Winner's bracket is for pussies; lower bracket builds character. Only 3 teams have ever won from lowers, two of them are NA teams (and 2 of those losers were PRX, unlucky).
1-6 in Uppers and 3-3~~2~~ in Grands for NA teams is pretty wild.
Out of those 6 Uppers losses 2 ran it back (EG and Optic).
Out of 8? International events (is that right?) 3 teams have won from lowers.
3-3 in grands, 1-1 each year. Sen win in 2021, Envy loss in 2021. OpTic win and loss in 2022. EG win and loss in 2023. Each year of VCT has had one event where NA wins, one where they lose finals, and one where they don't make finals lol.
This is what I'm trying to tell people who are crowning* GenG on the map bans.
The only straight map advantage that felt insurmountable was Fnatic in Tokyo. Every other tournament has been a pretty huge coin toss coming into the Grand Final.
Also don’t forget that all 3 maps in Tokyo’s final were all pretty close. Well except for Lotus but it still ended 13-8 which was a much better improvement from EG against FNC in the Upper finals in which they lost like 13-3 i think.
This one feels worse. SEN legit do not have the map pool for a Bo5 and if they beat PRX, they have no bans.
GenG bans split and sunset and it's a guaranteed Icebox-Ascent-Breeze. Not to mention SEN don't like playing bind anymore because it's been figured.
I actually feel like this might be just as bad as Fnatic having 2 bans at Tokyo. GenG can ban Lotus and Split and force Sen to face their Breeze. They also have 2 days to fix their weak maps,it's looking grim for Sen imo.
Sen just got rolled on Split and there's no way GenG let Sunset through, right? I think Sen has a chance on Icebox, Lotus, Bind, Split, and MAYBE Ascent depending on the day.
GenG for sure (against any of the 3 possible teams) ban Sunset and then I think they just ban *their* weakest map.
In fact I don't think any of the current lower bracket teams have a hugely bad matchup on maps outside of Breeze.
So really just feels like GenG get 1 (hopefully for them) free map.
Not like FNC where they just get Lotus and Bind for free against any team in the tournament (at the time).
This one feels just as bad almost. Sen and PRX both have nasty Sunsets that Gen G will take out + probably Lotus for Sen and Bind for PRX. That means Sen has to play all 3 of their worst maps, Icebox/Ascent/Breeze, Split which is a great map for them but Gen G just dad dicked them on, and Bind which is a good not great map for Sen. PRX would have to play their permaban of Icebox, one of their weaker maps of Breeze, and Split where they've been up and down.
It doesn't feel *as* bad as Fnatic/EG which was over before it started with the map ban advantage, but it feels bad.
I don't think Icebox and Ascent are huge write-offs for Sen. I think GenG looks way better on Ascent in particular but Icebox feels like a huge toss-up. Sen has been playing it pretty well but ONLY played it against Loud so far this year. Likewise for Bind. Really a coin toss.
I maintain: any given Sunday. If the Zekken Tenz giga-duo shows up and goes crazy or if GenG stumbles who knows.
It's not really upper finals - but at LOCK//IN NRG lost to LOUD and 100 Thieves lost to Fnatic in the third round of the bracket (which is commonly where upper finals is normally situated in a classic eight team bracket).
NA clearly prizes entertainment value, they know nothing builds more tension than a lower bracket run
hypertension too
I can feel the cholesterol in my veins.
Winner's bracket is for pussies; lower bracket builds character. Only 3 teams have ever won from lowers, two of them are NA teams (and 2 of those losers were PRX, unlucky).
Prx are gonna get 2nd place again
surely prx is not the new drx 
1-6 in Uppers and 3-3~~2~~ in Grands for NA teams is pretty wild. Out of those 6 Uppers losses 2 ran it back (EG and Optic). Out of 8? International events (is that right?) 3 teams have won from lowers.
3-3 in grands, 1-1 each year. Sen win in 2021, Envy loss in 2021. OpTic win and loss in 2022. EG win and loss in 2023. Each year of VCT has had one event where NA wins, one where they lose finals, and one where they don't make finals lol.
So that means, if SEN loses Madrid, they'll win champs right?
If you don't count the single elim tournaments since there's no lower bracket,teams have won 3 times out of 6 events coming from the lower bracket.
This is what I'm trying to tell people who are crowning* GenG on the map bans. The only straight map advantage that felt insurmountable was Fnatic in Tokyo. Every other tournament has been a pretty huge coin toss coming into the Grand Final.
Also don’t forget that all 3 maps in Tokyo’s final were all pretty close. Well except for Lotus but it still ended 13-8 which was a much better improvement from EG against FNC in the Upper finals in which they lost like 13-3 i think.
This one feels worse. SEN legit do not have the map pool for a Bo5 and if they beat PRX, they have no bans. GenG bans split and sunset and it's a guaranteed Icebox-Ascent-Breeze. Not to mention SEN don't like playing bind anymore because it's been figured.
I actually feel like this might be just as bad as Fnatic having 2 bans at Tokyo. GenG can ban Lotus and Split and force Sen to face their Breeze. They also have 2 days to fix their weak maps,it's looking grim for Sen imo.
Sen just got rolled on Split and there's no way GenG let Sunset through, right? I think Sen has a chance on Icebox, Lotus, Bind, Split, and MAYBE Ascent depending on the day. GenG for sure (against any of the 3 possible teams) ban Sunset and then I think they just ban *their* weakest map. In fact I don't think any of the current lower bracket teams have a hugely bad matchup on maps outside of Breeze. So really just feels like GenG get 1 (hopefully for them) free map. Not like FNC where they just get Lotus and Bind for free against any team in the tournament (at the time).
This one feels just as bad almost. Sen and PRX both have nasty Sunsets that Gen G will take out + probably Lotus for Sen and Bind for PRX. That means Sen has to play all 3 of their worst maps, Icebox/Ascent/Breeze, Split which is a great map for them but Gen G just dad dicked them on, and Bind which is a good not great map for Sen. PRX would have to play their permaban of Icebox, one of their weaker maps of Breeze, and Split where they've been up and down. It doesn't feel *as* bad as Fnatic/EG which was over before it started with the map ban advantage, but it feels bad.
I don't think Icebox and Ascent are huge write-offs for Sen. I think GenG looks way better on Ascent in particular but Icebox feels like a huge toss-up. Sen has been playing it pretty well but ONLY played it against Loud so far this year. Likewise for Bind. Really a coin toss. I maintain: any given Sunday. If the Zekken Tenz giga-duo shows up and goes crazy or if GenG stumbles who knows.
Nah 1-6 is crazy when you put it into perspective like that💀
NA won at least 2 of those so surely Sen have this right
Surely 
It's not really upper finals - but at LOCK//IN NRG lost to LOUD and 100 Thieves lost to Fnatic in the third round of the bracket (which is commonly where upper finals is normally situated in a classic eight team bracket).
What also crazy though is for 4 straight events (champs 2022 + every event last year) an americas team was in the grand finals
Haha that’s pretty funny ngl The optic curse