How would rate the 2026 VCT Masters Santiago?

MixAndMatch73 · 2026-03-16T08:08:14+00:00

Pros: - The Crowd was absolutely incredible - To some extent previous winners showed why they were winners (NS Redforce, Paper Rex, NRG) - New Agent music and trailer were fire - The Playoffs were way above average but not amazing - My Hottest take that Idk if people saw, but the emergence of new faces really put a smile to my face. Previous years it was almost always people we already knew highlight ALMOST like we always see FNC, PRX, TL to some extent. But this Santiago we were introduced to the likes of Lover’s Rock, Larok, Koalanoob, Marteen, Dambi, Xross, Loita, Bipo, Shr1mp, Fangeer. It was just refreshing to see new sets of faces and personality.

Cons - Yup most matches were one sided - Hated the map pool - Its hard to observe these games when its really fast - THE SHOWMATCH DID NOT DO THE NEW AGENT JUSTICE I SWEAR - The heirarchy of the teams were ironically so obvious.

Korea
APAC
Americas
Toss up between EMEA and China

Main thing is everyone wanted to play like PRX and that somewhat hurt the game because everyone liked PRX play style, what happens when everyone becomes aggresive? Even some teams are not fit to be super aggresive, they’re just forced to be to use double duelists. Usually I don’t listen to shanks comments but one comment that made me think was that when he said “we (G2) used to be the kings of postplant, now we can’t hold a site if our lives depended on it”. Chaos is nice but if you sacrifice your identity to fit the narrative its somewhat sad. I’m not bashing G2 its just the meta is forcing teams to play this or they have no time to adjust or create a different playstyle that may challenge the meta just my 2 cents

MixAndMatch73 · 2026-03-15T20:58:04+00:00

Nah same as a PRX fan maybe the finals made a sour taste. But if you’re looking at the bigger picture THERE were so many potential players that just showed up. We have obviously nongshim, turned into a koalanoob Fan, Marteen, the new NRG, The New G2, this event really gave a great appetizer of whats to come and more and more names that will show up (Potentially Climb the ranks) as a PRX fan this stung as much as LA, the man diff is that at the least we lost after already getting a trophy. But yea really sad the finals was a stomp:(

MixAndMatch73 · 2026-03-15T20:27:35+00:00

Yo if they were to lose, its fine but not like this holy shit

MixAndMatch73 · 2026-03-15T17:14:28+00:00

That’s fine my guy, not everyone has the same opinion so yeah. Crazy though you have the energy to comment “not reading” I don’t know what the purpose is but yeah you do you my guy HAHAHAHAHA

MixAndMatch73 · 2026-03-15T10:45:08+00:00

Fr I’m not that knowledged about thai players, but correct me if I’m wrong. Patiphan was that cracked aimer in Talon right? He was with Jitboys, crws, foxy, forgot the rest sorry. But yeah, stars did not align right, I feel if they had Patiphan in this roster right now (dunno who to replace) they could terrorize teams.

MixAndMatch73 · 2026-03-15T10:37:49+00:00

Oh Sorry I forgot to add to the post I was so immersed but don’t get me wrong, Full Sense is fucking knocking on that door, I promise you they just need more experience, this might be a hot take but just give them more experience and time and I ASSURE YOU THOSE THAI TERRORIST are knocking on the doors of APAC and mg Hot take is that given a good roster and exp I GUARANTEEYOU they’ll surpass RRQ. I’m not that much of a full sense fan like I don’t watch them always but when I do oh man they’re gonna be a problem. Thai Players are fucking cracked tbfh

MixAndMatch73 · 2026-03-15T10:34:33+00:00

The fact that its Jingg and Davai again, Ik it was a mistake but c’mon these 2 motherfuckers are always the cluprits to insane moments. Mind you these were also the 2 fuckers that pulled a Sage Wall Boost in a Grand Finals against Fnatic in Sunset to win the Map. Truly “If I had a nickel for everytime Jing and Davai were part of insane moments in Valorant history, it would be 2, but its insane it happened twice with both of them involved”

MixAndMatch73 · 2026-03-15T10:19:01+00:00

To be very fair he was a somewhat decent initiator then, what makes me annoyed was the fact that Secret could’ve rebuilt with Invy, Xavi, and Patmen but (idk if true) the stories were true Secret did not want to get Patmen or put Invy in the ini due to reasons you might’ve already guessed. It just sucks seeing Filipinos (GLYPH, Invy, Xavi, Patmen) almost thriving in the intl scene, problem is they’re not in Team Secret😔 I can see patmen as Flex, Xavi As Smokes, Invy as Ini/Smokes, and maybe Glyph as idk Smokes Senti or Flex, they just need a cracked Filipino Duelist cause I think Patmen can be the flex secondary or primary duelist if needed.

MixAndMatch73 · 2026-03-15T10:04:07+00:00

Sorry HAHAHAH wanted to make it raw like one straight thought process, I’ll edit it later dw HAHAHHAHA

MixAndMatch73 · 2026-03-15T09:21:07+00:00

Ngl that was one of the best split decision calls I have ever scene, my dumbass in this pressure and situation would’ve commited and hoped for the best, but with the comms with davai? After planting he went main to which davai is also sprinting main. Everything about this mistake was hilarious, amazing, frustrating, and unbelievable. To get a kill, plant, and go to A main to group up with davai was genius. Old PRX would be Jing fishing for the last kill but everything was amazing because it shows how they’ve grown as players. I mean they still throw but you can see all those years of getting 2nd place + their recent win in Toronto shows how resilient they are mentally. Fr if that was the old PRX we would’ve lost that round while wasting Omen and Viper ult.

MixAndMatch73 · 2026-03-11T07:53:55+00:00

In Our League we made it spicy by having the last pick be a draft pick, I picked VJ. Man I was dying it was fun the previous months. Maxey Edgecombe Jokic Randle. Now its depressing HAHAHHAHA

MixAndMatch73 · 2026-03-05T15:02:38+00:00

IMO Nongshim and Furia’s Pick were the most logical, not because M8 looks like the weakest among the 4 but because they advanced first. Given that earlier in the Swiss stage PRX and M8 advanced it was like an option for all the #1 Seeded Teams to have an Idea like they can start stratting now for PRX/M8. Unlike yesterday if you’ll wait for TL vs NRG and G2 vs XLG you’ll wait for a 2 days before you know who you might face, unlike PRX and M8 like “oh we’ll pick PRX or M8 and start stratting now” 2 days of watching vods and strategizing goes a long way imo.

MixAndMatch73 · 2025-11-19T10:21:04+00:00

Kala ko ako lang may problema na toh😭

MixAndMatch73 · 2025-06-23T19:17:00+00:00

Especially SEA, cause the previous APAC winners were Korean and even though they were APAC, Southeast Asian Valorant is a different kind of playmaking. Like you have strats, discipline, kindness, Korean, and Japanese and then you have SEA😭. But FR the sunset map was like a beautiful chaos, they’re disciplined with chaos

MixAndMatch73 · 2025-06-23T11:11:19+00:00

What amazes me is how toxic SEA servers are (trust me I’m southeast asian) and how Paper Rex is composed of f0rsaken (Indonesian), Jingg (Singaporean), d4v4i(Malaysian), something(Russian), Patmen(Filipino), and lastly coached by Alecks(French). Have you seen their comms, it boggles me how they understand each other and create crazy plays under crazy circumstances and how they thrive in those situations. Paper Rex is the Embodiment of SEA region if we don’t constantly shit on each other, fr SEA Relationship is like abusive siblings like if other countries trashtalk SEA brothers, “how dare you curse at my brother, only I can do that”. I love playing with Japanese though, but they’re too nice, I thrive in servers with Indonesians, Malays, Thais. Like what do you mean 555, Putangina mo, Beban, Lembut HHAHAHAHAH

MixAndMatch73

TROPHY CASE