I do agree, even though I think Molsi never had the chances of showing his true potential (his OGLU form). But saying that Florescent is somehow more deserving of VCT spot while never even have played in proper tier 2 is just insane. Like the way people are talking here is like if Florescent was exact or even better replacement for Kaajak who was arguably the best duelist in tier 2 EMEA. People didn't even trash rest of Apeks this much when Kaajak was fragging for them.

Yeah I'm not biggest fan of the players either(outside of molsi in the past), but saying that they are bad players while saying how Florescant might get the spotlight as the solo carry is insane when they are so much more proven players who have played in the big leagues. Like you could say the exact same thing about Batujnax(if he is the 5th) and how he is going to carry this team of weaker individual and be the next star, but no one would say that because it has no backing whatsoever.

Like I don't know how Florescent will end up doing, but its just insane to see people talk shit about Apeks' existent roster when they should be happy and surprised that Florescent even made it to any VCT team to begin with. On paper she should be the worst duelist in EMEA VCT.

Imagine thinking Florescent is better than Molsi, Avova or Hype when all of them are ex tier 1 players who also performed in tier 2 of EMEA. Florescent should have the lowest expectations of the upcoming Apeks roster alongside batujnax.

Why people keep talking shit about Apeks players while praising Florescent? Any of the existent Molsi, Avova and Hype are more proven and have been able to perform in tier 1 in the past. If anything they should be the ones who got the "bad move" and who might get fcked by this move.

Less - no brainer, one of the best sentinels to a rich org
Saadhak - no brainer, one of the most proven IGLs
Flyuh - don't know, but apparently Gorilla(KOI HC) liked him and even guys like Sayf liked him back when even NA was possibility for him IIRC
Koalanoob - Happy just wanted to take him with him, no other explanation considering how fast everything seemed to happen
Florescent - Apeks seemed to have struggled finding 4th and 5th and I guess they just said fuck it and benefit from clout

honestly Koalanoob might be good signing, but 3 of those were pretty much just X person wanting Y person to their team

batujnax likely because he was also rumored with Florescent

I don't know was he the best, but yeah my point that Lime isn't really a potential future star caliber like Kaajak or Xeus, so them prioritizing publicity over slightly better player isn't unbelievable. Like I don't think it really changes their expectations of perfomance next season. And yeah Lime has been playing well for quite a long time now and I was hoping for him to make it even if I don't rate him super high among EMEAs top duelists.

Yeah, "among" the best players. And they only trialed for 2 spots. Like who knows maybe she outperformed him, but that sentence alone doesn't mean that. Like Lime isn't some future star type of duelist, so them picking Florescent over him even if he performed better wouldn't be unbeliavable. And even then Lime has been grinding in tier 2 while looking good, while Florescent has only been dominating GC.

I don't know what Apeks are doing.... Maybe Florescent did well in trials or something, but signing her over cNed or Lime or some other tier 2 duelists feels bit scummy. Like I said I don't know the insides, but this feels a lot like "we are going to be kicked out of VCT anyway, so let's make a clout move that will farm impressions and make us relevant". If that's the case then it feels bad for guys like Lime who have been grinding in tier 2 for long while performing well.

GeForce Experience with Instant Replay, not sure how it affects FPS

no difference

TH
VIT
FNC
FUT
NAVI
KC
TL
GX
BBL
KOI
M8
APK

just quick feeling right now, honestly not sure of outside top 3. KC is hot take, but even though I think they are going to be good, some teams are likely going to perform below expectation. I think both NAVI and TL(not sure) are bit underrated. I want to believe in M8 and BBL, but some teams have to be down there.

absolutely disgusting combo, literal puke reflex type of food

Need to remember that middle of the pack T2 in region like EMEA with like 9 different leagues is not high ranking. My point is that I don't think they would make it out of any of the sub leagues to compete in Ascension/LCQ (top 2 of each league), but would likely be middle of the pack on most of the sub leagues and likely even worse on the better ones like Turkey.

Obviously impossible to tell exactly, but based on my amateur eye test and previous results best GC team would likely be middle of the pack T2 team. Like I don't think they would make it to Ascension on any of the regions or even to the Ascension LCQ.

Only thing that comes to my mind is just it being a clout and impression move if it actually happens. Like first GC player making it to tier 1 and Florescent is already known name in the scene. But there's no way they would go from pretty experienced decent-to-good tier 2 duelist to a player who has only been playing in GC. Like put Lime to SR or other top GC team and see how he performs.

why tf would they go from Lime to Florescent? Batujnax would make sense because they played with him in the RedBull qualifier.

Sure they have good talent in tier 2, but again I don't think CIS as region would be that dominant. They would have good tier 2 teams, but not like they would take Turkey's spot as the best sub region, and even Turkish teams don't always win.

veli

CIS(Europe) has produced some amazing talent, but bit overrated. Like what teams they produced outside of Gambit? Old NAVI was ok, but rest were pretty mid or bad. Outside of Gambit they have produced players like Cloud, Suygetsu and Derke. But overall its not like super dominant compared to rest of Europe.

I'm excited of every EMEA roster, but M8 is the one I'm most excited of right now. For other regions I don't really care, but want to see nataNk on Leviatan. For events I don't really care, but obviously want the best teams to make it there. I like underdog stories, but feels like often there's teams making it at the last moment for playing couple good games and then they end up shitting the bed in internationals.

Long wait and only BO1, but I'm excited really to see M8. Maybe even the team I'm mot excited of. RobbieBK Igling, Click and Minny vs tier 1 team, and Zyppan back to glory?

True. Best Valorant crowd so far is equal to like some random tier 1 event held in like Copenhagen or something. Only LockIn crowd during Brazilian teams was comparable to good tier 1 CS event crowds. Feel like the cultures are just very different and like you mentioned it almost feels like Korean vs Europe crowd in sense where Korean crowds are usually pretty calm and like you said this "im so shy" and more soft, while CS crowds are like European football crowds with energy and maniacs. But I also think that Riot is not even trying to make the crowd more hype and their crowd mics seem to be set pretty low. Its just sad because it makes every Valorant event feel less hype and smaller.

Overrated. I'm not pro obviously but from my ranked experience and even watching bunch of pros play iniator on stream almost no one uses lineups or maybe use like one or two basic lineups. Lineups are never bad ofc, but trying to memorize or learn multiple is pretty hard and not worth it for most part. Legit most useful ranked lineups are cross the map ones from site A to site B to support team if enemy rushes, in my experience.

Most important is just to know how the abilities function and hows the distance etc. After that its just freestyling.

I'm pretty sure that is long gone tho

He is and I highly doubt he would move to Berlin for VCT, but someone rumored that (not sure who) like week or couple weeks ago? And this Twitter account highlighting the EMEA rosters had also included him with likes of Paincakes and Brawk who are also NA players.

heres the tweet: https://x.com/esalemoriel/status/1856477148082503867/photo/1
but yeah it says that they are the rumored candidates, so could be just based on that previous rumor, but still pretty interesting.

I just saw a post showing the EMEA rosters and Apeks had Lime + 5th being still unknown (Nismo, Paincakes, Brawk, Kiles and Magnum mentioned as candidates). Not sure how credible they are, but pretty interesting and Nismo was rumored by someone some time ago.

Thoughts:
Duelist: kamo higher for sure, koalanoob likely higher, also doubt cNed is in but instead Lime. Marteen should be above purp0. Overall a lot of unknown because bunch of tier 2 talent.

Controllers: Sayf lower especially now, suygetsu first might be too early. But overall Ruxic, Kadavra, Atakaptain and Profek could change places IMO. Grubinho might be best if he continues on smokes.

Sentinel: pretty good because stacked role

initiator: pretty good as well

flex: I think for now Kamyk should be lower, but otherwise pretty decent, overall I think runneR will be better than 10th

also holy is sentinel and initiator stacked roles with controller and duelist having some high potential

Understandable, winters can def be pretty beautiful at times and cozy. Christmas is definitelty nice especially when with like snow, lights etc. Overall I think winter and snow is fine for duration of December because of 1st advent(?), independence day, my birthday, Christmas and New Years, because well I like those and snow/darkness is pretty relevant part of them. But outside of that its not very fun. Like winter between january - when it end is the worst and feels like it lasts forever. Like this year when the winter couldn't just stop.
Also need to mention that snow definitely brightens things up.

Yeah I would imagine. Obviously don't know how winter is elsewhere, but that is how its here at least. But some people who don't experience winters like this like to fantasize about "proper" winters like snow and such but don't understand the downsides. Like imagine waking up 7AM and leaving for work/school = its dark, school/work day over at 4PM and leaving back home = its dark. There's like 5-6h of sunlight per day and mostly when your at school or work.

Yep. When I was younger I didn't really care, but last few years winters have definitely impacted me. Not only is darkness and cold just bad by itself, but also you just want to stay home, not exercise because well outside is not really suitable for walks/jogs, and even inside muscles feel more tired and unpleasant, harder to get up in the morning in my experience because slight colder temp makes you sleep better or something. And then you end up having unhealthier lifestyle because well no motivation and more feel of hunger.

in summer its pretty much the opposite and that's why its way easier to live good. You actually want to go outside once in a while, easier to diet(if thats relevant), body performing better because warm unless its really warm etc.

Winters are dogshit. Cold and dark most of the day(and night). People fall into seasonal depression, more tired and fatigue mentally and physically etc. People who don't have to experience it yearly for multiple months wouldn't understand.

I think French. Overall French crowd is usually pretty good and isn't even that biased. Usually when French players/teams get eliminated in CS events they still keep cheering, and we even saw that in the Worlds finals. On top of that they have arguably best and loudest "Ultras" for teams like Team Vitality and Karmine Corp. And overall I think that they like different games and support their teams no matter who is on it, and I think even Valorant would get good audience. Also good location because people all over Europe(and outside of Europe) can relatively easily attend and also good country for inviting people like streamers/celebs because well France is likely pretty attractive destination.

Brazil crowds are insane when Brazilian teams are playing, but sadly they only cheer for them and become mid when others are playing/winning.

both overrated

US has lower average IQ than UK

marteen wasn't bad last season and apparently he is a scrim demon. Even n4rrate said how Marteen could become best duelist in the world if he played like in scrims (after joining SEN)

its nice

Yeah. Like sure she faces a lot of transphobia and obviously no one should be hated for anything even if they are overhyped, but I've seen countless people calling her tier 1 level while she hasn't even competed in proper tier 2 yet. While some even go as far as calling teams and players transphobic/misogynist because they haven't given her any chances.

Like I'm not hating on her, but IMO she is really overrated by some, outside of GC.

Obviously some of the hate comes from transphobia, but I also think its partly because of how much overhyping she also gets. There's people who unironically call her same level as top VCT duelists for dominating in GC that is equilevant to tier 3 on highest.

I think KC wont play with full roster but mix new and old I would imagine

KOI 2-0 KC

I dont know, no shit fest when there's only one pronoun for everyone and no need to think what someone might identify as. This whole He/She/They thing feels so dumb as non-native English speaker and I often just call everyone He accidentally.

beta languages have gender pronouns, alpha languages have gender neutral pronoun

Yep. Like pretty understandable why some could be confused on this and might think there's some rule change or something. Ofc transphobia is transphobia, but genuinely asking shouldn't be considered transphobia imo.

Sayonara is only playing in offseason. Only Kaajak is joining full roster.

Yep, but tbf I think there's many orgs who want to do the same and reminds to be seen can Fnatic manage to keep him

Sayonara future goat. Orgs will be fighting to nail and tooth once he turns 18

Nothing new, but I've listened quite a lot of Frank Ocean - Pink Matter past week or so and its IMO his best but he has other great songs obviously

We will see. KOI started to look good at end of Split 2 and both Grubinho and Sheydos were performing well. Reminds to be seen how Filu plays in tier 1 level, but I think he is pretty good replacement for Kamo with similar potential. I'm not highest on Soulcas, but I don't think he is terrible. And I don't know much about Flyuh, but seems that players(EU) and even some coaches like him so he must bring something.

Collar jerseys are nice, good that they seem to be relatively common nowadays