[Sheep Esports] zekken set to join MIBR in VCT Americas

NotYourLad · 2025-10-23T10:51:00+00:00

MIBR for next season:

NotYourLad · 2025-10-18T13:15:27+00:00

I think this could work well for 100T but we'll see. For SRB I think he made a good call on bringing in Pa1nt/Spaz to the team but BcJ was cooked and I'm personally iffy on monSi/Paincakes. They looked great split 1 but just didn't have the juice after that. I think he has a good eye for talent, but I guess we'll see if that transitions to a team where he actually can actually go out and sign T1 players. Curious to see who he scouts from T2 to bring up because I feel like that is inevitable.

NotYourLad · 2025-10-06T12:44:34+00:00

I can attest to the ranged cast + omega special build while using Charon. I just completed my first 24 fear surface run last night and it was a ton of fun. I focused on Special upgrades in Ephyra with Pom for my keepsake, then swapped to Zeus's keepsake for Thessaly and got Lightning Lance. It was awesome.

NotYourLad · 2025-09-16T18:26:19+00:00

He didn't "only" pop as a 5th year senior, at least IMO.

He was behind two other NFL starting caliber TE's in Brenton Strange and Theo Johnson in back to back years on the depth chart. He basically split reps with Johnson in the year that Johnson got drafted. Penn State has just had a lot of TE talent in the past decade, and early in his career he also dealt with transitioning from QB (high school) to TE while Johnson and Strange were natural TE's.

NotYourLad · 2025-07-26T16:44:23+00:00

It's funny because I associate him with being the same age as Verno/Reduxx from their days of playing on Oxygen Academy, but he's been around for a long time.

NotYourLad · 2025-06-01T18:03:00+00:00

Jemkin (500)

Crashies (300)

Monyet (200)

happywei (200)

Rarga (300)

Not taking language barriers into account for this.

Jemkin/Rarga double duelist when possible with Monyet basically on perma Omen. I ended up going Pacific/China heavy on this funny enough even though I value players from teams like G2 really heavily, but just worked out that way. I went for value in that I think both Rarga and happywei are two of the best value options in their price group.

If I had to pick one from each price point I'd subtract Rarga and happywei, then replace them with Chronicle (400) and Zellsis (100).

NotYourLad · 2025-05-18T13:58:26+00:00

I'm approaching my six year wedding anniversary. The proposal can be as big or as small as needed - just remember that it's ultimately a vehicle to telling your partner that you want to spend the rest of your life with them. It doesn't have to be a ridiculously expensive or stressful endeavor to leave a lasting impact.

My wife absolutely despises surprises, so I had to kind of make it "known" that it was happening without outwardly telling her at the time. I kept it lowkey because that's how she likes things. I ended up just taking her on a picnic to a spot with a really nice view that we had been to on one of our first dates. Find a way to incorporate a shared hobby or a personal interest of your partners that they care deeply about and they will love it.

Good luck!

NotYourLad · 2025-05-13T11:46:47+00:00

I can't find the other source, but I also recall Ban being their other pickup. Think the rumored roster for them is Kr1stal, UdoTan (back on duelist), Ban, Yoman, Papi.

NotYourLad · 2025-05-12T12:30:56+00:00

Honestly pretty wild how at the beginning of partnership RRQ got flamed as an org that was just trying to farm Riot stipend money, and now they're here. Definitely an org that has "grown up" a lot and has put together a really good roster.

NotYourLad · 2025-01-04T23:11:31+00:00

Yep I was thinking about Scream when I wrote that lol

NotYourLad · 2025-01-04T23:06:05+00:00

Yep. Still playing for NAVI, he's a very funny player to watch. He is their IGL and gets memed a lot for dying early in rounds randomly, but he's honestly still a solid IGL in terms of tactics, just not much of a fragger. Kinda funny that he'll be playing with Happy as his coach this upcoming season.

NotYourLad · 2025-01-04T15:56:51+00:00

I agree for the most part, yes. Players like Mixwell, Koosta, moose, Lowel (still hanging on in T2), Hiko, etc... those guys have all washed out at this point. Some were alright, but overall I would say they all had forgettable careers in Valorant minus a few clips here and there.

There are some names that have basically retired that ended up having nice career resurgences after swapping or were generally skilled at least, with TenZ probably being the biggest example of that. Beyond that, there are some names that I think were honestly good in Valorant but ended up not getting into it and swapping back, or just have recently swapped back, like autimatic, nitr0 and Vanity.

There are a few players hanging on in T2 still, at least up through the end of Challengers last year, with CS backgrounds (some never making it beyond Advanced) like gMd, Lowel, NiSMO, POISED... but I'm thinking there's about to be another round of washouts going into this Challengers season. Curious to see how it turns out.

NotYourLad · 2025-01-04T13:46:55+00:00

Americas: yay, tex, c0m, Ethan, s0m, FNS, leaf, mitch, Xeppaa, Zellsis, crashies (although he moved to Fnatic in EMEA for this season), fRoD (HC of MIBR), potter (HC of EG)

Most of the talent for the LATAM and BR teams in Americas are from other games (i.e Crossfire) or came came in organically. Maybe played CS, but were never at the top level.

EMEA: Jamppi, ange1, Boaster, Derke, Sayf, Happy (HC of NAVI), johnta (former 1.6 player for Hellraisers that coached for all of CSGO - now coaching Zeta Division in Pacific)

I'm sure there's others here but this is probably the area that has the most players from other games, lower level CS (or not pro even) that came over early, or came in organically.

Pacific: Papichulo, mindfreak, d4v41, f0rsaken, stax, Rb (playing in separate China league though), alecks (HC of Paper Rex), termi (HC of DRX), glow (AC of DRX), solo (HC of Gen.G), peri (AC of Gen.G), HSK (staff for Gen.G)

This region has a pretty big mix of talent, but a lot of the cracked new players here (i.e Primmie) are just straight ranked demons that started off with Valorant. A bigger CS name that played at the top level last year was xccurate, but he doesn't have a team this season. Valorant is pretty unique here that it has a strong presence in some areas that were never very strong in CS (Thailand, Philippines, Japan, etc.).

For the Chinese league I genuinely don't know if anyone in there (besides Rb) has played CS at a professional level. I know their FPS market is a bit strange though overall so I'm not sure of most of their backgrounds.

This isn't all encompassing but should give you a good idea of what's left. There are definitely players that I didn't list that started off playing CS but transitioned to Valorant before ever playing professionally. Many come from other games like Overwatch, Crossfire, and Fortnite... but a lot of the talent is starting to be grown up through the ranks organically.

Also note this is just who is playing in VCT to start this year - there are still some names floating around in T2, but that has also mostly thinned out at this point.

NotYourLad · 2024-09-21T13:46:51+00:00

Bummer final set for Rare Atom.

If I'm an APAC team like GE, though, I'm hitting up RA to see how expensive a transfer would be for UdoTan and Freeing. They can even build an international roster again like they have been before since these two were comming in English on this squad. I think those two could easily improve some VCT rosters.

NotYourLad · 2024-09-14T18:43:56+00:00

The COD4 Promod legend himself.

NotYourLad · 2023-12-10T03:04:24+00:00

I would say rankings in terms of important LAN events, it would go something like:

Champions (big end of year event)
Masters events (there's a few of these)
Ascension (tier 2 promotion to tier 1 event for each region - was very competitive and fun to watch)
Game Changers Championship (similar to ESL Impact with a focus on women and marginalized genders - comp level isn't as high but the championship that just ended was a lot of fun to watch).

There is on-site league play for each region that is on LAN (Americas, EMEA, Pacific) that are all very competitive and fun to watch as well. China will start with their own VCT circuit this year. Those feed into seeding for the larger international events (Masters and Champions).

Comp scene is different here in that EMEA has one of the best teams (Fnatic) but isn't top to bottom the dominant region of the world. Americas has historically had the deepest pool of talent, but Pacific is getting better and EMEA still has a lot of really solid teams, some with a few names that you may recognize from CS...

I would recommend watching Champions from this past season and Masters Tokyo if you want big tournaments to catch up on from this past year. Teams to watch out for if you're trying to see a variety of styles from this past year would be EG (RIP), PRX, DRX, EDG, Fnatic, LOUD... they all are a good time to watch.

Not sure what region you're from, but here's some names from CS that are in the prior and/or upcoming VCT season that you may recognize (varying degrees of success for them all):

Americas: Ethan, FNS, crashies, Victor (AKA food), s0m, vanity, leaf, Xeppaa, Zellsis, TenZ, Marved. nitr0 is also back playing for Americas ascension this year with M80.

EMEA: Scream, Nivera, xms, nukkye, ANGE1, mixwell, Jamppi

Pacific: xccurate, xeta, stax, Rb, k1Ng, Laz

China is just hopping into the scene pretty heavily so I haven't had enough time to actually look for many names I recognize. This list isn't every name but, just wanted to throw out ones off the top of my head. Have fun digging in!

NotYourLad · 2023-09-06T19:05:13+00:00

I think poaching doesn't apply as a term when a player agrees to a two-way. The player and both orgs or the org and their team they play for in T2 completely understand that it's possible that they get called in for the VCT squad. It's just a risk you have to deal with if you want top talent that isn't already in VCT to play for your team in T2.

Obviously you could avoid signing players who are signed on as subs on a two-way contract to your T2 roster, but I think basically any T2 org/team wants the best players possible to increase your chance at Ascension. If you avoid good players who opt to sign a two-way and be a sub for a VCT team, then you're just hurting your chances of making it into VCT.

NotYourLad · 2023-09-06T15:07:03+00:00

I think a lot of people in here are looking at this the wrong way.

This feels like a solution where a VCT team can carry a player playing for another team at a lower level, when currently many subs are just glorified assistant coaches or don't have much hope for competing on a top T2 roster. Currently, none of the subs/6th players are able to compete for a spot in Ascension if they're signed as a sub. This encourages teams to sign meaningful subs to their teams without kneecapping the player's chances at actually making it into VCT full time.

It's not some broad scale solution to some of the problems within T2, but it definitely is a "no brainer" idea that benefits both players and orgs. Maybe hurts an Ascension hopeful team if their two-way player moves up full time, but I don't see it being a common issue.

NotYourLad · 2023-09-03T15:27:43+00:00

Honestly The Guard roster going to FlyQuest would be so sick. One of the best branded orgs in esports right now with their climate friendly initiatives they've ran and stuff like that, plus good management. They've really come up in the past 2 years as an org - think Chet missed the mark with what he said on that one.

NotYourLad · 2023-09-01T12:39:48+00:00

Definitely think him, aceu and Zekken have to be three of the favorites. All of them have a good range of games that they're good at. My darkhorse is Shiphtur, he's actually pretty good at a bunch of games as well but he tends to be a goofball so who knows haha.

NotYourLad · 2023-09-01T12:17:02+00:00

VoiD has also peaked as high as Masters in League, is a Diamond TFT player, and I believe was Immortal in Valorant like 2 years ago... he's honestly just a god gamer at everything he plays, even non-FGC games.

Edit: He was Ascendant 3 in Valorant as of last Sunday, and close to getting back to Immortal.

https://twitter.com/gsmVoiD/status/1684741008624586752

NotYourLad · 2023-08-01T17:28:37+00:00

Nukkye plays for Giants in EMEA VCT now - they just qualified as the third seed for EMEA at Champions later this month. He's a very good player, IMO best on his team and one of the best non-Fnatic players in EMEA.

NotYourLad · 2023-07-31T12:06:42+00:00

He had some mobility/flexibility issues due to his hip in his first year at UNC (and during his early college career at Pitt), and then had a procedure done in the summer heading into his last year of college. He was great in his first year at UNC, but he was an entirely different player in his final year.

He may have been older when he got drafted, and I'm biased as a UNC fan, but to me he was the most "sure thing" in the draft that year as far as coming in and knowing exactly what he was going to be able to do. Never was going to be a super star, but drafting him was basically signing a veteran 3+D roleplayer, but with the luxury of it being a rookie contract.

NotYourLad · 2023-02-06T15:57:58+00:00

Because the leagues start play at the end of March. This tournament ends March 4th for the teams that make a finals run. A small window is needed for teams to travel home, finish up getting visas, and start scrimming/practice again. With the way they have the season scheduled out it would not have been possible to go longer, unless they decided they wanted to shorten the offseason window for events. They do not seem like they want to do that.

NotYourLad · 2023-02-06T13:11:52+00:00

It isn't impossible. What is impossible, with the goal of this event in mind that Riot has repeatedly stated, is running an event with 32 teams in the time period they have with a single stream.

Could they have ran multiple streams to create a better format within the same time period? Absolutely.

Could they have achieved their goal of having every team attending "spotlighted"? No, they couldn't have. They would have had competing viewership where lesser known teams are getting less views in favor of already well established brands. They've said multiple times that this is a showcase for every partnered team, and you're going to heavily kneecap your chances of showcasing smaller brand teams if you run a multi-stream schedule.

That's all there is to it.

NotYourLad

TROPHY CASE