Pretty shit from both teams. Hopefully this was just off-game for Vitality.

Both EDG and DRX are their first seeds. Let's wait and see how Vitality and G2 perform before talking.

I mean it was 1st seeds vs 2nd seeds. DRX vs G2/VIT would make an argument. But I do agree that teams like SEN overrated.

Nice to see that TL still look good. I was bit worried they would look much weaker.

Very nice style with more chill approach

Nature is healing

Maybe but he has been one of the most consistent players in Valorant history. Hes pretty much same tier as Derke in that regard. There has not been a moment in his career that he has looked weak starting 2021.

Don't get me wrong both make good pads but the quality is shit. Not sure of Edge as I've neevr used it. But overall the top surface is just glued in and starts peeling after use. And overall the surface starts losing its feel overtime as the coating breaks. Shows low quality and reason why pros use them is because they have unlimited supply of mousepads to replace them with and are sponsored.

Leo has been arguably top 5 EMEA player since 2021 pretty much. He finally got good team when he joined Fnatic and finally got the recognition he deserved. He was always insane on Guild, even when they played in Masters. And was insane on Fnatic as well and won events. No doubt the goat initiator before his break.

Lethal Gaming Gear (LGG) Saturn or whatever is more of your style, control/speed
Good quality and consistency for relative affordable mousepad. Overall just avoid shitty Logitech/SteelSeries style brands.

Would make sense considering he likely ain't coming back anytime soon. He is sick so unlucky for him, but also I would get it from Fnatic's side. For replacements I think DaviH would be one of the clearest options just bit unlucky he is on CGN who is known for high buyouts. nataNk could also work with some role changes just depends what's the buyout. Verno could also work, but I rather see them pick EMEA talent.

Also UNFAKE could be option. He is good individually and is IGL currently so maybe they could develop him to become their next IGL if/when Boaster retires.

Yeah seems like a good coach

Hopefully we see Comeback and DaviH in VCT soon (pls Fnatic buy DaviH). Sayonara will get into VCT almost certainly once he turns 18, unless he starts performing much worse. Loita and Lar0k both strong candidates once eligible. And GSR is that young very promising prospect who will still need to be in tier 2 for some time due to age

Coca Cola > Pepsi
Pepsi Max > Coca Cola Zero (Pepsi Max Caffeine-free even better than normal Max)

If you mean the "esport" part then no I've never been that competitive. Just that before I always bought stuff like I was a esport player or something, only caring about min/maxing performance. Buying stuff because it was "made for pros" like it actually mattered for my use case. For example I forced myself to play on 1080p because that's what pros do. If you get me. Now I've started to realize that prioritizing good resolution, good colors, good monitor size are better for anything outside of min/maxing in competitive games. I'm not a pro and not planning on becoming one so why try to act like one.

but ofc this depends what you want. Nothing wrong for going fully competitive and then my opinion doesn't matter. Just something to think about.

Don't know exactly. But go for 1440p monitor minimum unless you only play Valorant. No reason to go for 1080p in 2025. Same goes for panel type(TN, VA, IPS) and size(24" vs 27"). Just before you buy some expensive 360hz 1080p monitor with shit panel. Its fine if you just want to play comp, but you never know if you actually wanted to enjoy other games or movies etc. I've came to this realization after just focusing on "esport" stuff that actually didn't matter at all before. Just something that could think about.

No idea, but in ideal world with role changes he could replace Crashies on Fnatic (move Chronicle to initiator). He could also fit into KOI(-soulcas) or Apeks(-Avova or -hype if rest make role changes) if they wanted to make changes. But I doubt he will join team any time soon.

Not giving any takes on teams or region rankings, but I think its because Valorant esport platforms are pretty NA biased for most part. Its the most popular region, most clout and theres a lot of Americans in ValComp Reddit and even here. Those more clouted teams also have bunch of fans from other regions. And that's why also NA scene and teams usually get the most focus from content creators as well and glazing.

I've also noticed that at least in my opinion the attitude towards different regions has always been bit different. IMO EMEA teams get criticized by far the most. Everything bad is being highlighted while good stuff is usually understated. I think the overall attitude towards Americas and even Pacific has always been more positive. You can even just listen to the casters where in EMEA its usually more "goofy" and casters laughing at bad plays while in Americas even relatively simple stuff is treated as some insane play. I think that's been the case since start of the game and that's why I think EMEA casters are kind of meh and not that professional.

Whatever fits you. Test different mice and find one that feels comfortable. I for example much prefer Razer DAV3's asymmetrical shape to G Pro Superlight's symmetrical shape. Also buttons are better especially side buttons. Mice depends so much on person, but you will also get used to them eventually.

For keyboard doesn't really matter. Realistically having Wooting or random Logitech mechanical keyboard doesnt make any real difference. Its again just preference and just bit different feel and Wooting let's you change how much pressure you have to put on the key. I have Apex Pro TKL that is almost like Wooting and its not really that big of a thing.

CSGO was much better than CS2. I never liked CS2 and still don't. CSGO>Valorant>CS2

Less is very good ofc, but I don't think he had that standout of performance in Kickoff. Outside of finals you could argue he looked like the 3rd or at times even 4th/5th best player on their team. I mean the team is stacked and even Kicks had very good games.

Sentinel: nAts
Duelist: something (Derke if counts)
Initiator: Cloud
Flex: Chronicle/Trexx
Controller: SUYGETSU

IGL would be between Cloud and nAts, Derke is also vocal if he is on the team.

I don't think anyone learns English in any accent or thinks about it. You learn English, not accents. In school they show both English and American versions for certain words like color vs colour, bit of Australian as well. And then you just mimic what you hear in videos, movies etc. Most people have accents that showcase their origins like you could hear I'm from Finland for example. But I guess American accent is more common because of media, know that some people prefer British because it sounds more professional. But I think most don't follow accents and just talk English and uses mixture of whatever they've learned and heard.

Imagine calling snus a drug. Its comparable to cigarettes. Would even say that among younger men here (And would assume same of Sweden) it has pretty much overtaken cigarettes and is used by many. Also popular because you don't have to go out for smoke or anything, can be used while playing, in class, work etc.

Issue just is that people who are addicted to such substances will usually face withdrawal symptoms once they don't get it. And that can definitely lead into performance issues.

She only played like 2 games though. Even BBL LewN looked insane and even better during first games.

Not bad and I agree with bonkar, but much rather see them sign EMEA initiator when/if replacing crashies eventually. NRG still likely asking high buyout and would rather see them signing someone like DaviH from CGN. Obviously couldn't go wrong with Verno, but in my opinion importing him is not needed. I get it for established top level players (like Less).

Way too early. But there's no way this is just performance based unless they've gotten absolutely owned in scrims or something. More like personality clash or opinion clash, overall internal issue. Maybe FNS and bonkar don't see eye to eye. Maybe bonkar and Verno were unhappy with the team and said fuck this we bench ourselves. Maybe rest of the team don't like them. Just examples.

or NRG is just giga tarded org

That's not the issue. Their overall human rights are the issue. If you think nation who for example gives death penalties to people just for being gay should be one of the leading nations in esport (just because they have money), then I guess you would not have issues with them. But realistically any reasonable person would have issues with that.

They will have no problem unless unlucky. Team made out of 4 very experienced and consistent players + 1 with not so much experience. Derke and Less have been top of the world since forever and both Sayf and Trexx have been on top regionally and have also performed internationally outside of maybe Sayf's performance on Liquid.

Vitality players are just short outside of Kicks

Also Liquid's FK/FD ratio is very good. Its actually very impressive. They get the opening kill in majority of the rounds in all of their games so far.

DRX is not at same level with G2 and VIT

Feels weird, but honestly they have looked better game by game and deserved their victories.

Hes very good. Reminds me a lot of s0m when he was popping for NRG

Yeah I know, but like he said he doesn't comm much outside of necessary stuff. That can be for better and that's why I said that it depends. I think stuff like hyping/calming teammates is also good trait and he seems more in-game comm and info only.

I honestly think its just players having more confidence on stage. They were throwing and doing silly stuff during first games. Now the players look better individually like expected and look more confident. They have good players.

one of the best rounded players
minus maybe weak comms, depends

Aspas would never

Yeah because Fnatic was better than LOUD most of the year and has better roster

Can't go wrong with Derke or Aspas. I honestly think those 2 are the duelist goats. KangKang is good, but I think experience and consistency wise Derke and Aspas are on their own tier right now. I think whoever is 3rd is closer to 4th than these two. And well in my opinion Derke plays more for the team with entrying and flexibility while Aspas is more of carry duelist whose teams play around him. Overall I would say that Aspas is individually slightly better, but I would pick Derke if I was building a team. Still easily the top 2.

Haven't watched rest of games, but SEN don't look very good. G2 for sure look good, but SEN look pretty mid. Can't win duel and just keep running in one by one.

Likely Turkey or Russia.
Russia has Derke(if counts), purp0, something, b1sk etc.
Turkey has Xeus, cNed, Lewn, Comeback, QutionerX, Izzy, qw1 etc.

I think Poland is good shout as well with Kaajak, Kamo, Filu, Xuss, Maniak.

but overall these 3 nations produce best talent overall in EMEA.

"inconsistent" when he played his first few tier 1 games in his career while looking much better in last 2 games

Yep his comms are very good. Even against KC. But overall Vitality comms sound very nice. Very calm and show how experienced most of the guys are.

Good, but honestly haven't played in a while. Its one of those games where its pretty fun here and there, but I couldn't really see myself caring about the game too much or grinding it. Overall gameplay pretty satisfying.

IMO the ranked mode is pretty dogshit. Climbing isn't hard, but annoying how everyone starts at bronze. I have only managed to get to gold before again being resetted to bronze while MVP/SVP'd like 80% of the games while playing tank and sometimes dps. Its so frustrating. And all of that because I just don't play it much. And there's been quite many afkers, leavers and overall very clueless individuals. I wish it had placement type system so only the worst would have to climb from bronze.

Just mix Vitality and Heretics. Some potential additions outside of them are Alfajer, Chronicle, Yetujey, Leo(if he played). Also if we purely had controller player you could throw in Keiko. He hasn't played the role for long, but so far he has been putting EMEA all-star level performance for KickOff.

I think its mainly because historically its been very popular role among IGLs and its been way more of an flexible role among teams/players. Where maybe in other regions there's more proper set non-IGL controller players.
also want to add Grubinho, he was good controller last season.

Abyss is dogshit. I would still say I dislike Breeze more, but both of these maps are hot garbage. Breeze I can get for OP players or players who like duels, but is there single person who likes Abyss? Its bad experience on any role or playstyle. Only fun if enemy attacks site you are holding as Vyse or Deadlock IMO. Also worst pro map to watch with Breeze.

Don't know about that. But the thing with Liquid is that they do have good players. I think we saw more of their potential today. Kamo fragging, nAts smart plays and cluthes, kamyk looked decent, Keiko still fragging and Patitek being fine as well. Could be one of those teams that just need to turn on one day and actually start performing decent. Hard to say can they keep up, but IMO they looked very decent here even if Giantx looked weaker.

Sad end for him, because he looked pretty good on GiantX before last map. Very weird play by him though. If anything likely miss comm or maybe someone mixed satchel and defuse sound or thought Keiko was masking the sound with it. I though Keiko was going to save there, so might be that as well.