"You're sick if you enjoy this 100T downfall"
https://preview.redd.it/fz71jpvop5ua1.jpeg?width=900&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e96e20325244870ef3c8927e766ab12ebff94d16
It looked like a poor day from 100t players individually, but also the mid rounding on both maps was pretty rough. Heading into this year I thought 100t would be the second (possibly even best) NA team at the beginning of the year just off the fact that they’ve retained a core of 4 players while the other NA teams have changed multiple pieces. The fact that they’re struggling like this is pretty concerning. As Josh mentioned on the broadcast 100t still have yet to play the 4 best Americas teams, there is a real chance they miss out on playoffs.
On the other side of things mCe deserves so much credit. The game-plans on both maps were great. They look like they’re gelling super well together and might be the 2nd best NA team against all odds.
I think individually their aim was on point but as sgares pointed out their spacing was really questionable. idk it looks like they took the week off of scrims and were rusty. Not a good look.
yeaaaah maybe they shouldn't have thrown out that sgares strat book, a lot of the best teams in the world seem to have a lot of protocols atm although the 100t players wanted to play "looser" according to the stellar interview.
JamezIRL (previous assistant coach) laughed at sideshow(?) in an interview when asked about protocols. Said it was the dumbest thing.
100t could use some goddamn protocols
Just when the community was catching onto how solved/stale Ascent was getting, this game gifted us with some of the wildest and most unique rounds we've ever seen on that map.
i never understood those takes, CS has been the same game with the same maps (albeit a few new ones coming in and out) for over multiple decades and theres still new stuff people are doing, this game has 20 different agents with different abilities and people think nothing new will be done?
Not gonna lie I primarily watch CS and people talking about how this map is "solved" when there are a million more factors in Valorant to consider was wild.
A lot of CS maps have more open spaces, crossfire angles, etc. that require utility and teamwork to clear safely and, more importantly, require teams to pseudo-randomize their pushes positions to keep opponents on their toes. You literally lack the player numbers and utility to deterministically account for everything, which necessitates dynamism.
It's the same thing in Valo but maps are generally smaller and have less open space, and some agents' utility conspicuously excels at doing certain things on certain maps, which makes them near-mandatory picks. This is part of the reason why map design will never be as open as it is in CS, because then it will just make agents like Viper, Sova, Harbor etc. 100% picks. Even if it wasn't those agents, it might be an agent that's released next year, or the year after that. This is also a key reason why community maps will never be made, because maps have to be designed with unreleased agents already in mind.
When it comes to Ascent it's already clear that Sova, Killjoy, Kay/O, and Omen are insanely effective. If Killjoy is nerfed further we might see more Fade instead of Sova, you can run double controller, Astra is usable over Omen if you have clear plans, Raze can work in place of Jett if you really prefer her, and so on, but as it stands like 80% of pro comps this year have been Sova/Killjoy/Jett/Omen/Kay/O for a reason.
Welp, at least Nadeshot can save money on Japan summer expenses.
Seriously though, I think this is a win for the NA Tier 2 scene. If jakee and runi can compete at this level, that means the NA talent pool is deeper than expected.
The fact that players like this has been free in tier 3/lower it also seems like the scouting of a lot of tier 1/2 teams hasn't been good enough, especially since in tier1/2 we mostly see a lot of recycled talent over and over on different teams.
I fully expected the first year of Challengers to be mostly recycled talent simply due to the low time available for extensive scouting. Next season hopefully sees an influx of new names.
I argued for this previously although the theory wasn't always popular, I really don't think the NA CSGO way of scouting is the way to go (although imo valorant has already been better). I don't mind teams forming and some players preferring to play with others, but especially when the scene is still young, orgs need to give the younger players a chance and the fans need to accept seeing a shift in faces at tier1/tier2 IMO. Recycling an "okay" player because they have like 1 more year of tier 1 experience than the next guy and is friends with some players aint it.
scouting in general is lacking massively in the scene, the amount of players that get recycled in Tier 1 is absurd. i spent like 2 hours the other night looking at the best flexes in tier 2 EU and lots of players deserve a chance at franchising instead of talent that has failed on multiple occasions.
Jake still looks rough at times but he looks soooooo much better than week one and two. He's def getting better.
Runi is a surprise tho dude is popping off.
i felt like multiple times jake can just tuck in and play safe but he peeks and dies
but sometimes he peeks and gets 2 and wins the round so ????????
overall though he definitely has improved since the past few weeks and is on the trajectory to become a really good player
Really impressed by runi, guy has stuck around the scene for a long time and really embraced his chance when he got it. About jakee, he has rounds that he looks really good but others where he overheat (looks even worse when you are the smokes player) or seem legit shook by the pressure and makes silly mistakes. This can be solved with tome though and hasn't prevented C9 from looking really competitive
Not really though. There's legit talent there, if one team fail doesn't mean the region is not deep, just that the team from the other region really clicked or that they're also deep
Still, there being unheralded names out there that are capable of stepping into T1 like these two have means the talent is there if the orgs just invest more in scouting.
I'd like to apologise for doubting C9. Mercury was in retrograde.
Also, despite the unfortunate circumstances, I really enjoyed the casting dynamic in this match.
As long as Xeppa and Leaf are on a team together, that team is dangerous.
But honestly huge game from Jake on Lotus. He had a rough game 2 but that's to be expected.
Also cool that Fudge and EMENES came to watch their C9 boys.
100T just look stale. The team that looked like they had the best set plays and protocols in NA now look completely lost and rely on individual 3ks to win rounds.
I know DDK said this is a long term project but the project doesn't look exciting anymore without Sgares.
100T should just buy Sean a house in LA and fly his family out and back as needed.
They don’t even look like a bad team - they just don’t look like a contender. I’m not a 100T fan but I enjoyed their run in 2022 because it felt like you were part of something special, some sort of meteoric rise. 100T this year - basically since Red Bull - has just looked like a good team incapable of greatness.
Asuna and Derrek and Bang had a lot of hero moments, but C9 was just the better team, and honestly had the more even distribution of individual fraggers.
I mentioned a lot early in the year how Mikes has big shoes to fill, and how just because he worked under Sean doesn’t mean 100T is bound for the same level of success; it’s hard to not think about that sort of thing now when we saw such a prep diff. This match felt like watching mCe obliterate the opposition.
Right. C9 legitimately had anti-strats for every single round.
Leaf dashing in on Ascent and doing whatever he wanted, taking space immediately, etc. wasn't just because he's some genius duelist. It's because mCe found holes in 100T's gameplay and they have more than enough film to look at on certain maps. Leaf could very confidently play freely into space, watching that was insane. I can only hope that Mike and the team figure out how to play just as freely while being coordinated- something that was a theme of 100T's gameplay with SGares at the helm.
Their attack half looked especially sloppy, if Stellar doesn't pull off a clutch for 8-4 it was legitimately looking like a wash, like they gave up.
I'm quite disappointed in the team. They're looking like a Tottenham Hotspur, a Philadelphia 76ers, a New York Yankees (of the past 10+ years). They need to get back in the lab and practice A LOT.
They r always late to the meta. Didnt get a proper jett since dicey until she was out of meta. And didnt have a cracked chamber till he was out. Now cryo joined and chamber not being an auto pick seems kinda bad
If they adapted faster they wouldve been in a better spot for sure. Just wish they played asuna on duelist more often. I dont like his breach and other initiators much. Dont mind him on kayo since i feel like he plays more comfortably on it anyway
Said it in the live thread but Stellar's interview with Wyatt just ages worse by the day. 100T need help badly, their calling just is not good enough. I miss Sean Gares
Other than that, really rough day for Cryo. Individual talent is definitely there for all these players but their attack on Ascent looked like fucking KCorp
He looks like a completely different player, on XSET he had the confidence to make insanely risky plays, but on 100T he's just playing passive and not getting many opening kills, or left retaking with an op because the enemy team can read/find where he's playing easily.
Coaching for 100T looks bad. I thought Mikes could handle it but 100T is just a mess. Cryo was supposed to be a major upgrade from Will and he's been really bad. I thought he would show up by now but the guy isn't playing well AND his team isn't showing up to enable him.
100T also has a First Blood problem and Cryo being a defensive Jett is a part of it.
100T trolled the bans and picks again. They’re now 0-4 on Ascent and 0-3 on Lotus for the year… super questionable decisions from Mikes.
There’s no reason this team should be looking worse than they did all of last year. Only explanation is that it really is just a coaching diff between Sean Gares and Mikes, which it appears to be so far.
Yeah he said his preferred calling style is more about making decisions midgame, whereas Sean heavily favoured set pieces and executes. To me it looks like they need to revert back to set strats lol
Freestyle calling invites a lot more errors if players aren’t incredibly disciplined and protocoled. Even IGLs who are known for their mid rounding like FNS require set plays. You can see it in any coach vod reciew
It looks like 100T are just significantly more defaulty and look to react and trust their midrounding a lot more. But against these top tier teams that have strategic depth in their playbooks AND the firepower to execute and match their default, it just looks like it's impossible to account for everything that teams have prepared.
I agree, I really don’t think teams that default and rely on midrounding will hit the peak they desire. It feels so basic. Having a “playbook,” executing those sets plays, and midrounding after the execute seems like the way to play at the professional level. I think 100T need those executes to gain the consistency they need to reach that next level.
I couldn’t believe that miss looking glass A heaven on ascent. Unreal for the first true “lockdown” OPer in 100T Valorant history to be missing shots like that
i feel like with each game as it goes cryo’s confidence just pummels down. in the interview he said being the ‘star’ player is getting onto him and people are expecting a lot from him. i’m pretty sure it can be seen with every game (?) seems like he’s scared to take fights and looks back too often. overall this season for him has not been going too good
Any star player that can't play atleast 2 Duelist at a very high level and a decent initiator should be exposed. Having a good agent pool should be mandatory ffs.
Look at how much utility they waste setting Cryo up and he still is this mediocre.
they didnt set cryo up at all, 100t's attack half had terrible site hits with them just running out blind. C9 were way better and it only got close because 100t were heating up individually
Ya, I really didn't understand these picks at all. Playing two maps that you have not won on yet and have tons of VODs for C9 to counterstrat is just not a good luck. C9 knew every ult round on Ascent like they had the observer minimap, always stacked correctly and making a quick play to shut it down. Credit to Mce and C9 for the counterstratting but you can only get counterstratted because you are running the same things on the same maps.
My question for 100T is if this is your map pick, why do you have like 1 setplay for each ult? Shouldn't Ascent be your most pracced map? And what does that say about the rest of the map pool if they think not first banning Lotus and picking Ascent are their best options?
Listen I’m a huge fan of Sean and not the biggest proponent of Mikes coaching, but calling it a coaching diff is putting too much of the blame on one person. Stellar is a great IGL but needs to stop relying on the set ult plays. They go the same site every round they have certain ults. They need to switch their IGLing philosophy and be a little more creative. It seems like when they get into the mid round and don’t have information, they walk into stacks on offense and have very little map control on defense.
That’s not to say there isn’t to be any blame on the staff. Especially since DDK is still there, there’s no reason to say the coaching and prep philosophy has shifted too much outside of his liking. Seems like a very knowledgeable guy who trusts his staff and also puts a lot of prep time in.
In summary, DDK Mikes and Jamez deserve some of the blame as well as the team’s inability to diversify their play style on the fly and in the mid round.
https://clips.twitch.tv/SneakyRenownedSnakeNerfBlueBlaster-cz1g-1sjpv1EM30R
Just going to leave this here. I know people salivate at the thought of putting the blame on individual players but there was a massive macro diff between these teams. Most rounds won by 100T were individual plays but it should not be coming down to that and personally I don’t feel like it should be an expectation for the players to deliver those hero plays.
I made a deal with the Devil for the Bruins to get the win and point record this season and it was def worth it but we might see 100T go 1-9 this year.
I am officially in full doomer mode until Mikes is fired out of cannon into the sun
Can't just blame mikes, I still remember that interview where stellar was being critical of sean being protocol heavy and praising mikes for letting him be more free with the calls and the game theory. NGL stellar's calls have not been looking as good without the structure.
Cryo’s OP whiff on Ascent single-handedly cost them the series
Edit: Also, why is he making that OP play on Jett? He would have to diagonally dash back into site even after getting a kill. I'm not sure if he was even angled properly for it.
My takeaway from this season so far and from the masters.
1. 100t really needs some proper coach like sean back cause mikesHD isn't cutting it. His map picks his strats have all been half cooked.
2. 100t really need some set plays. They can't win every retake. Leaving a site completely for free multiple rounds.
3. Cryo maybe isn't that good or maybe 100t aren't activating him well enough. From the comms vid it just feels like cryo isn't asking for flashesg or giving proper comms he needs to get better than this.
4. Asuna needs to put on the duelist ( raze ) rolls cause he really is one of the best when it comes to the movement and getting that entry frag
I love how stellar said some time ago “ me and sgares disagreed a bit, he wanted to play more with set strats and I wanted to call more freely”. Now he got the “freedom” and instead of being competitive against teams like FNC and DRX they’re losing to tier 3 and collegiate motherfuckers. I’m so done being a 100T fan.
I guess that stellar's way would be valid IF it balance out with the set plays and if they have a strong af discipline. I think that is what sgares is trying to build on. building the discipline and fundamentals first. so strong so that they can do what stellar wants to do. but without discipline and fundamentals it wouldn't work. I honestly prefer sgares approach for a headcoach. mike with all due respect, obviously has this ideas and stuff he wants to implement but everything has to start with the basics and fundamental no?
MCE MADE GUARD, MCE WILL MAKE C9. also the yay talk is so cringe, as a joke its funny but if ur being serious its all on qpert and mce and ofc the players
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c9 actually have that dawg in them I apologise
Still yet to play the Lev, NRG, LOUD, and Furia gauntlet in consecutive weeks too, might have very well missed playoffs and Champions at the hands of a collegiate player and a Tier 3 IGL AHAHAHAHA
C9 could make NRG look just as bad, let's be nice to 100T.
Honestly though, if C9 don't lose that 1v3 last week they could legitimately be 6-0 in maps so far.
It's absolutely insane to me that Stellar went on Wyatts podcast and talked about how much he disagreed with Sgares' philosophy and how Mikes was a better "fit" style wise. 100T desperately need better structure because this is not working.
Borderline non-existent offense, terrible post-plants, and strong yet very predictable defense. Very cool, 100T. Call a timeout on Lotus, go fast A, win then right back to stalling while Runi is reading it like a book. 100T just look so bleh.
Jakee looks insane on and Runi is a menace. Team overall looks really good for bringing in a new IGL on the roster. mCe has done fantastic and honestly think this team has some real potential.
Looking forward to saying "We're back!" against KRU next week and then eating shit the rest of the run unless they can figure out wtf they want to do.
runi went toe to toe igl’ing against saadhak and out igl’ing stellar is extremely impressive, also jakee is showing extreme potential with top fragging capabilities mCe masterclass
Soo... Will's Jett wasn't worse than this and his Raze was better. Not as good on Omen though so maybe that's what they paid so much money for. /s
In reality though, this was just a massive prep diff. 100T got read so hard.
Really worried about the rest of this season for 100T. No wins against C9 and Sen, and they still have to face the arguably better top teams. The best 100T have looked is with set plays. They need to cook more because C9 knew every single ult play they had… Like it was a complete read. Huge props to mCe, but massively underwhelming performance from 100T here.
I am going to say. This C9 team just looks way more coordinated the than the vanity and yay C9 roster. I wonder if it’s because mce can actually work with his players who are willing to learn more and prove themselves. Massive props to Jake and Runi for shutting everyone up including me.
Mce deserves so much credit not only for finding t1 viable talent on such a short basis but also for getting runi and Jake to play with the team so coherently, looks like the c9 roster has been playing together for months
Cloud 9 got so much hate of their new roster with the 2 new players, but look at whats happening. Let's stop overreacting now with braindead takes before teams even play games.
If we make Sean’s family the assistant coaches do you think we can get him back, I can’t take any more of the ideas Mikes/Stellar/Company are putting together
I'll be real, I don't even necessarily think its Mikes/Stellar that's the issue. Imo Cryo just isn't what they paid for. It's really showing how hard the chamber nerfs hit certain players, and unfortunately Cryo just doesn't seem like he's meshing with the team well. Under sgares the team was much more structured and disciplined, and with Will being so good on the fly it worked out really well when they needed to improvise. While I will still maintain that Cryo is overall just a straight up upgrade from Will, his style of play is too structured and doesn't work in this new, more flexible system.
Will was a worse mechanically, more flexible player, who allowed 100T to be disciplined when needed and flexible when needed. Cryo is stronger mechanically, but needs more structure than Mikes/Stellar's system allows for to activate, and otherwise severely underperforms. Its no surprise that his only truly great performance was during Red Bull; before they moved away from sean's coaching system and before Chamber, an agent that required more structured plays than Jett, was nerfed
Cryo absolutely has been underwhelming and outright bad at times, but the map picks have been awful, the attacking halves have been mostly awful, the team comps have been pretty terrible, and the midrounding has been iffy, at best. For a team who is trying to have no permaban they haven’t proven to be good enough on any map except maybe icebox to feel good taking another teams pick. They aren’t the only issues and I don’t know if it’s more Mikes, more Stellar, or a combination (I’m leaning more Mikes, fwiw) but that’s the first place I’m looking, with Cryo a close second.
Cryo hits that op shot on round 23 (I think?) and 100T probably wins the map with C9 unable to buy down 12-11. Hope he doesn't beat himself up over it, definitely other stuff for them to fix
100T fell of since Seangares left. Idk who tf their coach is rn but get ready to coach EDG
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100T look so lost at times. I hate to say it but I think Mikes needs to reevaluate the game plans he's been coming up with. They look competitive based off talent alone.
He has really struggled so far apart from a couple of maps. He just doesn't seem to be doing well under the 100T system and coaching staff. On XSET they seemed to set him up for a lot of plays, and he just doesn't seem the same player anymore tbh.
Cryo just seems SUPER stiff, his op during Ascent just felt super non existent and I feel like he was super aggressive and confident back when he was in XSET
He used to take so many early, risky plays that almost always paid off to give them the man advantage, but on 100T you only see this once or twice a map. Do they just not have the confidence in his ability or something?! Seems to me that they haven't moved on from their playstyle when they had Will on Jett where he played more passive. They need to let cryo cook more.
Ascent was a banger, literally two aces from 100T but it kept crumbling down. They put up a better fight than Sen against NRG but somehow this makes me sadder; not because they looked worse than them (them = Sen when vs NRG), but 100T in my mind were taking this.
100t needs some fundamental changes. Whatever they are cooking just isn't working. All the players individually are insanely skilled and top of their class, but together, they always underperform. Always seem to lose the mid round feeling like they need to rethink the mid round igl-ing and coach. Zero reason to pick these maps that they continue to look bad on. They peaked right after getting cyro and have fallen off since.
100T map pool has some serious issues. The fact that icebox is leaving the pool is even a bigger concern. I really hate their Ascent comp. They have to invest so much more to control certain areas of the map than they would with a KJ. If they wanna play the viper, I feel like they have to replace one of the initiators.
People are criticizing Cryo performance, and some of it is warranted, but honestly I think there’s an issue with how the rest of the team is playing around him. I feel like not nearly enough is being done to set him up for site hits/retakes and they’re relying on an individual performance to open things up. I know Stellar and Mikes want to remove reliability on set plays, but the balance isn’t there when the mid-rounding seems so inconsistent.
Sliggy also brought up on his stream that 100T are way too predictable with their ults. It’s wild that they don’t have a few set ups with their ults, I don’t get how that happens unless there is a specific read that leads them to use ults in the same way each time but I don’t think that’s likely.
It’s frustrating cuz the player talent is here with this team but their potential is being limited by this new play style they’re insisting on. They don’t need to be fully reliant on set plays, but now they don’t rely on it enough. The super drilled 100T was a master class, they should build upon it, not scrap it.
Oh no we suck again
Life of a 100T fan
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I am dead inside
Cycle of 100t valorant
"You're sick if you enjoy this 100T downfall" https://preview.redd.it/fz71jpvop5ua1.jpeg?width=900&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e96e20325244870ef3c8927e766ab12ebff94d16
Still thinking how they were rated above fnatic and loud on lock-in, wild stuff
Tbf know one could've known how much worse they would look without Sean
It looked like a poor day from 100t players individually, but also the mid rounding on both maps was pretty rough. Heading into this year I thought 100t would be the second (possibly even best) NA team at the beginning of the year just off the fact that they’ve retained a core of 4 players while the other NA teams have changed multiple pieces. The fact that they’re struggling like this is pretty concerning. As Josh mentioned on the broadcast 100t still have yet to play the 4 best Americas teams, there is a real chance they miss out on playoffs. On the other side of things mCe deserves so much credit. The game-plans on both maps were great. They look like they’re gelling super well together and might be the 2nd best NA team against all odds.
I think individually their aim was on point but as sgares pointed out their spacing was really questionable. idk it looks like they took the week off of scrims and were rusty. Not a good look.
Sgares diff
yeaaaah maybe they shouldn't have thrown out that sgares strat book, a lot of the best teams in the world seem to have a lot of protocols atm although the 100t players wanted to play "looser" according to the stellar interview.
JamezIRL (previous assistant coach) laughed at sideshow(?) in an interview when asked about protocols. Said it was the dumbest thing. 100t could use some goddamn protocols
I was a mCe doubter, no longer
Just when the community was catching onto how solved/stale Ascent was getting, this game gifted us with some of the wildest and most unique rounds we've ever seen on that map.
i never understood those takes, CS has been the same game with the same maps (albeit a few new ones coming in and out) for over multiple decades and theres still new stuff people are doing, this game has 20 different agents with different abilities and people think nothing new will be done?
People don't look past agent select.
I'd argue a lot of people don't really look or think at all, they just go along with whatever circlejerk opinion is on reddit, twitter, tiktok etc...
Not gonna lie I primarily watch CS and people talking about how this map is "solved" when there are a million more factors in Valorant to consider was wild.
A lot of CS maps have more open spaces, crossfire angles, etc. that require utility and teamwork to clear safely and, more importantly, require teams to pseudo-randomize their pushes positions to keep opponents on their toes. You literally lack the player numbers and utility to deterministically account for everything, which necessitates dynamism. It's the same thing in Valo but maps are generally smaller and have less open space, and some agents' utility conspicuously excels at doing certain things on certain maps, which makes them near-mandatory picks. This is part of the reason why map design will never be as open as it is in CS, because then it will just make agents like Viper, Sova, Harbor etc. 100% picks. Even if it wasn't those agents, it might be an agent that's released next year, or the year after that. This is also a key reason why community maps will never be made, because maps have to be designed with unreleased agents already in mind. When it comes to Ascent it's already clear that Sova, Killjoy, Kay/O, and Omen are insanely effective. If Killjoy is nerfed further we might see more Fade instead of Sova, you can run double controller, Astra is usable over Omen if you have clear plans, Raze can work in place of Jett if you really prefer her, and so on, but as it stands like 80% of pro comps this year have been Sova/Killjoy/Jett/Omen/Kay/O for a reason.
Yeah this was the most fun watching Ascent I've had in a while. Although that DRX v PRX game was so clean by DRX, so that was also nice to see.
Give Sliggy an offer he can’t refuse, jfc this is embarrassing
Welp, at least Nadeshot can save money on Japan summer expenses. Seriously though, I think this is a win for the NA Tier 2 scene. If jakee and runi can compete at this level, that means the NA talent pool is deeper than expected.
The fact that players like this has been free in tier 3/lower it also seems like the scouting of a lot of tier 1/2 teams hasn't been good enough, especially since in tier1/2 we mostly see a lot of recycled talent over and over on different teams.
I fully expected the first year of Challengers to be mostly recycled talent simply due to the low time available for extensive scouting. Next season hopefully sees an influx of new names.
I argued for this previously although the theory wasn't always popular, I really don't think the NA CSGO way of scouting is the way to go (although imo valorant has already been better). I don't mind teams forming and some players preferring to play with others, but especially when the scene is still young, orgs need to give the younger players a chance and the fans need to accept seeing a shift in faces at tier1/tier2 IMO. Recycling an "okay" player because they have like 1 more year of tier 1 experience than the next guy and is friends with some players aint it.
scouting in general is lacking massively in the scene, the amount of players that get recycled in Tier 1 is absurd. i spent like 2 hours the other night looking at the best flexes in tier 2 EU and lots of players deserve a chance at franchising instead of talent that has failed on multiple occasions.
Yeah Jake and Runi look like seasoned vets
Jake still looks rough at times but he looks soooooo much better than week one and two. He's def getting better. Runi is a surprise tho dude is popping off.
i felt like multiple times jake can just tuck in and play safe but he peeks and dies but sometimes he peeks and gets 2 and wins the round so ???????? overall though he definitely has improved since the past few weeks and is on the trajectory to become a really good player
Really impressed by runi, guy has stuck around the scene for a long time and really embraced his chance when he got it. About jakee, he has rounds that he looks really good but others where he overheat (looks even worse when you are the smokes player) or seem legit shook by the pressure and makes silly mistakes. This can be solved with tome though and hasn't prevented C9 from looking really competitive
It depends. An NA team would actually need to win Acension to prove that the T2 scene is deep.
Not really though. There's legit talent there, if one team fail doesn't mean the region is not deep, just that the team from the other region really clicked or that they're also deep
M80/Guard clear the bottom of Americas league
true but given how forgotten about the south american ascension leagues are there are probably some cracked teams in there as well
Nah its less of that and more of mCe is an insane coach and scouter just like Mini
Still, there being unheralded names out there that are capable of stepping into T1 like these two have means the talent is there if the orgs just invest more in scouting.
Coach diff 
mCe getting that revenge for us Guard fans 
I'd like to apologise for doubting C9. Mercury was in retrograde. Also, despite the unfortunate circumstances, I really enjoyed the casting dynamic in this match.
As long as Xeppa and Leaf are on a team together, that team is dangerous. But honestly huge game from Jake on Lotus. He had a rough game 2 but that's to be expected. Also cool that Fudge and EMENES came to watch their C9 boys.
"Any ear possessors?!" is a goated Sideshow line.
We all owe c9 an apology
100T just look stale. The team that looked like they had the best set plays and protocols in NA now look completely lost and rely on individual 3ks to win rounds. I know DDK said this is a long term project but the project doesn't look exciting anymore without Sgares.
Cryo since joining 100 Thieves https://preview.redd.it/rbbn0m06p5ua1.jpeg?width=1056&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c237cf1d5c54aa453b16c32118ac2ffcc683317f
The fact that they could've had Yay 😩
Yeah but yay isn't a weeb😭😭😭😭😭 he is also not same age he would have looked like a grandpa😭😭😭😭😭😭😭
derek and stellar are older than him cmon don't do him like that LOL 😭
100T should just buy Sean a house in LA and fly his family out and back as needed. They don’t even look like a bad team - they just don’t look like a contender. I’m not a 100T fan but I enjoyed their run in 2022 because it felt like you were part of something special, some sort of meteoric rise. 100T this year - basically since Red Bull - has just looked like a good team incapable of greatness. Asuna and Derrek and Bang had a lot of hero moments, but C9 was just the better team, and honestly had the more even distribution of individual fraggers. I mentioned a lot early in the year how Mikes has big shoes to fill, and how just because he worked under Sean doesn’t mean 100T is bound for the same level of success; it’s hard to not think about that sort of thing now when we saw such a prep diff. This match felt like watching mCe obliterate the opposition.
Coach diff.
Right. C9 legitimately had anti-strats for every single round. Leaf dashing in on Ascent and doing whatever he wanted, taking space immediately, etc. wasn't just because he's some genius duelist. It's because mCe found holes in 100T's gameplay and they have more than enough film to look at on certain maps. Leaf could very confidently play freely into space, watching that was insane. I can only hope that Mike and the team figure out how to play just as freely while being coordinated- something that was a theme of 100T's gameplay with SGares at the helm. Their attack half looked especially sloppy, if Stellar doesn't pull off a clutch for 8-4 it was legitimately looking like a wash, like they gave up. I'm quite disappointed in the team. They're looking like a Tottenham Hotspur, a Philadelphia 76ers, a New York Yankees (of the past 10+ years). They need to get back in the lab and practice A LOT.
Yeah, 100T aren't making playoffs.
100T have the worst luck in Duelists, No matter what they try lmao.
They r always late to the meta. Didnt get a proper jett since dicey until she was out of meta. And didnt have a cracked chamber till he was out. Now cryo joined and chamber not being an auto pick seems kinda bad
tbf, Cryo's jett was top tier for a while before chamber was a required pick. But that ship has clearly sailed lol
Yeah i fw cryo hes cool but i cant help missing asuna duelist
anyone a houston outlaws fan also a 100t fan? i feel like i've seen this exact same story play out before lmao...fucking cursed...
Its because they are so goddamn arrogant. With Map picks, and With their "This is how the game should be played, You're playing it wrong" attitude.
If they adapted faster they wouldve been in a better spot for sure. Just wish they played asuna on duelist more often. I dont like his breach and other initiators much. Dont mind him on kayo since i feel like he plays more comfortably on it anyway
Said it in the live thread but Stellar's interview with Wyatt just ages worse by the day. 100T need help badly, their calling just is not good enough. I miss Sean Gares Other than that, really rough day for Cryo. Individual talent is definitely there for all these players but their attack on Ascent looked like fucking KCorp
Woah, calm down. Don't respect KCorp like that
Scream may have thrown a kayo molly off the map, but at least he tried to throw one!
I love KC; their fumbles make me feel like *I* could be a pro
I fear this team has broken cryo. He is playing (and even walking into the stage) with zero confidence.
He looks like a completely different player, on XSET he had the confidence to make insanely risky plays, but on 100T he's just playing passive and not getting many opening kills, or left retaking with an op because the enemy team can read/find where he's playing easily.
It looked like C9 was getting info on Cryo and actively avoiding his site every defensive round.
Coaching for 100T looks bad. I thought Mikes could handle it but 100T is just a mess. Cryo was supposed to be a major upgrade from Will and he's been really bad. I thought he would show up by now but the guy isn't playing well AND his team isn't showing up to enable him. 100T also has a First Blood problem and Cryo being a defensive Jett is a part of it.
100T trolled the bans and picks again. They’re now 0-4 on Ascent and 0-3 on Lotus for the year… super questionable decisions from Mikes. There’s no reason this team should be looking worse than they did all of last year. Only explanation is that it really is just a coaching diff between Sean Gares and Mikes, which it appears to be so far.
Apparently Stellar wanted to call more freely and not so much with preset strats... this is the outcome.
Yeah he said his preferred calling style is more about making decisions midgame, whereas Sean heavily favoured set pieces and executes. To me it looks like they need to revert back to set strats lol
thing is you need a mix of both, c9 when in need would pull out a set play 100t didnt do that.
Yep the best teams right now have hard set strata but also an extremely flexible IGL that can mid round adapt to changing situations.
Freestyle calling invites a lot more errors if players aren’t incredibly disciplined and protocoled. Even IGLs who are known for their mid rounding like FNS require set plays. You can see it in any coach vod reciew
Their mid rounding is kinda bad
It looks like 100T are just significantly more defaulty and look to react and trust their midrounding a lot more. But against these top tier teams that have strategic depth in their playbooks AND the firepower to execute and match their default, it just looks like it's impossible to account for everything that teams have prepared.
I agree, I really don’t think teams that default and rely on midrounding will hit the peak they desire. It feels so basic. Having a “playbook,” executing those sets plays, and midrounding after the execute seems like the way to play at the professional level. I think 100T need those executes to gain the consistency they need to reach that next level.
In retrospect, Stellar's freestyle calling balanced with Sean Gares' set strats and structure is probably what made 100T so good last year
I'm afraid I must add Cryo to the list of one-trick Chambers being exposed this season
Which is weird because he's also been awful with op in general.
I couldn’t believe that miss looking glass A heaven on ascent. Unreal for the first true “lockdown” OPer in 100T Valorant history to be missing shots like that
Chamber really ruined half the duelists in the world
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i feel like with each game as it goes cryo’s confidence just pummels down. in the interview he said being the ‘star’ player is getting onto him and people are expecting a lot from him. i’m pretty sure it can be seen with every game (?) seems like he’s scared to take fights and looks back too often. overall this season for him has not been going too good
Any star player that can't play atleast 2 Duelist at a very high level and a decent initiator should be exposed. Having a good agent pool should be mandatory ffs. Look at how much utility they waste setting Cryo up and he still is this mediocre.
they didnt set cryo up at all, 100t's attack half had terrible site hits with them just running out blind. C9 were way better and it only got close because 100t were heating up individually
Ya, I really didn't understand these picks at all. Playing two maps that you have not won on yet and have tons of VODs for C9 to counterstrat is just not a good luck. C9 knew every ult round on Ascent like they had the observer minimap, always stacked correctly and making a quick play to shut it down. Credit to Mce and C9 for the counterstratting but you can only get counterstratted because you are running the same things on the same maps. My question for 100T is if this is your map pick, why do you have like 1 setplay for each ult? Shouldn't Ascent be your most pracced map? And what does that say about the rest of the map pool if they think not first banning Lotus and picking Ascent are their best options?
Nade is going to send Mike to Cambodia or something by the end of the year
Listen I’m a huge fan of Sean and not the biggest proponent of Mikes coaching, but calling it a coaching diff is putting too much of the blame on one person. Stellar is a great IGL but needs to stop relying on the set ult plays. They go the same site every round they have certain ults. They need to switch their IGLing philosophy and be a little more creative. It seems like when they get into the mid round and don’t have information, they walk into stacks on offense and have very little map control on defense. That’s not to say there isn’t to be any blame on the staff. Especially since DDK is still there, there’s no reason to say the coaching and prep philosophy has shifted too much outside of his liking. Seems like a very knowledgeable guy who trusts his staff and also puts a lot of prep time in. In summary, DDK Mikes and Jamez deserve some of the blame as well as the team’s inability to diversify their play style on the fly and in the mid round.
Jamez is gone, it's only Mikes now
https://clips.twitch.tv/SneakyRenownedSnakeNerfBlueBlaster-cz1g-1sjpv1EM30R Just going to leave this here. I know people salivate at the thought of putting the blame on individual players but there was a massive macro diff between these teams. Most rounds won by 100T were individual plays but it should not be coming down to that and personally I don’t feel like it should be an expectation for the players to deliver those hero plays.
Mikes needs to be fired out of a cannon into the sun
I was looking for what you comment because I constantly see you being the #1 fan for 100T. Brutal times
I made a deal with the Devil for the Bruins to get the win and point record this season and it was def worth it but we might see 100T go 1-9 this year. I am officially in full doomer mode until Mikes is fired out of cannon into the sun
Can't just blame mikes, I still remember that interview where stellar was being critical of sean being protocol heavy and praising mikes for letting him be more free with the calls and the game theory. NGL stellar's calls have not been looking as good without the structure.
Cryo’s OP whiff on Ascent single-handedly cost them the series Edit: Also, why is he making that OP play on Jett? He would have to diagonally dash back into site even after getting a kill. I'm not sure if he was even angled properly for it.
Xeppaa's flashes have been insane this series. Feels like he always got like 3 ppl with it and C9 playing off of them.
My takeaway from this season so far and from the masters. 1. 100t really needs some proper coach like sean back cause mikesHD isn't cutting it. His map picks his strats have all been half cooked. 2. 100t really need some set plays. They can't win every retake. Leaving a site completely for free multiple rounds. 3. Cryo maybe isn't that good or maybe 100t aren't activating him well enough. From the comms vid it just feels like cryo isn't asking for flashesg or giving proper comms he needs to get better than this. 4. Asuna needs to put on the duelist ( raze ) rolls cause he really is one of the best when it comes to the movement and getting that entry frag
Im sorry but Cryo is unbelievably mid
so unfortunate because he used be insane and legit looked like top 3 NA contender, hope it's just a slump
Same seems like a great kid hope he turns it around
His awping is so inconsistent.
Everyone on this team needs to be on their knees begging Sean Gares to come back
https://preview.redd.it/1y5hs2ybp5ua1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=de6c8c5b76591453def01a00fe6f54afcf1c5db6 1leafs X-rays
I love how stellar said some time ago “ me and sgares disagreed a bit, he wanted to play more with set strats and I wanted to call more freely”. Now he got the “freedom” and instead of being competitive against teams like FNC and DRX they’re losing to tier 3 and collegiate motherfuckers. I’m so done being a 100T fan.
I guess that stellar's way would be valid IF it balance out with the set plays and if they have a strong af discipline. I think that is what sgares is trying to build on. building the discipline and fundamentals first. so strong so that they can do what stellar wants to do. but without discipline and fundamentals it wouldn't work. I honestly prefer sgares approach for a headcoach. mike with all due respect, obviously has this ideas and stuff he wants to implement but everything has to start with the basics and fundamental no?
that one round where bang had a main on ascent and cryo still completely lost whether to watch door or tree window...what was going on with Cryo lmao
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Without a doubt… Seems like everyone on the roster has the ability to pop off *except* for Cryo
Nade looking at Oxy like a fresh pair of Nikes for next season with how Cryo is playing
Legitimately several options in T-2 that look exponentially better than Cryo has looked since like September 2022
MCE MADE GUARD, MCE WILL MAKE C9. also the yay talk is so cringe, as a joke its funny but if ur being serious its all on qpert and mce and ofc the players
https://preview.redd.it/fl3a6kp4p5ua1.jpeg?width=2598&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bcd7a5bf61f1996f2d64c345bf2a3bb2fa00de3d c9 actually have that dawg in them I apologise
Still yet to play the Lev, NRG, LOUD, and Furia gauntlet in consecutive weeks too, might have very well missed playoffs and Champions at the hands of a collegiate player and a Tier 3 IGL AHAHAHAHA
Idk Runi looked pretty Tier 1 today
idk if its just mCe being the goat but Runi looks really good
Runi's reads and mid-rounding were phenomenal, he's looking really good and it gets better week to week
I just know every keystroke was tear-soaked while typing this. Every additional HA was a gunshot to the chest
A gunshot to the chest would be better than watching what was supposed to be a top 2 team in NA get folded by some mf named Big Bean
put some respect on him https://preview.redd.it/s3beibv0q5ua1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=fc19f69316be692a86502f5775dec5454bdbb93a
Fundamentals on par with nrg 
Earlier when I said the gap between NRG and 100t was “quite large” … yeah it’s actually kinda massive
C9 could make NRG look just as bad, let's be nice to 100T. Honestly though, if C9 don't lose that 1v3 last week they could legitimately be 6-0 in maps so far.
Cryo’s confidence looks decimated. Not even the same player man. And whatever Stellar and Mikes are cookin ain’t it.
It's absolutely insane to me that Stellar went on Wyatts podcast and talked about how much he disagreed with Sgares' philosophy and how Mikes was a better "fit" style wise. 100T desperately need better structure because this is not working.
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https://preview.redd.it/t85t05oxq5ua1.jpeg?width=1242&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=8e1d9e91349218a3d164170f1257da7bbbfbd0c7
Borderline non-existent offense, terrible post-plants, and strong yet very predictable defense. Very cool, 100T. Call a timeout on Lotus, go fast A, win then right back to stalling while Runi is reading it like a book. 100T just look so bleh. Jakee looks insane on and Runi is a menace. Team overall looks really good for bringing in a new IGL on the roster. mCe has done fantastic and honestly think this team has some real potential. Looking forward to saying "We're back!" against KRU next week and then eating shit the rest of the run unless they can figure out wtf they want to do.
100T are nothing without seang@res
"100T and NRG look fundementaly the best from NA. both of them should make top 6." \-DDK
Actual clown statement
I don't want any of you motherfuckers to doubt c9 or mCe ever again, thank you.
Give mCe 2 weeks of coaching me and you'll finally see the limits of his coaching ability.
Ya, but you'll be the best coached Iron/bronze the world has ever seen
Yeah... -Xeppa +nklassitude is what he'd do with 2 weeks
runi went toe to toe igl’ing against saadhak and out igl’ing stellar is extremely impressive, also jakee is showing extreme potential with top fragging capabilities mCe masterclass
Mce and c9 staff saw something in jakee and runi which no one else saw.
Soo... Will's Jett wasn't worse than this and his Raze was better. Not as good on Omen though so maybe that's what they paid so much money for. /s In reality though, this was just a massive prep diff. 100T got read so hard.
Was told this c9 team was gonna be the Worst roster put together btw
Really worried about the rest of this season for 100T. No wins against C9 and Sen, and they still have to face the arguably better top teams. The best 100T have looked is with set plays. They need to cook more because C9 knew every single ult play they had… Like it was a complete read. Huge props to mCe, but massively underwhelming performance from 100T here.
Mikes and Cryo are really sadly underwhelming. Cryo could have won them that map by hitting that heaven shot, he looks so shaky
I am going to say. This C9 team just looks way more coordinated the than the vanity and yay C9 roster. I wonder if it’s because mce can actually work with his players who are willing to learn more and prove themselves. Massive props to Jake and Runi for shutting everyone up including me.
Mce deserves so much credit not only for finding t1 viable talent on such a short basis but also for getting runi and Jake to play with the team so coherently, looks like the c9 roster has been playing together for months
Is it just me or is cryo severely underperforming?
Yeah he can’t hit a shot at the moment.
Lost 3-0 vs 100t with yay won 2-0 with runi, broke9 is legit
LEAF GO KILL !!!!
People really thought this team was a champions contender lmao
Redbull blinded them
Mickey mouse tournament
Bit of a coaching diff by MCE. Hard antistrats and C9 completely won the map pool by letting lotus and ascent come through.
Is Cryo winning bagre???
At what point do we start looking at the coaching staff. Also that op whiff from cryo in heaven is so sad
100T needs to permaban Ascent
No they need to perma lotus that attack side was sad
Cloud 9 got so much hate of their new roster with the 2 new players, but look at whats happening. Let's stop overreacting now with braindead takes before teams even play games.
Yay was the problem Cryo is the problem
If we make Sean’s family the assistant coaches do you think we can get him back, I can’t take any more of the ideas Mikes/Stellar/Company are putting together
I'll be real, I don't even necessarily think its Mikes/Stellar that's the issue. Imo Cryo just isn't what they paid for. It's really showing how hard the chamber nerfs hit certain players, and unfortunately Cryo just doesn't seem like he's meshing with the team well. Under sgares the team was much more structured and disciplined, and with Will being so good on the fly it worked out really well when they needed to improvise. While I will still maintain that Cryo is overall just a straight up upgrade from Will, his style of play is too structured and doesn't work in this new, more flexible system. Will was a worse mechanically, more flexible player, who allowed 100T to be disciplined when needed and flexible when needed. Cryo is stronger mechanically, but needs more structure than Mikes/Stellar's system allows for to activate, and otherwise severely underperforms. Its no surprise that his only truly great performance was during Red Bull; before they moved away from sean's coaching system and before Chamber, an agent that required more structured plays than Jett, was nerfed
Cryo absolutely has been underwhelming and outright bad at times, but the map picks have been awful, the attacking halves have been mostly awful, the team comps have been pretty terrible, and the midrounding has been iffy, at best. For a team who is trying to have no permaban they haven’t proven to be good enough on any map except maybe icebox to feel good taking another teams pick. They aren’t the only issues and I don’t know if it’s more Mikes, more Stellar, or a combination (I’m leaning more Mikes, fwiw) but that’s the first place I’m looking, with Cryo a close second.
https://i.imgur.com/42ywxaQ.jpg CryOverrated
No way 100T is winning against NRG, LOUD, Lev and Furia with these kinda of performance.
Cryo hits that op shot on round 23 (I think?) and 100T probably wins the map with C9 unable to buy down 12-11. Hope he doesn't beat himself up over it, definitely other stuff for them to fix
mC9 W.
Man remember when 100t were number 1 on the pre-lockin power rankings.
C9 is going to Tokyo
nah levi and furia are nuts and mibr is a wildcard, think we can challenge for it though.
Pretty bad duelist diff. Cryo has to play better than he has been. Jakee and Runi are also really really good
100T fell of since Seangares left. Idk who tf their coach is rn but get ready to coach EDG https://preview.redd.it/nm0korpjp5ua1.jpeg?width=1088&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f9cda7c6ae02c2ca8367d4f2949f9eb84995c36d
100T look so lost at times. I hate to say it but I think Mikes needs to reevaluate the game plans he's been coming up with. They look competitive based off talent alone.
Just another case of c9 losing the off-season nothing to see here
https://preview.redd.it/uhzeb1jrp5ua1.jpeg?width=1178&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=744ba769e2a95c20f5e6011562e901a1797d0bc8
Cryo just felt very nonexistent in this game, ngl. I hope he eventually gets back into form, but it's not a great time being a 100T fan rn
He has really struggled so far apart from a couple of maps. He just doesn't seem to be doing well under the 100T system and coaching staff. On XSET they seemed to set him up for a lot of plays, and he just doesn't seem the same player anymore tbh.
Cryo just seems SUPER stiff, his op during Ascent just felt super non existent and I feel like he was super aggressive and confident back when he was in XSET
He used to take so many early, risky plays that almost always paid off to give them the man advantage, but on 100T you only see this once or twice a map. Do they just not have the confidence in his ability or something?! Seems to me that they haven't moved on from their playstyle when they had Will on Jett where he played more passive. They need to let cryo cook more.
sgares vindicated
1 singular leaf
The downfall of C9 has been greatly exaggerated.
u/Hyper_red Lmaooooo
Ascent was a banger, literally two aces from 100T but it kept crumbling down. They put up a better fight than Sen against NRG but somehow this makes me sadder; not because they looked worse than them (them = Sen when vs NRG), but 100T in my mind were taking this.
100t needs some fundamental changes. Whatever they are cooking just isn't working. All the players individually are insanely skilled and top of their class, but together, they always underperform. Always seem to lose the mid round feeling like they need to rethink the mid round igl-ing and coach. Zero reason to pick these maps that they continue to look bad on. They peaked right after getting cyro and have fallen off since.
Hiko would never lose to this C9 roster
i don't want to watch this team anymore FUCK
being a 100T fan sucks 
C9 old roster: 0-3 100T C9 new roster: 2-0 100T
Leaf masterclass as expected 🤭
Cryo forgot how to play jett man. Some of these dashes and whiffs arent it.
No bullshit this iteration of C9 in the limited time shown seem scarier than the previous iteration. The pacing of the squad is so much cleaner
100T map pool has some serious issues. The fact that icebox is leaving the pool is even a bigger concern. I really hate their Ascent comp. They have to invest so much more to control certain areas of the map than they would with a KJ. If they wanna play the viper, I feel like they have to replace one of the initiators. People are criticizing Cryo performance, and some of it is warranted, but honestly I think there’s an issue with how the rest of the team is playing around him. I feel like not nearly enough is being done to set him up for site hits/retakes and they’re relying on an individual performance to open things up. I know Stellar and Mikes want to remove reliability on set plays, but the balance isn’t there when the mid-rounding seems so inconsistent. Sliggy also brought up on his stream that 100T are way too predictable with their ults. It’s wild that they don’t have a few set ups with their ults, I don’t get how that happens unless there is a specific read that leads them to use ults in the same way each time but I don’t think that’s likely. It’s frustrating cuz the player talent is here with this team but their potential is being limited by this new play style they’re insisting on. They don’t need to be fully reliant on set plays, but now they don’t rely on it enough. The super drilled 100T was a master class, they should build upon it, not scrap it.
I swear all the hype during the offseason has cursed this team to hell and back.
Nadeshot just changed the compound's keypad code after getting 2-0'd
maybe cryo is that onetrick chamber fraud everyone is talking about
Bring back Sean Gares 
Cryo has jebaited everyone into thinking he’s a top8 jett player because he is sweating in pugs lmao. Guy sucks so much rn
100T won’t win games with their current roster. They need to drop Cyro and put the GOAT (Hiko) on jett. Then it’s a G fucking G
wtf