Ranking Every Team at Challengers
Tier 5: Cooked
- WWL Esports - Welllll..... at least they're not playing SK and Revenant...
Tier 4: Slightly Less Cooked
Daycare Zero - Killer to worlds as a player? Expect similar to SA West at Brawl Cup, 1 set if they're lucky.
0 Ping Merchants - They have lan experience as members of Upcore... experience losing in groups...
Tier 3: Solid Teams
Skepsis Gaming - Lucas and Saint have little bsc accomplishments and Biso has been retired all year but if they take it serious and prep they could be decent considering they are from EMEA.
Amnesia Esports - This pains me as a NA fan but they're probably the 7th best team in NA behind Legacy and Homeless, they all have lan experience so maybe they can surprise some people, brutal group though.
PWD - They honestly could be higher, Pekka is one of the only SA players to do anything on lan and the teams at challengers are lower level then he's used to facing. Their struggles in SA during the regular season scare me though.
Madrid/TLF - This is basically Xperion Nxt from last lcq but with Mine instead of Arthur and that just doesn't excite me. I don't have the highest expectations for Amos and Rup and neither have been on a strong competing bsc team this year. They could do better then this though bc of Mine carry and being from EMEA.
Tier 2: Strong Teams
Reject - A lot of people will say this is to low, but honestly I think it might be to high. Reject lost in groups at worlds last year and then has been significantly worse this year with Battoman gone. They seem allergic to playing tanks and aggros which pigeon holes them in draft, Shu also looks much worse this year which is weird bc I considered him a top 5 player in EA less then 2 years ago.
Fut Academy - This might be my favorite "sleeper" team for challengers. They have been somewhat consistent in the best region and have been playing on 40+ ping all year. Now that ping is standardized at lan that could give them a boost. They also have home field advantage being from Turkey, for whatever that's worth. My concern is none of them have lan experience which could be a problem if their skills don't translate well to lan.
BIG Challengers - They've been strong in bsc all year in Emea, almost getting a lcq spot but I think the main roster is better then this challengers roster. The early scrims results were only okay and Unlucky hasn't been playing competitive basically all year. I think they are strong but I could see the argument for being lower.
SK Gaming - If this was based on how good the teams have done online this year, SK would be lower. This is a ranking on how strong/scary they will be AT challengers and SK still have good potential. They ooze lan experience, Yoshi and OPE are the 2nd and 3rd best mechanical players at the event, and they still have time to jell. Most importantly, they have been scrimming non stop unlike some other teams, and they know this is their last chance.
Tier 1: Revenant XSpark
- Revenant XSpark - This event is about if anyone can knock Sergeant off and take the lcq spot for themselves. Sergeant is so far and away the best player at this event it's not even funny, they upgraded by adding X9Jay back instead of Hiroshi, and SuperWalk is no longer a lan rookie. They took a game from CR at brawl cup, a set from Tribe, and washed Eternal while Hiroshii was actively throwing. That's not even mentioning they made semis at worlds last year. Their draft is also quite solid. I could see ways they lose, namely Sergeant's teammates not keeping up or SK looking like old SK, but at the moment they have to be the team to beat.
Lemme know where you agree and disagree, and if you want me to do a ranking of the individual players!