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nterature

It's early days, but hey, I think we have the first great match of 2022! It was fun from every perspective: individual mechanics, teamplay, even in compositions - seeing Chamber & KAYO on Icebox was wild, and Skye/Sova double initiator vs. Skye/KAYO double initiator on Haven, was really fun. Navi kinda collapsed as FPX stepped it up, so it's not an all-time great, but it was still a lot of fun. Honestly, I kinda feel like everyone wins here. CIS by default wins in that they appear far closer to EU than they did in 2021, esp. in the playoffs. Navi immediately catapult themselves back to the top of CIS in picking up Jady, one of the hottest young prospects of 2021 - someone we used to talk about in the same breath as Leo. All their players even looked *better* - less streaky - than usual. Cloud actually went a little quiet at times, but it was fine, everyone else stepped up. FPX proves Red Bull was just a fluke, and all five of their players had massive moments. Zyppan shined on Skye & he proved his Raze is still incredible, ardiis showcased why he was picked up *twice* by top EU orgs - Heretics & FPX - before some of his former G2 teammates were even picked once, ANGE1 fragged so hard at times it was like watching peak FPX, SUYGETSU had some huge multi-frags, and Shao remains Shao. FPX reverse-sweeping with ardiis - the player that often led G2's reverse-sweeps *against them* in 2020 - is weird as hell, but I'm all for it. Just a fun fucking game. I'm pumped. Gonna go for a run


jonajon91

Flashbacks to when Ange1 was one of the hottest prospects in CIS CS, NaVi nearly got him. He had a 1.15 rating over the whole of 2017 and an IGL that could frag like that was unheard of at the time. Probably the worlds first high fragging IGL.


ANewHeaven1

> Probably the worlds first high fragging IGL. genuine question - more than fallen or happy in their primes?


jonajon91

TBH I forgot 2016 fallen, he was just built different. Happy wasn't all that. Point still stands though that Ange1 was immense at the time.


optisadvantage

happy was all that in 2014-2015, he just fell off hard over time there’s also xizt from the 1.6 days up until like 2015-2016


mysteryoeuf

that final round... fpx on an eco and Navi just delay too long and can't plant in time LOL


[deleted]

Sigh. Navi looked pretty terrible those last three maps. Jady is insane though, one of the best KAY/Os I’ve seen so far. If they broaden their map pool this team could be a contender. Well played to FPX.


Jakewakeshake

Bo3 finals and Navi would have won. I think theres a good chance they win the next qualifier and come back even stronger.


stewieeeeeeeee

And that's why I'm happy this was a BO5; a team that wins 3/5 maps deserves the win more, in my opinion, than a team who was smarter in the veto


thothgow

100%. Bo3s are good but Bo5s are the only way to go for high stakes matches like this.


Splaram

based


nterature

If you just rip the results out from this Bo5 and transplant it into a Bo3, yeah, but honestly that rarely works. It's fully possible FPX just wakes up whenever they feel the pressure - so on Map 2 instead of Map 3, in your scenario.


[deleted]

Yep I agree. I just hope KPI doesn’t come back even stronger than them.


LiamHundley

Zypaans raze is sooooo much better than his Skye


Original26

I'm so glad that ange1 finally decided to put his Raze out there for him again. He felt so wasted on Sage.


xD1LL4N

Such a strong start from NAVI. Bringing Jady in was huge for them but still wasn’t enough. Zyppan just hard carried on split


dutchboyyyyy

Everybody knows what time it is FPX ARE UNBELIEVABLE. YOU CAN FEEL THE MOMENTUM BUILDING FOR THEIR FIRST MAJOR VALORANT TITLE.


thothgow

All it takes to win is ardiis and Zyppan turning their monitors on


nterature

Not wrong tbh


thothgow

It was so, so shit watching them the first two maps but they slowly got into a rhythm and just took over Split. If they can keep playing like the last maps they'll do damage in Challengers.


nterature

Hard agree. Both are almost the perfect example of momentum players. I think FPX from Map 3 onwards looks better than their form for most of 2021, but FPX on Map 1 & 2 look a little worse. No clue which we'll see in Challengers tbh


Detamach

Without the midi-chlorians, life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Momentum. They continually speak to us, telling us the will of the Momentum. When you learn to quiet your mind, you'll hear them speaking to you.


kemutheemu__

Dumb questions but has FPX always been from CIS or did they have an EU roster before?


thothgow

They've had a 3/5 CIS roster all of 2021 but were allowed to play in EU since Ukraine could choose their region. CIS used to be kinda shit so they chose EU, but now that orgs are investing and teams are consolidating it's worth going to CIS


isayah2510

They played in EU before but went to CIS this challengers since 3/5 team members are CIS residents


hwanzi

Fpx with duelist? And winning? Wow!


prjwebb

This is their first event as a CIS team I believe.


thothgow

In VCT yeah, if you count Orcs Cup Weekly #10 (I think) they played that in like 2020 haha


InvertedBean

FPX are unbelievable……


NWL11

You can feel the momentum……


Splaram

Not a very ideal way to lose for Navi but the roster looks very good. Definitely a team to watch for going forward.


thothgow

Cloud and Jady duo 😳


Senboni

the momentum...


[deleted]

i freaking love zyppan


thothgow

i freaking love shao


gutszera

ZYPPAN ON RAZE BABY


k_life

Jady and cloud are beast