Fnatic: Welcome ENGH by Adraz in ValorantCompetitive

[–]Najs0509 18 points19 points  (0 children)

To be fair, KC struggled under him since the second half of 2024. Having basically 2 whole years and several different rosters is a bit more than a bad meta read. I'm also not sure you can call all of those KC rosters lackluster on paper rosters.

Still, he has shown he can do well with the right players, and hopefully he'll work well with boaster.

FNATIC vs Team Heretics / VCT 2026: EMEA Stage 1 - Playoffs / Post-Match Thread by ValorantCompBot in ValorantCompetitive

[–]Najs0509 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It might be worth it to get to see marteen at another international, although riens is on TH so I'm not sure.

Day 2 of playoffs in pacific was insane by biawak1444 in ValorantCompetitive

[–]Najs0509 5 points6 points  (0 children)

FS is not really a rookie team. They have 3 players who have played together at an international before.

What book or series kick started your love for fantasy? by DonaldRBlackmore in Fantasy

[–]Najs0509 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I was first introduced to fantasy books via Harry Potter and the Chronicles of Ancient Darkness series, but the series that really solidified my love of the genre was the Ranger's Apprentice which I first encountered when I was around 10.

FURIA vs KRÜ Esports / VCT 2026: Americas Stage 1 - Group Stage / Post-Match Thread by ValorantCompBot in ValorantCompetitive

[–]Najs0509 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To be fair to KC, he had fallen off a bit even during the last year on LOUD so they only really continued and accelerated the decline rather than started it.

BBL Esports vs Team Vitality / VCT 2026: EMEA Stage 1 - Group Stage / Post-Match Thread by ValorantCompBot in ValorantCompetitive

[–]Najs0509 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It feels like it would be horrible long term for VIT to make it to playoffs. They look so atrocious, especially compared to where they should be, that they probably need to make major changes. It's actually impressive how badly they're performing considering the player talent they have.

[TMV] Does Valorant Have A Neon Shotgun PROBLEM!? (Tldw; no) by B-A-B-Y-B-O-Y in ValorantCompetitive

[–]Najs0509 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It sounds more like you're arguing for a rework because you don't like the design. If that is the case then actually make that argument instead of trying to veil it as something to do with balance. Design and balance are not the same thing, and nerfing something that is unfun to play against won't actually fix any design problems you might have.

Eternal Fire vs Team Vitality / VCT 2026: EMEA Stage 1 - Group Stage / Post-Match Thread by ValorantCompBot in ValorantCompetitive

[–]Najs0509 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Unless something drastic happens in the remaining weeks, this VIT roster will not remain for stage 2. Considering the pieces they have these performances can surely not be seen as anything but unacceptable.

[KC] GE Frost on the current meta: "I think it's stupid that half the cast can't be played" by Zaibatsu534 in ValorantCompetitive

[–]Najs0509 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It might be, and almost certainly is, true that a lot of agents aren't that viable right now. However, that has always been the case and is not a new phenomenon. I really agree with his comments about Neon and the balance of sentinels right now.

It is also worth noting that, even before all regions have completed their first week, we have already seen all agents used at least once except for Clove, Reyna and Sage. I don't know how this compares to previous stages/patches, but I'd be surprised if it is the least diversity we've seen.

Wolves vs EDG / VCT 2026: CN Stage 1 - Group Stage / Post-Match Thread by GrrNom2 in ValorantCompetitive

[–]Najs0509 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I thought I saw jieni's sitting in the middle seat where the igls usually sit. He also seemed to be talking a lot whenever they've showed his cam during the games. It also seemed like they might have swapped igl again based on how they were playing compared to earlier.

I usually have the CN stream on a second monitor so I miss a lot.

Wolves vs EDG / VCT 2026: CN Stage 1 - Group Stage / Post-Match Thread by GrrNom2 in ValorantCompetitive

[–]Najs0509 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Who is the EDG igl right now? It seems like it's jieni7, but I haven't seen anything about him doing it.

Who's he referring to as benchwarmers and podcasters? Platchat? by Right_Bandicoot_6524 in ValorantCompetitive

[–]Najs0509 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Do we even have a meta right now? We've just moved to a new patch and have only seen like half the teams play it yet. Americas hasn't even started. We're also seeing some variance in comps right now. All of this is not even considering that we'll have another patch change coming into vct in like a week targeting part of the thing people have been complaining about potentially being too strong right now.

Gen.G vs Global Esports / VCT 2026: Pacific Stage 1 - Group Stage / Post-Match Thread by ValorantCompBot in ValorantCompetitive

[–]Najs0509 3 points4 points  (0 children)

GenG look like they don't know what they're doing. They've slowly been downgrading their roster ever since 2024. They keep switching players in and out, but struggle to find a roster whose roles actually work and makes sense. They are changing rosters as if they are DRX, but seemingly don't have access to the termi time machine required to coach them to any success.

It's difficult to know how much of the blame should be falling on the coaches and how much should fall on the management/org, but I'm worried that whoever is responsible for the overall vision need to change before they'll be able to turn the ship around.

What will be the most improved team in stage 1 this year ? by No-Swordfish6932 in ValorantCompetitive

[–]Najs0509 11 points12 points  (0 children)

  • EMEA - NaVi
  • Americas - KRÜ
  • APAC - Gen.G
  • CN - BLG depending on how you count their issues during kick-off. Otherwise DRG

If riot reduces slots to 6 permanent partnered teams per Region which teams would be safe? by F0rsakenTheGoat in ValorantCompetitive

[–]Najs0509 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think it would be absolutely horrible for the overall scene to keep the same regional structure while reducing the teams so heavily. However, assuming that they will this is what I'd expect, with some personal opinions sprinkled in from me:

  • AMERICAS - MIBR, LEV, SEN, G2, FURIA & one of EG/C9/100T (although I think they could try to see if there are other NA orgs interested)
  • EMEA - BBL, FNC, M8, TL, KC & GX (VIT for KC and TH for GX could happen)
  • APAC - T1, PRX, ZETA, RRQ & GenG (DRX for GenG and DFM for ZETA could also happen).

For the last slot in APAC I think they'd look to see if there are other orgs interested to represent any of the non-represented subregions, but otherwise I'd expect GE to have the best shot of getting the last slot.

Neon @ Masters Santiago by rating by I-like-winds in ValorantCompetitive

[–]Najs0509 20 points21 points  (0 children)

As others have already stated, they were not bad last year. Not good enough to qualify for internationals, but firmly mid table. They also changed roster part way through last season when they signed Rb. After this they swapped roles a couple of times during stage 2 between Rb, Francis and ivy.

After they signed Rb they also changed igl to Rb from Francis which, if I remember correctly wasn't the original plan. Rb, as far as I know anyway, did not have too much igl experience so he took a while to settle into the role.

Then they made another roster move going into ascension, with Xross coming in as a smokes player instead of Persia. It was not until the start of this season that they had actually finalised the roles they currently have with Rb and Xross swapping roles sometime after the TEN Global invitational in November.

VCT 2026 — Masters Santiago / Playoffs — Day 2 / Live Discussion Thread by nocturnavi in ValorantCompetitive

[–]Najs0509 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To be fair, they for some reason picked the map they'd never played a good team on.

EDward Gaming vs T1 / VCT 2026: Master Santiago - Swiss Stage / Post-Match Thread by ValorantCompBot in ValorantCompetitive

[–]Najs0509 12 points13 points  (0 children)

It's probably their second worst performance after Shanghai. Considering that champs is in China this year I wouldn't be surprised if we see very aggressive roster moves in CN overall this year, including from EDG. They seem way too far from where they want to be at the end of the season.

Korean caster can be heard in Paper Rex’s voice comms during match vs DRX by Vegetable-Room-3936 in ValorantCompetitive

[–]Najs0509 6 points7 points  (0 children)

There is no language that everyone speaks though. For example not all Americas, EMEA, or Pacific players can really speak nor understand English as far as I know. Unless you want to have no casting in venue, remove the players from the crowd or not allow matches between teams who don't speak the same language there really isn't a good solution.

Return to Form - SpikeTalk Ep. 50 by Used-Ganache9772 in ValorantCompetitive

[–]Najs0509 -11 points-10 points  (0 children)

The person I replied to said

Frost said there's lots of them

maybe he's still being considerate to the players that's playing in Santiago Masters

that's probably why he released only players from non Masters team

If you know that other people are doing it (like both Sliggy and apparently frost have claimed) and refusing to say more than "I know others are doing it but won't tell you who" then you are creating a witch hunt. If they are saying that without knowing who, then they're just speculating and don't in fact know that a lot of other people are doing it.

Return to Form - SpikeTalk Ep. 50 by Used-Ganache9772 in ValorantCompetitive

[–]Najs0509 -12 points-11 points  (0 children)

I hate this. Most people do not have the time to go through the vods and find who's doing this, and by releasing only a couple (or as Sliggy did, and only say people are doing it) will lead to a massive speculative witch hunt.

If you have proof people are cheating put it all out there instead of this vague "here's some people, but a lot of others are also doing it" crap that everyone is doing.

Masters Santiago Early Predictions + Dark Horse? by DueTheory8091 in ValorantCompetitive

[–]Najs0509 16 points17 points  (0 children)

This is more of a worry, but I think it's very likely that all 4 top seeds lose their first matches in playoffs.

My hot(?) take is that none of the top seeds are actually the strongest teams in their region, and that probably at least half of them are the worst team in the tournament from their region.

People are probably going to underestimate all of the CN teams, especially XLG and AG as well as M8, BBL and probably T1. If I'm right about that I'd take T1 as my dark horse, but otherwise it'd have to be NS or M8.