Official (undisputable) Pearl Callouts #VALORANT

Almost everyone says they have good comms. Most players do not. “Well I’m comming the info quickly” Comming information you see and hear is the absolute bare minimum. What makes up the difference is a constant attempt to coordinate your teamplay. Examples of good comms:

.@DerrekOW You've made my dad a fanboy with that series. 🙃

Paper Rex is making a case for a completely different way of thinking about Valorant. I spent a lot of time watching them for this event, and some things I noticed is that they rarely run a consistent default or set of utility with the intention of getting some area of the map.

Of course that's your contention. You're a first year val twitter analyst. You just finished watching Thinking Man's Valorant bind gekko video and are convinced refreshable utility is the most important aspect of taking map control. You're gonna be convinced of that until

Chamber only good now on Ascent, Haven. Much worse on Fracture and Icebox and Bind. Borderline useless on Pearl, Breeze. #VCT

Coach slot can see deadlock's sound trip way outside of the range players can right now. Help Sewers.

Alright, you know the deal, giveaway time. -follow @DanimalVal -Like and RT -tag a friend Winner announced 12/1 #VALORANT #VALORANTChampions #Giveaway

As the NA scrimmage scene is currently in an extreme drought, are there any homies who want to warm up XSET Purple before Main Event starts tomorrow? 3 EST block.

Accused of cheating by the brazilians at like 16

One of the most unexpected things about working with @QueenBobsta is that she doesn't swear often and instead replaces it with frog, as in "we really frogged up here." Why? She likes frogs.

Nice 5 lane map with clear macro you got there…would be a shame if someone… added a tiny lane from spawn to spawn you have to hold every round or you die :)

“Takeback smoke and dog main so I can get the deep line and you can rotate off” “Scale right, I’m peeking rafters in 321” “Let’s double wine, I’ll tp away and bait for you” “The last 3 rounds they eye’d A lobby it meant retake A.” “I have contact, flash over boat on my shot.”

Who is the most complete player in Tier1 Valorant currently? Components being things like mechanics, positioning, midrounding, team-play, game knowledge, team vibes, awareness, confidence, mental resilience, etc. Who is the 99 overall of our community?

Riot has made Immortal 3 a requirement for Challengers Qual starting next year with the Premier changes. Many scrim-only, ranked haters are going to have to suffer the Ranked Experience to achieve their competitive aspirations. Will this meaningfully affect the ratio of mental timebombs vs normal-ish people in high elo?

LFT! XSET and SQ HC previously, as well as working with XSET Co-ed team during Copenhagen and Champs 2022. Confident in my ability as a head coach. Also open to assisting roles, as well as mental coaching for the right team. I’ve grown tremendously this year as a coach and I can’t wait to show what I can bring to your team. Clinical Psychologist Coaching for 2.5 years Bald Open to working in other regions. Vouches/RTs appreciated 🙏

One thing I wish I could tell every player trialing for a team is to stop playing with a fill mentality. When you enter a new team environment, players and especially coaches aren’t impressed by a flexible, inoffensive puzzle piece. 1/x

The vast majority of players I’ve coached have exhibited traits that would make me comfortable diagnosing them with ADHD. Why is this? I believe VAL, and competitive games in general, select for a variety of ADHD traits - hyper-fixation, impulsivity, screen attraction, dopamine deficiency (the game gives you frequent dopamine triggers), the game even has a built-in fidget (quick-switching). One of the ways this manifests in the behaviors of high level teams is widespread Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria (RSD), a symptom heavily linked to ADHD. RSD is basically what it sounds like: An intense and particularly painful response to real or perceived(!) rejection. This can lead to people avoiding potential rejection at all costs. When no one can handle rejection, people don’t bring up topics that will lead to conflict, allowing it to fester until the only way out is to kick someone. Everyone who competes has been on the team where everyone is walking on egg shells trying to avoid conflict. I’ve been there often. I’ve even been the coach who doesn’t understand that it’s my job to force that conflict out into the open. I’ve also been kicked off teams because people wouldn’t have the conflict until the team dynamic was unsalvageable. Don’t make the same mistake as me. Have it out! You cannot improve as a team without bringing conflicts to the surface and then resolving them. Be brave! Learn to withstand the potential rejection, build trust in each other, keep growing and addressing problems together as they appear, otherwise you’ll never find your potential as a player (or coach). If you feel rejected in a discussion, notice that feeling and interrogate it; are you being rejected in reality? Is this a difference of opinion between teammates? A rejection of a specific play you made or is it a rejection of you as a person? Wade into the discomfort and recognize the difference. Sometimes just being aware of this component of your own feelings can be enough to dampen them. As a coach, you need to recognize this tendency in your players and at times provide guardrails on the discussion to help people recognize when a conflict is not aimed at a person but instead at a problematic interaction between people or at a gameplay issue. Addendum: it has become fashionable to assert that ADHD is at least over-diagnosed and at most a fake disease used to justify poor habits. If you believe this, you are scientifically illiterate, stop watching ice bath discipline videos and read the studies. ADHD brains literally look different than neurotypical ones.

GC players: I want VODs from anyone who thinks they’re capable of competing at the top level. I need a grinder with an open schedule who takes their improvement seriously. You are going to have to work harder than you’ve ever worked before.

Some thoughts I’d like to share with the GC community: It’s counterproductive to spend time damning people who dare to live outside the binary, in a space that is meant to be safe for them to do so. The concept of “proving” your genderlessness not only defeats the purpose of existing outside the binary, but it plays into the same structural barriers that have harmed genderqueer folks for generations. This is such a delicate line to walk that it absolutely needs to be left to the already established authorities in GC. This entire argument is incredibly online and reeks of a lack of perspective on gender and queer history. If you are part of the witch hunt that requires a potential player to prove themselves to you as non-binary enough, as trans enough, I implore you to picture yourself doing that to someone’s face. If you deem yourself as knowledgeable enough to know someone else’s gender better than they do, I implore you to dive deeper into queer history. Find queer community - in real life, not just on the internet. We cannot let ourselves become a hateful, exclusive online community that upholds the gender binary. Furthermore, if you deem every new player who joins the community automatically a threat to its integrity, interrogate that a bit further. Is it simply because they’re unfamiliar to you? Many of the people who were similarly whispered about when they first started playing in GC are regular competitors who I don’t hear anything about anymore. Keenc, Powerpixele, Rayse, Nathn, unstable, superkat, starbound, evv, miku. Every single one of these players were at some point under scrutiny from the community about their intentions and values. And now, many of those players are longstanding members of the community who have been integrated socially and competitively. If every new, good, non-cis player is a such a threat that you need to trash their reputation with speculative tweets and DM’s, perhaps you need to raise your aspirations. This is supposed to be a safe space for people for marginalized people, many of whom have only come out to their friends online, to be themselves, and to express their potential through competing and improving. All that has been accomplished from this situation is that a non-binary person’s fear of retaliation for coming out have been confirmed. What message does that send to other closeted folks? As a community, we must do better. To speak to this specific situation - I’ve known @ItsS0to for about 18 months. They’ve always impressed me as someone who stuck up for what was right within conversations about marginalized people, in a way that is very rare among the players I’ve interacted with throughout my career. It did not surprise me then to learn that they had been questioning their gender for a while. It’s frustrating to see so many people project bad intentions onto a person they did not know or care to find out more about. As for Cookie, they were verified by Anykey. We spoke to many people that said they had concerns but who, when pressed for actual evidence, were unable to show substantive proof that Cookie was not who they said they were. Much the same as any of the players listed above in months and years past. We chose to trust in Anykey as the established authority on the subject when we began the process of picking them up. They were subsequently reverified by Anykey, and when Anykey revoked their verification, we immediately paused playing with Cookie in preparation for GC2. For those of you who may doubt my intentions or values expressed in the selection of players for trial and spots on the roster (a process for which everyone currently on the roster was consulted at every step), know that I have been trained as a gender-affirmative therapist, and I have been an out member of the queer community for longer than many of you have been alive. This subject is important to me not just in the context of GC, but in the context of relationships in my real life whom I love dearly, and the larger context of the protection of marginalized people and dismantling of systems of oppression.

Generating ideas and coordinating the team throughout every round are absolutely key. If you’re doing it consistently, you will continually get the jump on them and they will be forced to play reactive to your pace.

It’s much looser, everyone has the keys to take fights completely dry, everyone on the team is elite at thriving in chaotic emergent situations. This isn’t to say they don’t have set plays, they have some incredibly cool execs and cheese plays.

You got that from Drewspark's discord, #theory-crafting, I read that too. Do you have any thoughts of your own or are you just gonna plagiarize that too?

They’re very happy to be put in a situation they’ve never been before because they trust they can adapt faster than anyone else.

next month when you realize a cypher cam can see over viper wall short, and you're gonna be obsessively watching dasnerth vods for tech. Then you're gonna be in discord regurgitating Weltis, talking about, you know, the importance of EV and data-based coaching systems

I see so many players (especially in GC) who seldom make these kinds of comms, and some make no attempt to at all. There are a thousand aimers. Distinguish yourself from the rest with consistent and inventive calls.

Qualified for Challengers coaching The Glazers. I can't thank this team enough for buying into my system these last 3 months. So much dedication, so many hours having the hard conversations, egos put aside, personal growth, player growth, all coming together. Couldn't ask for a better team. :')

Beyond excited to be working with this team and this org! It's already been a pleasure to work with so many like-minded people. Let's get to work!

By my count, this leaves three professional salaried orgs in NA GC.

Surely not suspending the coach for a grand finals match. Still time to edit this one.

Coaches are allowed to post 4Ks, the standards are not as high.

However, they don’t seem to think in the conventional tac fps fashion about limiting possible futures to ones you have seen before by creating consistent defaults and protocols out of those defaults.

0-2 Misfits, GG. All players disconnecting nearly every round, no ability to tech because it will not get any better. Never seen a player disconnect in the middle of a molly before. Beach internet is truly diff.

-"drastically underestimated the role of playbook development and context for data use in a game with as many confounding variables as VALORANT"

-well as a matter of fact, I won't because Weltis drastically underestimated the role of playbook development-

Huge vouch for the GOAT. Deeply knowledgeable, intuitive, versatile, created the blueprint for a well-rounded coach. Crazy to see him up for grabs.

Ascendent/low immortal Reyna players are the most convincing argument for a nationalized free mental healthcare system. Truly the most miserable people any of us know.

I’m talking about pro and aspiring pro play btw, ranked is an asylum run by the patients where you can get to radiant while no-comm running it down every game if your aim is good enough.

If you find yourself struggling with awareness as a player, here's a method of targeting the skill directly: - Take a VOD of your own, ideally from scrims/matches and pause every time something happens (new info, new util, new call from teammate)

Who the hell is this team jiliboo? Seed 212 to top 16 is an incredible run and I've never heard of any of them before. Has there ever been as improbable a run as this based on seeding?

With most of Ex-Serenity pursuing trials, I am LFT. -Prev. Ex-Serenity, Kowareta -Qualified therapist w/ emphasis on group psychology. -200 RR Immortal soloQ. -Old and Bald so you get the real coach experience. Looking for opportunities as a Head Coach, Mental Coach or Analyst.

You’re close, you’re understanding that media is telling you a very specific story that obscures the complexity of what’s actually happening around us, but right now you think that it’s specifically to cover up conservative culture war messaging when in reality you are just hooked up to the same kind of algorithmic messaging machine telling a different story about who the boogeymen are and what they want to take from you. The real enemy is the uber-rich whose unending greed makes all of our lives worse, not trans people or climate scientists or “DEI” anyone else in a similar class to you who are struggling to live and get by.

Completely unbiased and straight from the heart, can't wait to be proven wrong

Hey everyone, let’s start scrimming Sunset! Why wait for the meta to become clear and then follow it like sheeple? Are you afraid of bad scrim results? Be Bold, Invent, Experiment, Show me some Cringe. Our pracc requests are open😌

Thankful for every person who's helped me get here and for the opportunity to be the best I can be.

Bit odd to claim Drewspark's not "purely data-driven," no? You ever actually see his work?

A ton of players I’ve worked with over the years suffered from one major problem that prevented them from ever realizing their potential: Ironic distance. Undercutting sincerity or genuine criticism with a joke, never being able to take things fully seriously, saying Its Not That Deep, Bro. It’s a defense mechanism against having to give your dreams and ambitions the weight they deserve, and then accepting the potential for failure inherent to them. The emotional logic is: If you never really gave it your all, then it doesn’t matter that you didn’t accomplish what you wanted to. However, if you really want it, you have to step outside of that defense; be sincere, take yourself and your improvement seriously, and expose yourself to potential rejection, discomfort, and hurt. The few players I’ve seen brave enough to make this jump have seen massive improvements in short time-spans. Don’t finish competing with regrets. Kill the part of you that cringes.

There are so many people in this scene who have an incredible mind for the game and would be accomplishing their goals if they had just a bit more awareness of how to talk to people in a way that doesn't make those people feel small or stupid.

Introducing ~ Wingman Patrol ~ Roster for GC3 🔪:@bxnnybeee 💪:@ItsS0TO 🎮:@riseeFPS 🏹:@avwwy 📸:@starriebun ⌚️:@DanimalVal & @_vexel

Excited to show you what we’ve been cooking up 😈

Appreciated my time with Soniqs! Nothing but love for the team. I will be pursuing other opportunities in the near future.

Yes the Guard are incredible but I would like to see them step outside the mickey mouse tourneys and win a Fullerton LAN.

2-1 @Complexity, when typing backfires.

I trust there's a good reason because this team's insane and they seem to have a great system going, but I'm trying to figure out who is even a clear upgrade. Thief's a great all-around player. When I watch a vod of him, I rarely see clear mistakes from this guy.

Yeah if you're fucking boring

Marved has seen the FNS double TP and go back A fake before

If anyone is looking to start going to therapy this year but doesn’t know how to go about navigating our terrible healthcare system, I am always happy to help anyone find a therapist that suits them. I’ve helped people find one that they like before and I promise you it’s worth.

(Extremely therapist-type-beat tweets incoming) I’ve noticed a pattern that it becomes harder not to take criticism personally for players who have not put up a significant barrier in their head between their perceived skill and their self-worth. This makes some sense;

Coach LFT. -T2 Experience. -Qualified therapist w/ emphasis on group psychology. -200 RR immortal soloQ. -Focused on developing players in-game and out. -Old and Bald so you get the real coach experience. Looking for opportunities as a mental coach or head coach. @HitBox_Hiros

For my money it’s NiSMO or eeiu

Player-run teams don’t get significantly better over time, they usually get worse.

2-0 @TSM, that one feels real good, GG. #reptheset

LOUD's stats are amazing but they become less impressive when you watch their games and see the rest of Brazil solo peeking mid with no util and generally playing the dumbest form of val you've ever seen.

Love getting all comps and playbooks set for challengers quals and feeling super in form just to get the meta swapped out from under us. What if we add another lane to Split too?? I’m sure tonkatrucktimmy08 was bored of the meta on that map as well!

Interesting that so much of the discourse about that NRG v LEV match focuses on NRG underperforming when LEV has been the most consistently excellent team in scrims of all the franchise teams vs us. Thought it was only a matter of time before they showed it in matches.

it is indisputably better, you are literally playing with a handicap without it

Show them what the team with your addition might look like in a month when you’ve already settled in and become comfortable enough to help steer the team’s direction. The complete player takes on good risks with confidence. The worst thing you can do is be unmemorable. 3/3

Looking for opportunities in all roles.

0-2 @MisfitsGG, GG, and we are out in top 6. Even though we didn’t get the result we wanted, Series III was a huge leap forward for us. I couldn’t ask for 5 more dedicated, coachable, and talented people than the ones I have on my team. #RepTheSet❌

This isn’t the time to make memes out of someone’s suffering. Be kind to people who are trying to make sense of themselves and the world around them. None of us are immune to confusion and disorder.

Incredibly dumb, power trip moment

Bring your ideas, recruit your teammates into the plays that facilitate your performance, be brave. Make your personality apparent. 2/x

Inclined to agree but no one except boaster is really talking during rounds in those comms videos

Triple

You're really on a mission today

#1 tool to improve at this game is self-vod. Most players do not self-vod their scrims after practice because it is tedious. The ones that do it get better the fastest. This should be done in addition to team VOD review.

Deeply unserious to add the Outlaw this close to the start of the season. So many games are decided by a swing round where both teams have to light armor 1-3 players to put a buy together and now those rounds will have the equivalent of 4-5 ops. Ecos are unconvertible. Just messy.

Doin this shit with my eyes closed fr 💯

Winning moment 🥲 @ex_Serenity

That’s crazy because I was just wondering how Knights used to play ascent

13-3 VersionX, ggs. Clean game from the team, lots of progress on display.

I want to thank @XSET for a stellar bootcamp experience at the Austin house. We would not have gone nearly as far if we weren’t able to rally together in-person. Feels great to represent an org that treats its people so well. #RepTheSet❌

Wyatt River is correct, @MoonRaccoonsgg is going to beat @Sentinels. I will not be justifying this prediction, other than to say that @Dark3stVal has plot armor thick enough to bounce off a thousand raze ults.

2-0 @version1gg, so proud of this team. We will outwork everyone.

Starting today, I am proud to announce that I will be offering professional couples counseling sessions for e-daters of the VALORANT community! I’m trained to help with many areas of difficulty such as baiting, duoing unrated with other people, and healthy comms. Schedule today!

2-0 @GenG, knew everything they were gonna do top to bottom, tbh. GG's.

Excited to show what we've been working on! Extremely hard-working group of players, a ton of talent, we've been cooking.

When casters point out a beautiful strat we came up with for this tournament:

I can no longer sustain the same level of time commitment for prep work and strat development that I have previously, as I now teach full-time. Come work with us.

2-0 @Complexity, GG. We've secured top 4 at minimum. We had a long discussion last night and we've finally got our vibes in the right spot and showing how we play in scrims. Max match XP finally paying off.

Remember when everyone meme’d BcJ for saying he and crashies were the best initiators in the world? Dude is the truth.

Helped the @dnadiff_ boys win NSG 7 while Soniqs is on break. Any team looking for an academy team, look no further. These kids are the truth. @JoBahh @NickIsNuts_ @1mehzy @Neon76VAL (what jett nerf?) @AikoKamu @MaRValorant

If you’re feeling trapped, and you don’t know how to deal with the problems that keep coming up, things get better if you have professional help. Reiterating that if you need help finding a therapist, I will send you a list to choose from that matches what you’re looking for.

Won Fighters Cup 9k with KrispyKreme, another tourney win, getting into form for challengers. 9 Maps in a day wow. 2-0 @SadEsportsOrg 2-1 @turtletroopsval 1-0 @ZeroMarksMen 1-0 @ScrewFaceVAL and co.

Made my team meditate today and first thing I get sent after scrims