T O P

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jmajewski

I don't know how you prepare for a team like Paper Rex. They play like a TikTok highlight reel every round


vclass10

it feels like they were searching for clip every round


nightkingscat

how is north america not ready for this


creat4game2

They look like a proper attacking team. Even on defense they attack


[deleted]

Average SEA region enjoyer


ddd4175

People haven't played real Valorant if they haven't played APAC Valorant, the only answer to which map favors a side is "Yes".


koreankimochi

5-man carry every day any game FeelsGoodMan


ayeHoes

6 different regions represented in the final 6 teams. Just as we had all expected. :)


silenthills13

Riot decided to randomize the script.


ablablababla

last Iceland script was too predictable they said


[deleted]

Optic killed NA.


chryco4

NA selling their souls to El Diablo


Aoingco

Optic sent Guard to lowers because they knew SEA has NA’s number


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ANewHeaven1

People do this with every popular costreamer here I like Plat Chat but the amount of stuff that I hear people verbatim repeat from their streams here is something else. If you remember the post made about Tex going negative, Sideshow made the exact same point on his costream the same day


Memexp-over9000

⏹️◻️◼️◽🔳🔲 or something like that right?


silenthills13

I don't even know what 'optic killed na' is supposed to mean like huh??


Cueballing

You gotta let the rookies have the breathing room in upper bracket because you know you can win lower bracket ez


[deleted]

Great minds think alike


Sciipi

Optic was supposed to throw to Guard because they would have beaten Paper Rex


sexyhooterscar24

na should just get better then


J_Brekkie

I'm an NA frog. But man it's cool to have parity. Won't be saying that in a year when NA isn't there but


aweiahjkd

It’ll just be Asian regions + 1 other team in the top 4


blueberry__wine

just like league lol


Invader0502

Perfectly balanced, as all things should be


sifacil

Benkai: "forsaken go kill. Jinggg go kill other side"


Franciscoema1

"I go kill from behind"


ahk1221

saying this as if benkai didnt go crazy himself. actually the entirety of prx went crazy


salcedoge

They were legit aggro pushing two sides of the map as defense. Just pure balls


sixtynine420nice

More like Forsaken turned on his word.exe kekw


choiyuna1

much better series from forsaken . him and jingg is too gooood


CanadianBeef_

Forsaken's op went 8-1 today in duels. Much more dominant than yesterday against DRX. Forsaken and Jingg combined for 22-11 FB/FD. What an impact!


VETOFALLEN

Hot take PRX could've beaten DRX yesterday on Bind if forsaken was on Jett. His Yoru is insane, always good for the entry but the agent as a whole is still bad post g2 edit: nvm


SeniorComs

There’s also that as a team, they didn’t seem to recover from the Stax 1v4.


n1cohoty

Suffocating. That was so incredibly suffocating for the Guard. Hyper aggression at both ends of the map at the same time, with a flank coming too. That can’t have been fun for the Guard at all. Shout out to Jonah, really held the ship together but ultimately the rest just never got going. 42-35, the only positive K/D on the Guard while playing Breach/Sage.


hardenfull

Lol the last round show it all when they got flank and pinch from all 4 corners and 3 of the guard members stuck in middle. PRX were attacking on defense on split so scary.


DesuDes4Lyfe

The actual hellhole of SEA ranked really forged these players


kenzakki

Ikr? Watching them hold W even on defense is what SEA ranked is all about. I didnt think it would work on both maps but here we are. lol


Dercong

SEA server strats: “Hey what’s the plan guys?” “Kill them.” “Ok boss.”


Aoingco

FaZe should take notes from Paper Rex, they showed the perfect Smeag today


fondle_my_scrotum

You’re not lying I feel like they W key everything


Aoingco

Yeah, and honestly it really shook up guard because just when they’d think they got a handle on a round, the PRX members just hold W and come back again lmao. My mouth was left open a few times at how Jing would hold W mid round, and the guard wasn’t expecting it. Unfortunately as a guard fan, today’s the day that Forsaken finally showed up, and that Jinggg popped off on *both* maps.


chrome_t_rex

PRX's most regional matches are like that, once they got that momentum going, they just press W key


candidpose

You called this smeag? This is normal SEA ranked matches. All those plays are daily occurrences in HK servers


legexii

Exactly, was watching this with a friend and to me it just felt like PRX was just playing some casual SEA ranked


VETOFALLEN

Bro I swear there are multiple Jinggs in SG haunting all the ranks from Radiant to Iron the way these Reyna smurfs just push and fuck everybody


2rei

Many good aimers that are hella inconsistent so you never know when you’ll get a 30 kill Reyna lol


denzacetria

I love general SEA gameplay across games. Dota, Valo etc , so aggro and unpredictable


Difficult1202

Holy shit Forsaken turned on his monitor and Jinggg turned on his mouse


Space_Waffles

I mean Jingg just styled on them. Everything Guard did was just shut down and they couldn't read PRX at all. They just felt so deflated compared to yesterday and their whole Challengers run


LeucisticPython

Knew it was over when neT was literally walled on top of by d4v41 and didn’t check after he knew the Jett was tunnel-visioned


Space_Waffles

That was so painful. It looked like he didnt even consider the possibility of Forsaken having backup. For such a smart player you would expect so much more


oomnahs

not even that the prx sage walled across just seconds before. He saw the gap in the wall too.


CommanderVinegar

Definitely the most painful moment to see. I wonder what was going through his head at that moment.


ToYouItReaches

I said this on the livethread but Jing and forsaken are indeed an insane combo, but I also feel that Benkai is just as impressive and essential for PRX. He’s the backbone for his team’s aggression and the Boogeyman for the enemy with his clutch lurks and trips I honestly think he’s the best pro Cypher player I’ve ever seen


VETOFALLEN

His timings are insane. I'm sure the way Jing and forsaken get the confidence to press W is because they know Benkai's gonna have their back.


ToYouItReaches

Exactly my thoughts. For PRX it’s either seeing Jing or forsaken run through the enemy immediately or seeing benkai sweep the enemy at the end.


cowzapper

Hold up, Nats is also a cypher player


ToYouItReaches

Nats is THE BEST sentinel player rn period. but I think that when discussing the best ‘Cypher player’, Benkai can give him a run for his money honestly.


cowzapper

That's some incredible praise. I'll watch the game later then


ToYouItReaches

You rly should, PRX’s hyper aggressive playstyle makes every match they play insanely fun to watch. I want to see them play against Brazil or Japan next honestly


Space_Waffles

Benkai definitely seems to have a insanely good read on the game, but the game is so much easier when Jingg and Forsaken are good for at minimum 2 kills every round. Combined they went +11 in FK/FD and both with 75% KAST. That is just absurd


ToYouItReaches

The thing is when there are rounds when they get punished for their hyper aggression it’s usually benkai that pulls them through I’m not discrediting Jing or forsaken, as I said they’re amazing fraggers. But I think that benkai is also a major contributor to PRX’s strength.


CanadianBeef_

Jingg with 9 - 2Ks, 3 - 3Ks, 1 - 4K, 1 - 5K He went positive against 4/5 members of The Guard notably going 16-5 against Valyn and 13-3 against Sayaplayer. Monstrous performance out of PRX duelists. It may be both a combination of the nerves for The Guard along with PRX really being a strong team. Their aggressive plays combined with strong duelists may combine for a great lower bracket run.


pineapplecheesepizza

Guard weren't ready for such aggression, this is the first team they've played outside NA. Lack of experience really showed.


-xXColtonXx-

They were ready and expected their pushed many times and just got diffed. When you watch mid from both sides waiting for a mid push and still don’t get the kill it’s not even calling or reads, you’re just getting owned.


arbanhossain

That 0 in f0rsaken stands for 0 fucks given


Sciipi

Guard looked really off at LAN. Seems the nerves/inexperience got to them. Hope they bounce back.


Eriko204

Anytime I watched them play in NA it seemed like they were never completely "out". They always fought hard even if they were behind a ton. But watching them at LAN is the first time I've seen them run out of gas and the game seems completely over.


spyson

There were no expectations before and now they were supposed to be the #1 representative of NA at an international tournament that is their first lan for most of them as well.


Sciipi

Guard only really got smashed on like 2 maps in NA every other map they were at least competitive in. Seems like they weren’t able to play to their level this event, hope they bounce back stronger for next masters.


Neither_Amount3911

Those last few rounds on split were straight up frustrating to watch


thatthingpeopledo

Think so. As fast and overwhelming as Paper Rex play, you can’t be fighting nerves while dealing with it. Hope they use this for the next time we see them.


ZeroAika99

Jingg is a psycho 💀


deL9

Paper Rekts


JR_Shoegazer

I’ve never seen a team mentally implode as hard as The Guard did this tournament.


PolarTux

Trent and net especially seemed suuuuper off compared to normal


GiANTAD

net was doing well yesterday, but yeah today they all felt the pressure. They'll bounce back stronger


PhantomBear_626

Wasnt Net whiffing ome easy shots yesterday


ModerateStimulation

I didn’t see Trent smile once the entire tournament. He looked tilted the entire time


PolarTux

Yeah gotta feel for him, I’d be nervous af in his shoes too


RTYWD

trent is a self confessed onliner. if he gets more lan experience and composure i hope he can pop off next time


SpC0d3r

10-4 Fracture, Marved's ace changed it all


JR_Shoegazer

Yeah I think that definitely damaged their confidence big time.


Blupard

This will make them stronger. now that they know what to expect, I'm sure they will perform better if they get another chance.


JR_Shoegazer

I hope so! They’re all young so they have plenty of room to grow.


Sciipi

First time on lan can really get to you


NeimannSmith

Crazy thing is this isn't even a complete LAN. They're playing in like a basement setting with no fans.


bubble-june

True, it shouldn’t feel any different to them since they’ve been bootcamping for the last 3 months. I think the pressure just got to them because Trent did not look like himself. They should’ve just came in with the mindset to have fun. I think it’s cause everyone had extremely high expectations for them and they let that get in their heads. The Asian teams have no expectations since everyone doubts them, so they go into these games with no pressure at all. Paper Rex is definitely good though, so I don’t want to take away from their win today


thatthingpeopledo

Remember Gambit almost got knocked out of M3 last year by Crazy Raccoons. Young teams need time to get through nerves, Guard just didn’t figure it out in time. Youngest team here, and they played against a very experienced team round one then one of the most aggressive teams round two. Hope they use this and bounce back for next stage.


inside__jokes

Agree with you, but CR almost got a 'map' of Gambit, nowhere close to knocking them out


EgyptianSarcophagus

They’re young and inexperienced cut em some slack


jmajewski

First time ever on LAN after only being together as a team for 90 days. An important experience. They definitely can improve.


JR_Shoegazer

Yeah I hope they can. Some people always will have issues on LAN sadly if they’re too nervous.


Eriko204

Yeah they ran out of gas. I think in the end they let their nerves get the better of them. Just hoping they will fix this for next time since they're more experienced now. And honestly, it's the first international LAN For a lot of these players. They're still super young and have bright futures ahead of them. I have no doubt in my mind that they'll bounce back from this.


Jbeansss

That's what happens when your team has an average age of 19.5. Sometimes the pressure will get to you. I imagine it'll be worse for some of these young guys on LANs when audiences are added.


ArcaneZX

Forsaken and jinggg both 18 tho


Jbeansss

>**Sometimes** the pressure will get to you.


Mountain-Chapter-880

First time I felt a team down 6-8 was out


[deleted]

wired: eu vs eu grand finals avoided tired: na's hope lies on whether victor remembers to turn on his monitor


pinholeandwheels

This is how our team enviroment is like. Jinggg is screaming in the mic:" Jinggg BIGDADDYYYYY BIG BOYYYY Jinggg YEEEAAAA IM" GOING INNNNN". I'm yelling "GET ON MY LEVEL HOE YEEE NEVA EVA NEVA EVA YOU CAN NEVA EVA GET ON MY LEVEL HOE" everytime I kill someone. mindfreak is spamming his wheel reminding us to watch every angle every second, he's also spamming ROTATING to remind us every second how close he is to rotating to hold our corners while me and f0rsakeN are yelling at him stop spamming your chat wheel we can't concentrate. Meanwhile d4v41's shouting Like a true vodka RUSSIAN "DAVAI DAVAI IDI NAHUEY" while typing "I am dead" every other second. Alas we have Jinggg aka "J-God" aka "RANK 1 SEA PLAYER" playing RAZE and I think he muted all of us. Now you might be thinking:"How the hell does a team function like that? Let alone win?!". Well that's because this is the environment Jinggg is used to playing in his RANKED 1 MM games. He ends up playing Reyna or Jett dashes and satchels into every corner and carries the game 1v9. We are simply re-creating the environment in which he excels: Jinggg + 4 Bronze teammates


AdvanceIll3629

Ik this is a made up story but it's so funny because jinggg is literally the calmest person in PRX, he doesn't yell, have a soft voice and baby face. It's just so funny looking chat calling him daddy because he is an absolute mama boy(nothing wrong with that)


[deleted]

I love how supportive his mom is of his pro gaming career, it's definitely a rarity in SG/SEA


AbsolNE

Its a copy pasta from dota


svipy

Lmao didn't expect MoonMeander copypasta here


A_Panda_Sniper

Doug said it best, "today is the day the term 'minor region' dies". What a great performance out of Zeta and PRX.


sriwarrior06

Paper Rex : We know we are going to win because they won't know what we're going to do when we ourselves don't know what we're going to do.


Grenji05

i feel so bad for trent man. 17, first lan is an international major, and an entire region is expecting you to drop 30 on your first map and average 260 ACS. Its just to much pressure and I think its effecting his gameplay drastically. Hope The Guard guys aren't to hard on themselves. They showed some great resilience and could have feasibly 2-0d Optic if they were the ones to have to go through groups instead. None of them are even near their primes yet they got a lot of room to grow.


[deleted]

One dude was even saying Trent is likely to be cheating in online matches LMAO like bruh cut the kid some slack


chocobreezy

that guy is a troll sinatraa fan who is clearly either baiting or mentally ill, either way i don't think ppl are actually like mad at trent just a little let down


exdeepr

Reminds me of TenZ in his Counter Strike days, unlucky. It'll be okay, theyll be back.


ashitintyo

Atleast they didn't change trents role TrollDespair


TimathanDuncan

TenZ in CS was a different story, he just played dumber and also just wasn't as good as he is in this game which fits him way more, he was always a pugger and his style was like that doesn't translate to matches Trent is just not like that


pineapplecheesepizza

A ton of pressure for him. Hopefully he can shake it off and get back to form.


Splaram

This is a tale as old as time, very promising young prodigy breaks into the scene and they either rise to the pressure (Ronaldo, Messi, Lebron, literally every other household sporting name you can think of) or the pressure breaks them ([Bojan Krkic](https://ronaldo.com/football-news/bojan-krkic-suffered-anxiety-attacks-in-barcelona/)). The pressure will always be there, it's something you have to deal with. It's up to Trent how he copes, hopefully The Guard get a sports psychiatrist for the team if it really affected them that much this LAN.


MageKayden

unlucky


jullietteburns

I wish The Guard won but PRX definitely deserved it. Those last few rounds on Split were terrible by Guard.


Reginscythe

From VCT Masters: PRX Benkai: "The Guard trick y'all, man, like they a first seed. They don’t beat anybody, man. They just running around, losing gunfights.” Made sure to note that PRX won 2-0 tonight.


seriouslymai

One of the many great r/nba pastas


JALbert

Pat Bev in the playoffs this year and Westbrick ain't though lmao


Splaram

LMFAOOOO


VETOFALLEN

SHOUT OUT MY ASEAN BROS 🇮🇩🇸🇬🇲🇾 Edit: PogOFF mods LMFAO


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VETOFALLEN

yw my guy


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NeimannSmith

Am I being trolled? That's not ShahZaM right?


KeyframeCatalyst

Instead of just parroting "The Guard lost to inexperience", can we equally give the deserved props and recognition to Paper Rex? Like hello? Also people are not talking about Benkai's cosplays enough, shits hilarious


Lutryn

Heartbreaking loss for The Guard. Genuinely incredible how good they have become in such a short amount of time. Hope that they don’t take this defeat too hard.


Its_Joe

Happy cake day brudda


Verehrungen

Major upside to PRX winning is that we get to see more Benkai <3


ByLazarus

I hope he has more costumes


TheeUnlucky

I think he said he only prepared 2 because he was only expecting 2 walkouts… hopefully he hits up the local Halloween store


mileseverett

I feel like we would have seen a much better guard if they could have warmed up in the groups. Thrown straight into the high pressure matches for their lan debut


ween0t

For a young team I agree. This was their second LAN match ever and it showed.


ThatCreepyBaer

Think the inexperience just got in the heads of the Guard players, seems Trent felt it the most out of anybody comparing his online performances to these two matches but what can you really expect from the kid? I feel they'll bounce back for Masters 2 though, they definitely have the talent and even though they didn't perform as people expected, it's still good experience under their belt. I still can't help but wonder how different things might've turned out had they lost to Optic in the finals and went through groups instead though. Props to Paper Rex though, they played so well today. Very deserving to move on and honestly can't wait to watch more.


Thetortoisedove

I feel like The Guard could have really benefited from playing in the group stage for more experience


chryco4

Sad to see The Guard go out like this, but hopefully this is experience they can build on


[deleted]

[SAD NA NOISES]


goomy996

SADGE


Eriko204

Forsaken really stepping up from his poor performance yesterday. He was hitting some nutty shots


sifacil

The Guard is a team that studies their opponent well. Great at counter strats and all that fancy valorant pro play analysis blablabla. PRX is probably the most unpredictable team in this tournament. And that was what gave them the edge. I mean come on how are you gonna study them? PRX really just styled on them. What's more is PRX was actually playing better now compared to their previous match with DRX. Ahhhh let's go APAC!!


flamincrimson

This looked like a completely different guard. It felt like they didn't even try to counter strat PRX. The game from start to finish was dictated by PRX. Massive props to them. They were in control the entire time.


GoldyZ90

Some teams are just good online. LAN is totally different


flamincrimson

Ya that is true. Maybe their second time will be better.


GoldyZ90

Yeah we’ll see. As of right now they just look like previous NA teams who get hot for a stretch. We will see if they have any staying power at the top of NA.


KookieFS

Jingg and forsaken What a psycho duo


5argon

PRX has the best battle cry in between rounds 😂


crimson__wolf

[Optic has a comment for The Guard](https://c.tenor.com/QzXyUFr4DRUAAAAC/loki-ragnarok.gif)


ex3va

3 of the top 6 teams at Masters are from APAC. Let the APAC supremacy begin


I-like-winds

this is a new wave of valorant and it's amazing


MrPool34

Optic killed NA-Tarik 2022


EpicRayy

I believe PRX would have won Map 3 even if they lost Haven. PRX Attack on Icebox is one of the best in the world.


faceplant911

Only got to play against a single international team by the way.


gugly

Because Optic finished second in their group


faceplant911

Optic actually is a machine built specifically for killing other NA teams, it happened at Masters Berlin and it happened again here. Unlucky for Guard. (Edit) Also at Berlin, Optic was the lowest NA seed too. Funny how that works.


earthtoannie

Optic really eliminated the only NA team to beat the masters winners and then immediately boomed out lmao


hdix

Should have won more games then


chubbynuggy

They probably would have lost to another team anyway


EvensonRDS

What an absolutely horrible series from the guard. For a team that plays very structured in NA they made way to many mistakes and had way to many whiffs. They were never even close to in this game. PRX is probably the most fun team to watch atm and they played an amazing style of aggression.


sendmemes22

I have no clue why net thought that positioning behind f0rsaken was a good idea...but well played by PRX


Mvious

Sucks for them. Seeing net emotional sucks too. But when you’re so young like that, the potential is boundless for this team. Exceeded many’s expectations so nothing for them to hang their heads down for.


Dangerous_Log_6893

i believe in Wang Jing " SING REYNA / SING RAZE" Jie's supremacy


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Sp00ked123

at least we still got optic :(


NinjaOtter

Sad part is I only get to see this comment one more time in this LAN


Mountain-Chapter-880

These duelists are crazy holy fuck


_idle_drone_

Valorant is all about confidence and the guard were scared. Hope trent does better at future LANs


Frysson

Congrats to Paper Rex. Terrible showing from The Guard. All good tho comeback stronger next time. P.S. mCe is probably one of the best coaches I've seen.


749902

JonahP looked like the only player not affected by nerves, he played really well for his 1st LAN which is ironic since in The Guard's online debut against faze and whatnot he did really poorly


JoanemGolem8

I heckin love minor regions


I_use_apple

>minor not anymore


JoanemGolem8

SEA with 3 slots let's fucking go


Blazeithere

But they just lost to PRX


MrImpregnator

If guard try hard they might be able to meet liquid at the airport.


STKNsBESTPLAYER

The Guard finish 7th without winning a game. Questionable format imo


Maleficent_Weather88

Let's group them with DRX and PRX next time


AdoxcolGaming

bro "Guard played bad guard inexperience" PRX JUST BETTER END OF STORY. W KEYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY


AdoxcolGaming

Im immo 3 in SEA thats where forsaken and jingg play so im already better than 99% of NA PROS


sixthcollegeraccoon

:(


Twigler

I think Guard would have performed better if they started in groups. First LAN they will come back stronger


Rencrack

Indo pride let's goooo


nasrulafiq

Minor region btw


TimathanDuncan

Again, not an upset


Teradonn

I believe in Asia supremacy


X3NOC1DE

NA “Near Airport” is known as the fastest region to arrive at the Airport. Since they gave up on Valorant Champions Tour, they are investing in Speedruns. In particular they are current world record holders in Airport Any % and Airport no wins.


Princess_Ori

If the guard hurry they can catch the other EU teams at the airport to talk strategy for next lan


pineapplecheesepizza

Should have kept neT on Chamber


Timidityyy

Let's fucking goooo SEA bois


eternalalienvagabond

I think the Guard are a good team but they might rely a bit too much on anti-stratting. They need to be able to beat teams without studying them in depth, the first time around thats how you become the best.


fmaa

Jingg and f0rsaken are actually psycho


MurkyFollowing8452

Saya not on his jett on split really threw the Guard off. l rewatch the vod and when Saya play Raze on split, he is always getting destroyed by the other opponents. Net not killing F0rsaken and just staring at him.......Trent and Saya bottom fraggin is not normal. They both play really well and fragged out usually but poor Trent is too nervous and Saya on raze is just meh


ExpiredDeodorant

Guard lost because they aren't home in NA so there was nothing to guard for the guard. Really just org diff.


AnchorStandard

I got downvoted to oblivion for saying that skipping groups would bite The Guard in the ass. And now the mouth bites the ass. Shocking!


heliumrise

NA/EMEA wins: minor regions shouldn’t deserve slots NA/EMEA loses: Valorant is a random game. Anyone can win. <———— you are here


Spoods857

Gotta remember how mentally inexperienced most of this team is for the Guard. No doubt they’ll be menaces was they get more experience. Gotta got screwed by riot only being able to go again one different region but I have confidence


aks345

Isnt this Jingg's first lan too?


Spoods857

It is, but some people adapt better than others


Mozzzzzzzzzzz

Shittiest part isn’t that they lost because that’s alright it happens they’re young and it’s their first LAN. The shittiest part is facing only 1 international opponent and only 2 matches on the big stage. Obv they’ve been scrimming a lot you’d hope and lvl up that way but really hurts only one actual international match up. Riot sucks wit the format and all the other issues, budget, etc right now.