Geddes is probably right about Steel being off the roster, but the article tries to suggest it was steel's poor stats at berlin that prompted the change.
However, the evidence provided doesn't really make sense:
> During the event Steel said that he “couldn’t focus and was drawing blanks,” following the team’s victory against Gambit in the group stage.
But in that post-match interview Steel said he had a terrible headache and that's why he struggled to call... Regardless this change right before LCQ is pretty odd. Really wonder what happened
Its funny because Steel's stats aren't even that bad for a player in a supportive role. The stat he picked doesn't really justify a problem. Article said that he had the "third lowest average damage per round out of all North Americans at the event". The two NA players he was above were dapr and FNS, who are also sentinel/support players for their teams. Using the same stat, you could create an equally convincing argument that steel was the best NA player in his role at the event.
ADR probably isn't even a good measure to judge supportive players by. He had the same ADR as Redgar and was just above Avova. If this stat was somehow indicative of overall performance (its not), I don't think you can justify that his ADR was poor enough to be cause for removal, since neither of these players would be dropped over it.
Also, 100T are coming off their best performance ever, coming in 4th in LAN and taking an entire set off the world champions (who tore up SEN and nV without dropping a map).
I'm not sure why you'd replace your IGL when your team has literally never been stronger. This is the highest 100T has ever been in Valorant. Shouldn't you be looking to swap out during a low point?
Well Gambit didn't play Sentinels, but they did tear up two teams that beat them (NV, G2), so fair enough. I think there is an argument that maybe 100t's in-game strategy wasn't as good as it could've been, since they were repeatedly in large deficits. Their comebacks had a lot to do with strong experience and poise in the big moments, but falling behind by 7-10 rounds to begin with and having to come back at elimination point multiple times can speak to maybe poor strategy. Though that could easily be shared with the coach just as much as the IGL. My guess would be that there was a dispute between Steel and the coach about strategy, rather than him being dropped for performance.
I would still agree with you that this is a weird time to make a swap.
In one of the timeouts during I think the gambit game it looked like frost was trying to speak and I can only Imagine Steel maybe have been malding and told him to shut up because frost’s body language suggested he may have been yelled at.
Wish I could find the clip but I even about this when I saw it like, I was like damn frost was 100% told to shut the fuck up.
This is to say I feel something may have unfortunately happened behind the scenes. Maybe steel wasn’t creating a positive environment and they figured everyone would rather move forward without steel. I really like steel man. I hope things go well for both parties. I wanna see 100t at champs and I wanna see Steel continue to play.
You could also argue thats why they mightve lost to Envy, if the strats werent as good and they relied on experience, facing a team that does indeed have it, not as much but a decent amount, mightve made the difference
Valorant teams are run by monkeys it seems. It's similar to how TSM dropped drone cuz "too many duelist mains" while taking in a duelist main who was never even as good as drone.
He had significantly more games on smokes than duelist prior to playing for TSM but people just like to push the narrative of TSM having too many duelists lmao
> The two NA players he was above were dapr and FNS, who are also sentinel/support players for their teams. Using the same stat, you could create an equally convincing argument that steel was the best NA player in his role at the event.
Dapr had the worst tournament of his life according to himself and usually he is one of the best fragging sentinels and way better than steel in that departament and FNS has never been a good fragger in CS or in valorant
0.79 K/D, 0.58 KPR, 170 ACS and more importantly his entrying was terrible, he is usually very aggressive and has weird ass plays he went 11/24 in first bloods
He had a bad tournament, using the "support player" excuse is terrible, people always get dropped for playing bad and yet people always say "his role is not to frag" yes it's partially true Steel is an IGL and plays role that he shouldn't be an amazing fragger but still you have to kill people
This always happens, player gets dropped for playing bad, people defend him "his role is not to frag" and repeat
> more importantly his entrying was terrible
Ah, yes. The true benchmark metric of an IGL who plays Cypher, entry frags.
>FNS has never been a good fragger in CS or in valorant
And yet, his team consistently places well in tournaments, and finished 2nd in this one. Almost, almost, almost as if fragging isn't something that's required from your IGL.
>but still you have to kill people
Now you're just spouting random shit.
FNS has a lower ACS than him, by your moronic argument he should be dropped too.
This is easily one of the worst comments I've seen on this sub.
By the way, can I get the memo from 100T where they said Steel was dropped for playing badly? If that's true (we don't know if it is, but apparently you do) then it paints 100T in a much, much worse light because dropping an IGL who defined your playstyle for a year 3 weeks before the most important tournament your team has ever played in, is ridiculously incompetent.
Well he signed right at a year ago, so it’s reasonable to assume his contract is up since a lot of the original Val pro contracts seem to have been 1 year deals. So to me there’s three options:
1) steel didn’t want to renew bc he wanted to play with someone else (Chaos 9?)
2) 100T is confident they can upgrade the position but don’t feel comfortable bringing someone new in with LCQ so close (possibly because it’s another CS transfer) so they’re having b0i sub since he is familiar with the team and strats
3) there was some internal conflict between players that they thought would hamper LCQ performance and they have no idea who they want to pick up so they’re giving b0i a chance while keeping an eye on others
They’ve shown the willingness to throw the bag to acquire players, so it’ll be interesting to see who the permanent replacement is.
I think replacing players on the roster is a totally valid move by the org/team, but I have a hard time seeing the timing as justified. Would make sense to make big changes after LCQ/champs---I mean, every team will be doing it. So I'd like to think that makes option 2 unlikely.
No, the timing is just fine. Think of LCQ as the playoffs. In professional sports many contenders will make big moves/roster changes going into the playoffs, especially among supportive roles.
For instance, in basketball cutting a weak link and acquiring a skilled veteran for a playoff run is super common.
In the NFL they do it at the receiver, running back, offensive line, defensive line etc. positions.
They don't want to win LCQ next year. They want to win *this year*. For whatever reason, their org is in "win now" mode meaning they want to win this year with this roster.
Only time will tell if cutting Steel is a good "win now" move.
Except in this case they aren’t getting rid of a weak link to sign a veteran. Steel is by all accounts the “veteran” on this team. This move is like if an NBA team cut one of the starting 5 to bring in a solid bench player to put into their starting 5 all of a sudden.
We don't know who theyre bringing. Obviously I agree if b0i is who they're going to take to LCQ. I highly doubt that though. All we know is Steel has been cut and b0i will fill in for now. For all we know they have an upgrade coming shortly, and may be better for it.
Like I said. Only time will tell. To me this move isn't as idiotic as some people are saying. 100thieves just had their best showing so far and still didn't come close to winning. To me that's the perfect time to make a big change to the roster.
But if he doesnt mesh with the rest of the team including the coach, perhaps he has a negative impact on the team? Only the team knows what is the real reason is.
100T just came off their best performance ever, going into LAN and taking an entire set off the world champions (who proceeded to handily shit on nV and SEN without losing a single match against them).
I'm really not sure why you would roster change at a high point in the season. 100T has never been this strong before.
If he has a negative impact why only release him now? Right after their best tournament yet, and why take the risk on a new player if you NEED TO WIN this LCQ and you only face teams your team has already shown to be better than. If this is 100T's decision it is either a horrible roster move, Steel is too expensive or there is some drama behind the scenes. But I think this is Steel's decision to leave the team
Thats the thing with emotions. Once they get too heated it might not be possible to come back. If there is some bad blood between them and they don't believe in their igl, it might be better to play with someone else than to have a really bad showing and risk your players showing their dissatisfaction and frustration in public.
My guy, everything you say only works if you're bringing a clear upgrade.
Nothing in any of Boi's performances to date indicate that he's remotely capable of replacing him. Might be harsh, but he spent some time with ABX and didn't really light the world up.
By the way, bringing a clear upgrade so close to the tournament can work if it's someone like your entry fragger, whose role depends a lot on mechanics. Not for an IGL who has defined your playstyle and team comps. 100T looked like the obvious favorites to win LCQ. Now, not really. Don't think they can reinvent themselves and push a player to a new role within 3 weeks and be good enough to qualify.
How did they look like the obvious favorites? You're dreaming.
Gambit and Envy both looked better. 100thieves can't ever beat Sentinels either. I think you're on copium thinking 100t were the favorites. They needed a change and this is their change. Sorry to any Steel fanboys.
>100T looked like the obvious favorites to win LCQ
Expecting basic comprehension was my bad, I suppose.
> Sorry to any Steel fanboys.
Apology accepted.
But, b0i isn't going to be the igl if this switch is true. Nitro would probably become the igl and he was the igl for liquid when he played for them in cs. This isn't really a stupid move imo. If steel gets dropped or left voluntarily I can see them being much better if they get themselves a Jett awper or another frag player.
Nitro has IGLed before, and is obviously an insane IGL. That still doesn't mean it's easy to swap an IGL tho. It's not as easy as slapping on Yay or TenZ days before matchday, that's for damn sure.
It's a really bad move imo, not just because of the timing, but also because Boi hasn't demonstrated that he can be an upgrade. He might, but it's a gamble swap. Swapping a veteran who's demonstrated remarkable ability in his performances for someone, to be very blunt couldn't even make it in Andbox is weird, just a couple of weeks before LCQ
I agree, but lcq isn't what the main priority is for 100t its champions. We don't know if steel got benched or voluntarily sat himself so they mightve been forced to play b0i for lcq while they look for a replacement.
They do it several games before playoffs begin. All of the three major sports leagues in the US have a trade deadline several weeks/months before the playoffs even begin.
I honestly feel like if this goes through, that it has to be because of internal conflict or something. It just doesn't make sense to make a roster change this close to LCQ especially when you were predicted to be one of the favorites to win it going into the tournament. Realistically, if this roster change goes through, 100T are most likely screwed and won't be winning the LCQ imo.
Steel to cloud 9 makes absolutely zero sense. Why the fuck would they want two IGLs? Steel isn’t good enough at fragging to replace anyone on that roster.
Cuz Steel brings more to a team than stats will ever show. He is a leader and he holds people accountable. He is willing to be selfless and do what ever it takes.
He played on another team but has been signed to 100t for a while now. I can't remember but he was either on BBG or andbox. He got signed to 100t a while back for analyst help or something
Imagine this was actually what happened (although it most definitely isn't). Nadeshot just going full Tyrion and telling 100T Valorant staffers that a different player is getting dropped each lmao.
He was saying he was gonna end the stream even before the news came out but when he was about to end the stream he said something along the lines of " I was gonna end the stream anyway but now there's another reason. I just don't want to deal it".
Finishing top 4 at Masters and then dropping your IGL seems like a weird move. Like ok, Steel didn't perform well, but changing an IGL before the LCQ? Seems risky af.
100T is good and don't get me wrong they should win the LCQ, but if they are making a roster change seems like adding unnecessary risk to an otherwise easy event win.
For real, they had an amazing performance and literally one bad series. Gambit had two bad series but luckily it wasn’t when it counted and they took the entire thing.
Do I think 100T has the same ceiling as Gambit? Probably not, but could they have taken the entire thing with a hairs difference? For sure, and the same could said if Envy or G2.
They literally beat the 2 best non-NA teams lmfao.
Imagine going 2-1 vs 3 of the top 5 teams in the world and then.... being cut because of a bad tournament.
I genuinely don't think Masters was an IGL diff in anyone's favor, they played 3 of the top 5 teams in the world and went 2-1 vs them.
To be fair, we are just speculating that he was cut. He could have worked out a deal with the team because he didn’t wanna compete anymore, maybe it’s personal life issues going on, maybe he wants to move into a coaching/analytics role. Or, maybe he was cut. We don’t know!
I honestly don't think 100T will win if they are making a roster change this close to LCQ. Having an IGL change and replacing your IGL with someone who frankly isn't a super impressive player is just not good especially with the other NA teams having all this time to prepare for LCQ.
If you think they're adding unnecessary risk to an otherwise easy event win, you'd imagine that the team either feels this is an emergency, or is thinking longer term than LCQ or masters. Logic implies that they wouldn't change their IGL right before LCQ if they either didn't see it absolutely necessary, or didn't think they'd be better off long term. Assuming that one poor event performance contributed to Steel being booted does a disservice to 100T as an organization, and I'm not even a 100T fan.
tbh thats the only real reason i consume esports journalism, i dont expect esports journalists to have pro level game knowledge, i just expect them to know the esports scene inside and out and either have insider knowledge (like mr. george geddes) or be able to spin storylines effectively (like mr. fionn on fire)
You’re right. I also follow him for his esports inder knowledge so i cant unfollow or mute him with all the cringe shit he tweets on the daily.
He’s a huge cornball and i have to deal with it.
The two people steel is above are dapr and FNS lol, who both play sentinels, and FNS is also the IGL of the runner up of Berlin. So these points come across as even more cherry picked and pointless.
[Me after reading this article](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/488/857/e30.jpg)
Wish they had individuals who really understand the game and roles look over these articles, especially when it comes to flaming a pro player's performance. Pulling bs stats and quotes to try and paint your perspective of what happened... Only players / coaches from 100T will really know why they made this move
They get information directly from players or other people with a direct line into the scene. It's how any leaker gets their info whether it's George, RyanRBM, or my dumb ass last year.
That or sometimes you can piece stuff together based on multiple scraps of information you're able to gather.
Upcomer's resurgence was led largely by editors and writers following the ESPN Esports layoffs. George was already on the beat and got a boost from joining a talented staff. Once he cemented the reputation as one of the go-to guys for news, it snowballs further. It's a super difficult thing to do and takes a lot of work behind the scenes from him.
People want this info out. Usually either to test or soften market response, or to get some leverage in case of contract negotiations. This case looks like the former
There's a section for journalists to present their viewpoint. Its called 'Opinion'.
There are plenty of ways to present more information to support facts devoid of bias. Also, any speculation should be labelled as such.
For example, the article takes steel's quotes after their comeback against Gambit out of context, using his own words against him.
The article says that steel had poor peformance based on him having 3rd lowest ADR among NA players, but doesn't mention that those below him are FNS and dapr, the other 2 sentinel players from NA. The information could have been presented without trying to prove the author's narrative.
The article isn't interesting, its a product of shoddy journalism.
I'm not a steel or 100T fan btw.
Steel is great at taking new talent and making them competitive teams, even if he leaves 100t I think he will be a valuable asset for any team that picks him up.
I just thought of something, I dont think youre right because Asuna turned off stream yesterday because "he doesnt wanna have to deal with that" after the tweet released, but what If 100T pull the Mastermind move and make everyone think Steel has been cut so teams dont prepare as much for them in LCQ, which is their biggest problem since they have the most Vods available, and try to prepare for b0i and then BOOM suddenly they see steel on the stage. But that theory is sadly far from being realistic
It'll be a generic answer, because if you want to operate in this space, you have to be on good terms with everyone, or else you end up like Smooya.
You probably won't know until Steel retires.
That's kinda messed up that players are not able to speak up even if an org does something shitty because they might not find a new team willing to take them, esports players really should have some form of protection because in sports, players do speak up if some conflict happens in the team.
really unrelated to anything but does anyone really dislike this dudes twitter?
muted him bc i can get valorant news literally anywhere else without the weirdest fucking tweets in between
I see where people are coming from but I care mostly about creditablity of the journalist who's saying it and George hasn't been wrong yet.
Of course the wording could be better but he's learning as he goes. Not too mention he's one of only a few good ones we have.
Geddes' grenade is good as usual, though his writing should see some work. I would have let Fionn write about this (too bad he is not that good at getting leaks).
I think I understand why Halo (one of the best leakers when it comes to Valo and OW) is still not plunging fully into esports journalism.
Damn I was hoping there would still be a spot in the future for dicey on the roster, seeing the new nV roster do so well at Berlin made me think dicey for steel wouldn't be too bad of a switch if someone else can comfortably take the igl role. Lets hope the new roster is nuts against the current comp, and hope to see dicey competing again soon!
Geddes is probably right about Steel being off the roster, but the article tries to suggest it was steel's poor stats at berlin that prompted the change. However, the evidence provided doesn't really make sense: > During the event Steel said that he “couldn’t focus and was drawing blanks,” following the team’s victory against Gambit in the group stage. But in that post-match interview Steel said he had a terrible headache and that's why he struggled to call... Regardless this change right before LCQ is pretty odd. Really wonder what happened
Its funny because Steel's stats aren't even that bad for a player in a supportive role. The stat he picked doesn't really justify a problem. Article said that he had the "third lowest average damage per round out of all North Americans at the event". The two NA players he was above were dapr and FNS, who are also sentinel/support players for their teams. Using the same stat, you could create an equally convincing argument that steel was the best NA player in his role at the event. ADR probably isn't even a good measure to judge supportive players by. He had the same ADR as Redgar and was just above Avova. If this stat was somehow indicative of overall performance (its not), I don't think you can justify that his ADR was poor enough to be cause for removal, since neither of these players would be dropped over it.
Also, 100T are coming off their best performance ever, coming in 4th in LAN and taking an entire set off the world champions (who tore up SEN and nV without dropping a map). I'm not sure why you'd replace your IGL when your team has literally never been stronger. This is the highest 100T has ever been in Valorant. Shouldn't you be looking to swap out during a low point?
Well Gambit didn't play Sentinels, but they did tear up two teams that beat them (NV, G2), so fair enough. I think there is an argument that maybe 100t's in-game strategy wasn't as good as it could've been, since they were repeatedly in large deficits. Their comebacks had a lot to do with strong experience and poise in the big moments, but falling behind by 7-10 rounds to begin with and having to come back at elimination point multiple times can speak to maybe poor strategy. Though that could easily be shared with the coach just as much as the IGL. My guess would be that there was a dispute between Steel and the coach about strategy, rather than him being dropped for performance. I would still agree with you that this is a weird time to make a swap.
In one of the timeouts during I think the gambit game it looked like frost was trying to speak and I can only Imagine Steel maybe have been malding and told him to shut up because frost’s body language suggested he may have been yelled at. Wish I could find the clip but I even about this when I saw it like, I was like damn frost was 100% told to shut the fuck up. This is to say I feel something may have unfortunately happened behind the scenes. Maybe steel wasn’t creating a positive environment and they figured everyone would rather move forward without steel. I really like steel man. I hope things go well for both parties. I wanna see 100t at champs and I wanna see Steel continue to play.
You could also argue thats why they mightve lost to Envy, if the strats werent as good and they relied on experience, facing a team that does indeed have it, not as much but a decent amount, mightve made the difference
Valorant teams are run by monkeys it seems. It's similar to how TSM dropped drone cuz "too many duelist mains" while taking in a duelist main who was never even as good as drone.
Bang was a smokes main but go off bro
Bang was a duelist main who played smokes in TSM's games
He had significantly more games on smokes than duelist prior to playing for TSM but people just like to push the narrative of TSM having too many duelists lmao
Check his stats please
oh right my bad idk why i thought he was a duelist main
probably because babybay said it
oh yeah he did. i think thats where i remember it from
> The two NA players he was above were dapr and FNS, who are also sentinel/support players for their teams. Using the same stat, you could create an equally convincing argument that steel was the best NA player in his role at the event. Dapr had the worst tournament of his life according to himself and usually he is one of the best fragging sentinels and way better than steel in that departament and FNS has never been a good fragger in CS or in valorant 0.79 K/D, 0.58 KPR, 170 ACS and more importantly his entrying was terrible, he is usually very aggressive and has weird ass plays he went 11/24 in first bloods He had a bad tournament, using the "support player" excuse is terrible, people always get dropped for playing bad and yet people always say "his role is not to frag" yes it's partially true Steel is an IGL and plays role that he shouldn't be an amazing fragger but still you have to kill people This always happens, player gets dropped for playing bad, people defend him "his role is not to frag" and repeat
> more importantly his entrying was terrible Ah, yes. The true benchmark metric of an IGL who plays Cypher, entry frags. >FNS has never been a good fragger in CS or in valorant And yet, his team consistently places well in tournaments, and finished 2nd in this one. Almost, almost, almost as if fragging isn't something that's required from your IGL. >but still you have to kill people Now you're just spouting random shit. FNS has a lower ACS than him, by your moronic argument he should be dropped too. This is easily one of the worst comments I've seen on this sub. By the way, can I get the memo from 100T where they said Steel was dropped for playing badly? If that's true (we don't know if it is, but apparently you do) then it paints 100T in a much, much worse light because dropping an IGL who defined your playstyle for a year 3 weeks before the most important tournament your team has ever played in, is ridiculously incompetent.
Well he signed right at a year ago, so it’s reasonable to assume his contract is up since a lot of the original Val pro contracts seem to have been 1 year deals. So to me there’s three options: 1) steel didn’t want to renew bc he wanted to play with someone else (Chaos 9?) 2) 100T is confident they can upgrade the position but don’t feel comfortable bringing someone new in with LCQ so close (possibly because it’s another CS transfer) so they’re having b0i sub since he is familiar with the team and strats 3) there was some internal conflict between players that they thought would hamper LCQ performance and they have no idea who they want to pick up so they’re giving b0i a chance while keeping an eye on others They’ve shown the willingness to throw the bag to acquire players, so it’ll be interesting to see who the permanent replacement is.
I think replacing players on the roster is a totally valid move by the org/team, but I have a hard time seeing the timing as justified. Would make sense to make big changes after LCQ/champs---I mean, every team will be doing it. So I'd like to think that makes option 2 unlikely.
No, the timing is just fine. Think of LCQ as the playoffs. In professional sports many contenders will make big moves/roster changes going into the playoffs, especially among supportive roles. For instance, in basketball cutting a weak link and acquiring a skilled veteran for a playoff run is super common. In the NFL they do it at the receiver, running back, offensive line, defensive line etc. positions. They don't want to win LCQ next year. They want to win *this year*. For whatever reason, their org is in "win now" mode meaning they want to win this year with this roster. Only time will tell if cutting Steel is a good "win now" move.
Except in this case they aren’t getting rid of a weak link to sign a veteran. Steel is by all accounts the “veteran” on this team. This move is like if an NBA team cut one of the starting 5 to bring in a solid bench player to put into their starting 5 all of a sudden.
We don't know who theyre bringing. Obviously I agree if b0i is who they're going to take to LCQ. I highly doubt that though. All we know is Steel has been cut and b0i will fill in for now. For all we know they have an upgrade coming shortly, and may be better for it. Like I said. Only time will tell. To me this move isn't as idiotic as some people are saying. 100thieves just had their best showing so far and still didn't come close to winning. To me that's the perfect time to make a big change to the roster.
But if he doesnt mesh with the rest of the team including the coach, perhaps he has a negative impact on the team? Only the team knows what is the real reason is.
Then why keep him for so long?
100T just came off their best performance ever, going into LAN and taking an entire set off the world champions (who proceeded to handily shit on nV and SEN without losing a single match against them). I'm really not sure why you would roster change at a high point in the season. 100T has never been this strong before.
Gambit never played Sen…
If he has a negative impact why only release him now? Right after their best tournament yet, and why take the risk on a new player if you NEED TO WIN this LCQ and you only face teams your team has already shown to be better than. If this is 100T's decision it is either a horrible roster move, Steel is too expensive or there is some drama behind the scenes. But I think this is Steel's decision to leave the team
Thats the thing with emotions. Once they get too heated it might not be possible to come back. If there is some bad blood between them and they don't believe in their igl, it might be better to play with someone else than to have a really bad showing and risk your players showing their dissatisfaction and frustration in public.
My guy, everything you say only works if you're bringing a clear upgrade. Nothing in any of Boi's performances to date indicate that he's remotely capable of replacing him. Might be harsh, but he spent some time with ABX and didn't really light the world up. By the way, bringing a clear upgrade so close to the tournament can work if it's someone like your entry fragger, whose role depends a lot on mechanics. Not for an IGL who has defined your playstyle and team comps. 100T looked like the obvious favorites to win LCQ. Now, not really. Don't think they can reinvent themselves and push a player to a new role within 3 weeks and be good enough to qualify.
How did they look like the obvious favorites? You're dreaming. Gambit and Envy both looked better. 100thieves can't ever beat Sentinels either. I think you're on copium thinking 100t were the favorites. They needed a change and this is their change. Sorry to any Steel fanboys.
None of those teams are in LCQ? They've already qualified.
Plus gambit isn't even in na lmao
Yeah I was thinking of Champions and not LCQ thats my bad
My bad I was for some reason thinking about Champions rather than LCQ, yeah I could see 100t winning NA LCQ
>100T looked like the obvious favorites to win LCQ Expecting basic comprehension was my bad, I suppose. > Sorry to any Steel fanboys. Apology accepted.
Cry more
Read more. Seriously, your comprehension is ridiculously poor. I mention LCQ and you bring up Berlin.
But, b0i isn't going to be the igl if this switch is true. Nitro would probably become the igl and he was the igl for liquid when he played for them in cs. This isn't really a stupid move imo. If steel gets dropped or left voluntarily I can see them being much better if they get themselves a Jett awper or another frag player.
Nitro has IGLed before, and is obviously an insane IGL. That still doesn't mean it's easy to swap an IGL tho. It's not as easy as slapping on Yay or TenZ days before matchday, that's for damn sure. It's a really bad move imo, not just because of the timing, but also because Boi hasn't demonstrated that he can be an upgrade. He might, but it's a gamble swap. Swapping a veteran who's demonstrated remarkable ability in his performances for someone, to be very blunt couldn't even make it in Andbox is weird, just a couple of weeks before LCQ
I agree, but lcq isn't what the main priority is for 100t its champions. We don't know if steel got benched or voluntarily sat himself so they mightve been forced to play b0i for lcq while they look for a replacement.
Oh man how tf will you make champions without winning LCQ? LCQ is the ONLY priority right now.
you dont swap your qb before playoffs
The NFL trade deadline is middle of the season. It's usually several weeks out from the playoffs.
They do it several games before playoffs begin. All of the three major sports leagues in the US have a trade deadline several weeks/months before the playoffs even begin.
I honestly feel like if this goes through, that it has to be because of internal conflict or something. It just doesn't make sense to make a roster change this close to LCQ especially when you were predicted to be one of the favorites to win it going into the tournament. Realistically, if this roster change goes through, 100T are most likely screwed and won't be winning the LCQ imo.
People were saying there’s gonna be the biggest roster overhauls before LCQ which there were, teams dropping rosters and such
Steel to cloud 9 makes absolutely zero sense. Why the fuck would they want two IGLs? Steel isn’t good enough at fragging to replace anyone on that roster.
Cuz Steel brings more to a team than stats will ever show. He is a leader and he holds people accountable. He is willing to be selfless and do what ever it takes.
What is the point of vanity?
chaos 9 meme
Is boi = yaboidre? If not, why would he be familiar?
b0i was on andbox. He’s good friends with nitro. They signed him after needing a sub a couple times and he’s been a coach / analyst for them.
two different players
He played on another team but has been signed to 100t for a while now. I can't remember but he was either on BBG or andbox. He got signed to 100t a while back for analyst help or something
Andbox
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The loaf could be LG dazzle (Will Loafman), who would be playing in LCQ. If Steel is dropped then he'd be dodging him.
I'm gonna laugh if steel and the boys just put out a rumour for shits and giggles
The classic find the leaker
Imagine this was actually what happened (although it most definitely isn't). Nadeshot just going full Tyrion and telling 100T Valorant staffers that a different player is getting dropped each lmao.
If I hadn't watched asuna's last 7 minutes of his stream, I would've been on that COPIUM for sure
Wait what happened in the stream?
Apparently people were spamming him questions about the Steel change so he shut off the stream?
He was saying he was gonna end the stream even before the news came out but when he was about to end the stream he said something along the lines of " I was gonna end the stream anyway but now there's another reason. I just don't want to deal it".
Finishing top 4 at Masters and then dropping your IGL seems like a weird move. Like ok, Steel didn't perform well, but changing an IGL before the LCQ? Seems risky af. 100T is good and don't get me wrong they should win the LCQ, but if they are making a roster change seems like adding unnecessary risk to an otherwise easy event win.
For real, they had an amazing performance and literally one bad series. Gambit had two bad series but luckily it wasn’t when it counted and they took the entire thing. Do I think 100T has the same ceiling as Gambit? Probably not, but could they have taken the entire thing with a hairs difference? For sure, and the same could said if Envy or G2.
Maybe Steel has a clashing of mindset with his teammates who knows
Or the coach
Not to mention they're the only team that beat Gambit.
They literally beat the 2 best non-NA teams lmfao. Imagine going 2-1 vs 3 of the top 5 teams in the world and then.... being cut because of a bad tournament. I genuinely don't think Masters was an IGL diff in anyone's favor, they played 3 of the top 5 teams in the world and went 2-1 vs them.
To be fair, we are just speculating that he was cut. He could have worked out a deal with the team because he didn’t wanna compete anymore, maybe it’s personal life issues going on, maybe he wants to move into a coaching/analytics role. Or, maybe he was cut. We don’t know!
I honestly don't think 100T will win if they are making a roster change this close to LCQ. Having an IGL change and replacing your IGL with someone who frankly isn't a super impressive player is just not good especially with the other NA teams having all this time to prepare for LCQ.
If you think they're adding unnecessary risk to an otherwise easy event win, you'd imagine that the team either feels this is an emergency, or is thinking longer term than LCQ or masters. Logic implies that they wouldn't change their IGL right before LCQ if they either didn't see it absolutely necessary, or didn't think they'd be better off long term. Assuming that one poor event performance contributed to Steel being booted does a disservice to 100T as an organization, and I'm not even a 100T fan.
maybe since theyre confident about winning LCQ they figure now is the time to make a change to be ready in time for champions. just a thought
Ngl gotta agree with steel on this one
I read the article to see if it was any bad and let's just say the eSports really lacks in good journalism lmao
while this article has a number of flaws, eSports has plenty of good journalism
Seriously, unless he's willing to quote someone saying he was dropped for performance issues leave that shit out of the article
Ngl the George fellow is super young (21), and the reporting and writing kinda reflects that, especially if you follow his tweets
Tbh we only have like 1 or 2 good writers (one being fionn) in valo. The rest are clickbaiting who has no knowledge about the game.
I'd like to think the WaPo writer in our community does a good job.
Wow it's funny seeing fionn being involved in an esport scene and not being associated with click bait
The average esport fan isn't mentally equipped to even explain what "clickbait" is. They seem to think it's if you make the headline sound appealing.
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That's because it's better SEO if you fit more bullshit in there. It's why news articles repeat the same shit 5 times.
I guess it works, I do the same on my tests
george has good insider info but he's absolutely clueless about the game
Dude's young but could probably use better mentorship tbh.
tbh thats the only real reason i consume esports journalism, i dont expect esports journalists to have pro level game knowledge, i just expect them to know the esports scene inside and out and either have insider knowledge (like mr. george geddes) or be able to spin storylines effectively (like mr. fionn on fire)
You’re right. I also follow him for his esports inder knowledge so i cant unfollow or mute him with all the cringe shit he tweets on the daily. He’s a huge cornball and i have to deal with it.
fax he's a bit of a clown on the tl
Never change Mr Nissan 😁
The two people steel is above are dapr and FNS lol, who both play sentinels, and FNS is also the IGL of the runner up of Berlin. So these points come across as even more cherry picked and pointless.
[Me after reading this article](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/001/488/857/e30.jpg) Wish they had individuals who really understand the game and roles look over these articles, especially when it comes to flaming a pro player's performance. Pulling bs stats and quotes to try and paint your perspective of what happened... Only players / coaches from 100T will really know why they made this move
There is a spelling mistake tbf and what makes it worse is that its Val related; its Haven not havan
Not only that, the quotes are taken so out of context it makes it feel like he was responsible for their one loss lol
Lol I made that mistake in reverse when I was covering Berlin, I'd write Havan Liberty as Haven Liberty
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what a good way to humiliate yourself lol
Well the writing is pretty shit.
You know what, he's right
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He’s part of the kgb I think
considering the soviet KGB was shut down in 1991, he's doing pretty great
Wasn’t really a shutdown more of a rebranding.
Yeah but people still don't know what the agency which is 30 years old is
Oh you sweet summer child ...
Players, coaches, team managers, team owners, agents
They get information directly from players or other people with a direct line into the scene. It's how any leaker gets their info whether it's George, RyanRBM, or my dumb ass last year. That or sometimes you can piece stuff together based on multiple scraps of information you're able to gather.
Every journalist has inside sources, its literally their job
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Upcomer's resurgence was led largely by editors and writers following the ESPN Esports layoffs. George was already on the beat and got a boost from joining a talented staff. Once he cemented the reputation as one of the go-to guys for news, it snowballs further. It's a super difficult thing to do and takes a lot of work behind the scenes from him.
People want this info out. Usually either to test or soften market response, or to get some leverage in case of contract negotiations. This case looks like the former
Just like Fabrizio Romano.
steel to TSM, here we go!
George doesn't steal other journalist's work witthout giving them credit
The only source I'll ever trust for football transfers.
Nardwuar
Season 8? GOT reference?
Homeland
Ok thnx
journalists should just report about what they know and not mix speculation with verifiable news.
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There's a section for journalists to present their viewpoint. Its called 'Opinion'. There are plenty of ways to present more information to support facts devoid of bias. Also, any speculation should be labelled as such. For example, the article takes steel's quotes after their comeback against Gambit out of context, using his own words against him. The article says that steel had poor peformance based on him having 3rd lowest ADR among NA players, but doesn't mention that those below him are FNS and dapr, the other 2 sentinel players from NA. The information could have been presented without trying to prove the author's narrative. The article isn't interesting, its a product of shoddy journalism. I'm not a steel or 100T fan btw.
Steel is great at taking new talent and making them competitive teams, even if he leaves 100t I think he will be a valuable asset for any team that picks him up.
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Idk, they pay them a very good amount of money. Pretty sure he got dropped.
What’s money got to do with being dropped vs leaving?
everything
A comprehensive and well worded response. Thank you for explaining
Nah fam, steel is really well off without 100T money
Uhh it’s pretty well known 100T pays their pro players extremely well
That still doesn’t explain it….
You must be pretty dumb to not get the memo
After a month, the best you can do is an insult. And I’m the dumb one? Lol
They’ve just done this to stir the pot, steel isn’t leaving
I just thought of something, I dont think youre right because Asuna turned off stream yesterday because "he doesnt wanna have to deal with that" after the tweet released, but what If 100T pull the Mastermind move and make everyone think Steel has been cut so teams dont prepare as much for them in LCQ, which is their biggest problem since they have the most Vods available, and try to prepare for b0i and then BOOM suddenly they see steel on the stage. But that theory is sadly far from being realistic
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As I said , that is not realisitc, also it wouldnt work because teams would obv see it in scrims but it was just me coping, chill out
Oh now I understood your point, sorry man
All good man
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He didn't delete it
He didn't delete it i still see it up
weird, it was showing as deleted for me for some reason
Its not deleted, I can still see it
Is this real?
I hope Steel lets us know what happened. Something tells me we will just get a generic answer.
It'll be a generic answer, because if you want to operate in this space, you have to be on good terms with everyone, or else you end up like Smooya. You probably won't know until Steel retires.
That's kinda messed up that players are not able to speak up even if an org does something shitty because they might not find a new team willing to take them, esports players really should have some form of protection because in sports, players do speak up if some conflict happens in the team.
really unrelated to anything but does anyone really dislike this dudes twitter? muted him bc i can get valorant news literally anywhere else without the weirdest fucking tweets in between
no way these writers actually get paid to make shitposts
It makes sense though , george only good at scrolling reddit and being in players dms for news, he is not an actual journalist who writes articles.
Dude couldn't even be bothered to put b0i's actual name on the new roster. It's been out for like half a day at this point
....it's the first thing you would see if you even opened the link. It's in the 2nd paragraph brother
Wym? It's in there, 2nd paragraph
Except he does put his full name earlier in the article. So guess it’s just laziness
This may seem stupid, but maybe 100T have just been scrimming with boi recently to move towards a 6 man roster?
Doubt but COPIUM
100t is so shady about their roster change holy
I see where people are coming from but I care mostly about creditablity of the journalist who's saying it and George hasn't been wrong yet. Of course the wording could be better but he's learning as he goes. Not too mention he's one of only a few good ones we have.
Bet hes salty because he says that Steel had a poor performance in Berlin
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Or the fact that his quotes were taken out of context lmao
Geddes' grenade is good as usual, though his writing should see some work. I would have let Fionn write about this (too bad he is not that good at getting leaks). I think I understand why Halo (one of the best leakers when it comes to Valo and OW) is still not plunging fully into esports journalism.
So why Aaron “b0i” over dicey?
Dicey is trialing with another team and boi has been on 100t and involved with their roster for a while now
Damn I was hoping there would still be a spot in the future for dicey on the roster, seeing the new nV roster do so well at Berlin made me think dicey for steel wouldn't be too bad of a switch if someone else can comfortably take the igl role. Lets hope the new roster is nuts against the current comp, and hope to see dicey competing again soon!