I actually think that Giants' Haven has looked good here and in G-Loot and its likely their best map atm. IMO KOI vs NRG map pool aka Icebox and Haven would be good for Giants.

Giants wasn't really tested, so they didn't have to show much while NRG had to show little more and showed that their Icebox is kind of weak. I think Giants definitely have a chance, but it might be too early for that. Also Fit1nho has to perform better.

Maybe he is just the 6th man? Most teams have coaches as their 6th so they look like if they only had 5 players there.

That is why you have to combine the 2 for ultimate team. This is why Fnatic and Liquid will win everything in 2023.

Nah the real secret is to have one Finn on the team, Fnatic: Derke, Liquid: Jamppi, Giants: hoody, Vitality: Bonecold all arguably top 6 teams in EMEA and players' teams have done well in events.

Good to see. He had slow start this season, but has been killing it ever since.

First day is going to be banging. Are thse BO3 btw?

IMO Giants are stronger or at least same than KOI and have had more time together

no, never even tried

Wolfen vs ____

didnt bet

Rather have small arena with packed crowd than big arena with small crowd. Really hope it gets better as the tournament progresses. Always just feel kinda bad for the teams.

You lack the ability of reading? EG isn't same as NRG, and TH isn't same as KOI.

At least on KOI it makes sense with Koldamenta as IGL, and Fit1nho is fine and has potential. Mixwell feels like clout pick, but maybe he brings in something else as well.

I have 2 wrong, NRG vs KOI and PRX vs C9(originally had C9 rip)

Actually kinda reminds me of their LEC roster.

True as well and it suck. Scream is one of the best players in terms of mechanics and Nivera is good enough to be on top team, but now both of them are in team with no seeable future.

KCorp could be ok with Enzo, but even still its all down to how well Enzo can IGL and its hard to rate it based on Apeks' games alone. XMS was doing really well in French VRL, but he was playing Chamber for most part. Also they are super limited if they want to stay French speaking and its going to be hard to change language if/when it happens.

Yep the bottom teams kinda trolled with their rosters. BBL got eliminated first in LCQ and they still stick with most of the same roster only adding like Sounchi and Brave. FUT's biggest achivement so far is winning Ascension and again decided to stick with same roster. KCorp wanted to be full French speaking, so again they were forced to sign some weaker tier 2 talent (Shin was good tho) and kept ScreaM IGLing. And Heretics for most part signed players who had weak 2022.

1-3: Fnatic, NaVi, Liquid (hard to rank even tho TL likely 3rd)
4-6: Giants, KOI, Vitality (hard to rank)
7: Heretics
8: KCorp
9: BBL
10: FUT

If you look at the rosters and their perfomances so far, legit ranked them the same before the season.

Heretics is like #7 best team in EMEA so chill for moment

Boo one of the best actual IGL fraggers IMO

keloqz peak is super high but sadly inconsistent. Hopefully that won't be issue on Heretics.

I have EG winning, but I do believe TH's peak is higher at least currently. Just depends on their individual form today.

Omega 100% for me. Fnatic, Liquid, NaVi and Vitality. Alpha only has(had) KOI and Giants and that's kind of it. No expectations for other KCorp, BBL or Heretics.

KOI easily. Wolfen, Sheydos, Koldamenta and Starxo are all decently tall and decent size.

Heretics players have been way too inconsistent in the past, so its really 50/50

Fnatic or NaVi - my quick take

Fnatic - Insane roster. Really stacked on every role, especially having Derke and Leo on this meta is so good for them. Has IGL that is native English speaker making calling way easier. Concerns: choking, Boaster's calling on high stake games.

NaVi - Really good roster. This meta will suit them really well with Jett, traditional sentinel and initiator dominant one. Also one of the best anti-strat teams out there even though it won't help much here. Also has shown the ability to switch up comps and styles a lot. Concerns: can cNed flex if needed, and how he overall fits to this team like resource taking, comms in and out of game etc.

Liquid - Good roster as well. They finally got a proper IGL and nAts is one of the best sentinels even though we likely won't see much of Cypher. A lot of flexibility. Concerns: Redgar's IGLing overall(wasn't biggest fan of M3C calls) and him having to do that in English. Possible role conflicts between Jamppi and Sayf. Like who plays Raze if needed etc. Also maybe bit inconsistent on higher stake games in players like Jamppi and Soulcas.

Zeek and Avova are inconsistent as well. Inconsistency is big problem among Heretics players, but have to hope they will become more consistent on this team.

He was staying in different country(Serbia or Turkey I assume), so he likely flies alone.

Yeah they are constantly taking up fights. Like when most other teams get a kill they fall back to play for man advantage, but when PRX player gets a kill they will instantly re-peak and completely lose good positions. I guess its their thing that partly made them good, but it has started to really cost them. We already kind of saw this in Champions.

Expected, but understandable as well. Like why would you go to stadium to watch match between 2 teams you don't care about?

True, but also Souchni(IGL) is still new with BBL and they had some good reads already. Given more time this team could be decent. But I do wish they made some changes though.

Turkish teams and players should just learn English and become international

BBL Acsent has always been really good. Turkey is like South America when it comes to Ascent. Its their map.

I'm fine with Turkish team, but 2 is too much IMO. But this has nothing to do with this game.

I wasn't impressed by them. They played no duelist comps. From individuals Nivera was doing well and I really liked his Omen play (+oping). Pretty expected from guy of his level. Shin was positively surprising as well. His fragging and utility usage was really nice for guy coming from tier 2. Scream was pretty good even though his calling wasn't the best. FPX also played bit weird stuff, so maybe they were caught off guard.

true BBL will 13-0 DRX

its terrible legit looks like white t shirt from distance. White and gold in combination doesnt work and looks cheap.

I think DRX and PRX will make it out, but PRX is close one. DRX should win even though I think it will be closer than some expect.

More like Riot is smart. Chinese teams will just get free slots and then Riot milks the money

KC looked bad, but Shin played well for most part. His fragging and utlity usage was really impactful.

Towards end Nivera wasn't that great on Liquid. And they definitely upgraded their roster for this season.

Enzo is mid mechanically, but he could easily take IGL role from ScreaM so he can focus more on individual playmaking. Also his calling has been nice to far in Apeks even though the competition isn't tier 1.

KCorp is trolling. Didn't sign Enzo for IGL/Initiator, didn't sign TakaS for duelist. Playing no duelist ScreaM IGL.

that looked so bad from KCorp

Maybe, but again same as with Wolfen this was his first tier 1 game in long time. Guys like him need more time. But yes this team is good, but unfortunately everyone is just talking about bad DFM looked instead of giving Giants any respect. Have to wait for NRG vs GIA game.

One of the best for sure. He has everything you need. Tall, athletic, beard, nice hair, you can see the confidence etc. I hecking love Scream!

Likely not for some time, but nukkye's Breach has been really good so far. He seems doing well on flex role. And I actually think that role could suit him because I feel like he used to have tendency of being bit disconnected from rest of the team in the past, but now he is setting his team up so it will force him to be more with his team and he still has ability to make calls for plays. Maybe its just me, but that's how I see it.

It is worrying, but at the same time Liquid never had proper IGL and still did well. Of course Liquid's roster was better than KC, but its clear that Scream has some ability to lead his team. Not good enought to win vs top teams, but passable vs weaker teams. Unless he switches to like controller role or something where he can't frag.