sometimes feels like a joke because of this and the fact that players can put a fake full name up, no image of themselves and a completely random nationality to hide their identity. I get some game changer players aren't comfortable being recognised, but if you're serious about playing Valorant professionally in any capacity, you should be ready to put yourself out there.

Phantom: Mystbloom
Vandal: Sentinels of Light

I mean, 2021-2022 was when PRX were starting to get noticed. There wasn't much expectation since Malaysia/Singapore/Indonesia never really had great prominence and success on the esports stage. And Valorant esports was still heavily growing and W-gaming was a lot more standout. Nowadays, W-gaming is easily countered by strategic play which most teams are adopting. Everyone is getting better at the game in both mechanics and game-sense so the brand is again easily punished.

I feel like aggressive playstyles can work but they need to be tempered with discipline and knowing when to aggress. If PRX were a football team, they would be playing high-press. But it doesn't work to always play that since you might get caught off guard by someone who is actually good or strategies that go around all of that aggression.

Barbados - Trident and colour contrast between blue and yellow is nice.
Mozambique - Repping the AK
North Macedonia - Kind of a nice sun pattern
Honourable Mentions: Mexico, Brazil and Switzerland is a big plus.

I could see your point until Leo. Literally won 2/3 international events in 2023 and was within Top 4 for Champs of that year. Not the best example to support your case since he was nearly 3 for 3 on internationals. Other than that, I agree since initiators benefit from setting up the team the most. However, in the worst case scenario when your team or strategy book is not working, you need the firepower to take over when someone else is simply not hitting their shots. It's why Leo is arguably an anomaly since he has some of the best util and can frag hard if need be.

Also, I know this is more of a nitpick, but it feels weird saying JonahP will win more than trent when they're on the same team. Maybe if they go separate ways who knows since it definitely requires a good system to help enable all of the actions in a round to work - fragging, setting up the frags, etc.

To be fairly honest, the best teams that win are the ones who have a system that works for all the players. Initiators are just part of that in a big way, but the system needs all parts working. You can't have amazing initiator util if your duelist is not playing off of it properly or dies before you can even let him use it properly.

Bang won VCT Americas Stage 1

Kinda wild how some of the best players have some level of Thai heritage. Leo and Keiko being Thai and having cracked aim as well as pretty good game sense is cool. There must be something about being Thai that makes you a great Valorant player. /j

Who's killing time and where can I meet her?

Damn, who hurt you?

Nats and Kamyk are really good too, but Keiko has been hitting a new level of form that is putting him just behind Derke in the stats. TL looked really bad at the beginning especially with their Fracture no-duelist comp, but they are looking better each match.

No respect for heybay when he has been looking strong. FengF and Kai have also been very good on their duelist/sentinel flexing

If KRU make it to grand finals, I will make a 115-page document detailing their 2nd Cinderella run.

I get your vibe, but financially, it would make things more complicated to have a new dedicated region - more teams that you need to funnel into the franchised program so it both costs more for orgs and RIOT will be investing into this - the existing Tier 1 Korean teams will have a huge dominance on the scene.

Also, in my opinion, it's better for these other Asian countries to experience playing against well-invested and seasoned orgs so that they can continue to push themselves to be better. It's the nature of competition. Korean teams are not invincible - PRX started having DRX's number from 2023 until Stage 2 2024 which is pretty good. GENG and T1 for a while has kind of been meandering around the mid-tier quality despite being some of the most decorated and successful organisations in all of eSports. But these teams are constantly stepping up their drive and passion to win just like every other team. By proxy, every other team will push themselves to try and overtake their position.

All-in-all, every other team is gonna catch up to exceed Korean teams someday. There is promise in Thai and Indonesian Valorant with players like Primmie, Kush and the Tier 2 prospects following in the academy.

I would have applauded your Avatar reference if you actually could back up your claim properly that FURIA should drop Khalil. Thus far, FURIA has bigger problems such as Heat being wasted on Sentinel and mwzera not using initiator util properly

I seriously don't understand the Khalil hate given he is on the better end of his team. FURIA literally crashed out because Mwzera didn't use proper initiator util for 14 rounds - the Reddit post breaks it all down thoroughly

I was rooting against 2024 G2 since people overhyped Icy despite his lukewarm-at-best duelist performance. People kept caking on "Oh, he's opening up space" as if every other duelist does not do the same, but with a certain confidence and/or aggression that feels like a tip of the spear. Icy was propped up by amazing support, but now he is meh on EG.

This year, lowkey Team Liquid just because they've cheesed into a Top 4 position despite some shambolic strats - that Fracture comp they started off with was terrible.

And always gotta be against Team Secret since it's funny to rattle Filipino diehards. Their best players are all stuck in Tier 2.

Khalil is not the problem on FURIA.

When I hear Harbor, I think about one of two things: s0m's cove incident on Pearl or f0rsaken on Bind. Tuyz is a good smokes agent still.

PRX have a broader issue of their mental being cooked and them overpeeking certain situations. They tend to not go for high-low set-ups, play numbers advantage correctly and get snowballed on because they cannot stop the push with less numbers. W-gaming is nice, but we need better discipline from them in logically advantageous situations.

It's a good sidearm for short range angles and does good burst damage. The shorty has been used for years. If it's that much of an issue, you can play Vyse and then teams will feel more inclined to buy Sheriffs which is more economically expensive. In the majority of cases, the shorty seems pretty fine. If the pull out time were any slower, it'd take away from the aggressive risk taking some players make.

Estrella is not a dedicated smoker. The hate on Mindfreak feels a little weird given he is often the one to bail out PRX when they overheat. Primmie's English comms are not strong enough yet. Kushy is a good initiator on Sova, but is not great on Fade. You can't even name a proper Sentinel replacement even though there are plenty of options available.

Personally, this is not a roster issue. The boys are more than capable of fragging. Their mental and strategy is erratic. They overextend still and I question why they do not have another coach or analyst in the booth with Alecks. In addition, I know they have a psychologist in their Youtube vids, but they need some critical sports psychology. Why does it feel like they hate playing numbers advantage, coordinated swings and high-low set-ups? Why does it feel like they need to push when they don't need to?

I hate when people complain about the shotguns when they do what they need to do at short range. Judge got nerfed because it was genuinely busted especially on Split. Bucky got nerfed in early Valorant because it was like a Season 0 Fortnite Pump Shotgun. Shorty does not need a nerf when it's killing people at short range. I can see a pullout time nerf just like hmazuur said, but even then, the shotguns are designed to win more at close range.

Jinggg losing 2 times in the same spot at bottom-mid on Abyss to gyen's shorty was more down to Jinggg's complacency to punish gyen's push the first time and then not learn the second time that gyen loves pulling out the shorty.

Yeah, and they still haven't got any new bundles for the ascension teams. Feelsbad that they're missing out on sales

Poor take on Mindfreak. This guy has bailed out PRX on many occasions.

I'm shocked that LEV didn't consider the PRX comp with the addition of Vyse instead of KJ. Demon1 on Jett, Natank on Phoenix, C0m on Sova, Kingg on Astra and tex on Vyse. Demon1 is one of the best Jett players and yet the coaches are still putting him on Yoru and other roles that he is not fully suited to.

You missed the part where FNATIC changed their comp so M8s prep was directed to a different comp and strats. Alfajer was popping off on duelist which is going to show how much impact he has when he can be engaging more aggressively. A bit unlucky for M8s, but they were slow to adapt to the comp.

Round 11.

I agree and disagree with parts of your statement. I definitely agree that Japanese players and teams need to push themselves out of their comfort zone and raise their ceiling to see some sort of progress. I mentioned it in another thread that Japanese teams need to risk-take on their strategies and compositions if they wanna adapt to the meta and keep an edge on teams who are not so strategically prepared. ZETA has shown that they do have the capacity to be creative and have plans to play Valorant well. But they absolutely need to improve their willingness to push themselves beyond their comfort zone.

On top of this, I think the mechanics definitely need to improve for Japanese Radiant players. Meiy is the gold standard for a Japanese player with cracked mechanics, but we need to see more of that. A lot of these players are hunkered down in Tier 2 and I believe it's because Japanese Tier 2 probably has one of the best org investments in comparison to other regions. You could say they're playing it safe, but given that it's their job, it would make sense that they want to live stably before they think about self-actualising their potential.

I don't think Japanese teams and players need to make drastic changes like going to new regions and such since the talent pool in Japan is there. In some instances like Saya at The Guard, it worked, but in other instances it didn't (e.g.: T1 last year). You would always want to make the most out of your current roster and the creativity they can offer alongside the coach before you make a sudden change. It saves money and time as well as allows for the full potential of the roster to be played out.

As a last point, I think Japanese Radiant players need to have more ambition as a whole. The top of the leaderboard is dominated by Thai, Korean and Indonesian players for a reason. They are very serious about going pro and then after that winning games on the big stage. Not to say Japanese players aren't as serious, but you can feel the hunger from players like Kush, Francis and Primmie when they're dominating with their filthy aim. Players like Aace and Caedye will probably enter Tier 1 soon. They're young and they have that fight in them. It's just a matter of when for them.

ZETA Academy producing all the sentinels, but it's good to see him finding that improvement. He definitely needed some more Tier 2 exposure since he just had extremely poor decision making. Hope he continues to improve since I won't forget all the confidence he had in himself during the "Know Your Enemy" content VCT Pacific produced. I like confidence, but it definitely needs to be backed up by mechanical or tactical skill.

The level of strategy that other teams in Pacific have has overtaken ZETA. ZETA on their miracle-run were relatively creative whilst maintaining discipline. Unfortunately, when your specialism of strategy is quickly overtaken like it is now, it's a very bleak future for Japanese Valorant. We can see how Korean teams are improving constantly and developing new strategies that work very often against many teams. Teams like PRX who look at a glance like they just run it down are very creative with their aggression and it makes ZETA very uncomfortable.

If I had to pinpoint their needed improvements, it's their willingness to risk-take and have those agent-synergies that Korean and Chinese teams have found. Vyselock has been so pivotal in changing how some maps are played. If Japan can find that sort of unique development and have deep strategies with it, they will be a lot more dangerous.

Beyond this, they definitely need to level up their mechanics. I cannot say exactly how the Radiant Japanese players weigh up against other regions, but on a bigger picture, Thai, Korean and Indonesian players seem to have a higher mechanical ceiling now. Dep looked good on Neon today against PRX, but it's not feasible to have one player who can take over a map. Syouta and Xdll showed some glimpses of greatness too. But as it stands, Japanese Valorant is a few steps behind the pack. The positive I can say is that this ZETA looks much better than last year's mess. Hiroronn being on the wrong role for the majority of the year and Yuran being the biggest flop definitely did not help their case, but the FENNEL reinforcements look so much better. They just need to innovate something and run with it.

Breeze, I can definitely see that. It's been out of the meta for a while and is often banned that I have a spotty memory on how it's played. I just remember op-holding on Breeze makes it favourable for defenders since it is a map designed with this playstyle in mind. Bind, I can see it changing into defender-sided with these new Vyselock comps. But it has traditionally been attacker-sided since the post-plant util is so oppressive against retakes and B-site especially is difficult to retake given how little space there is for defenders.