oh no

They aren't rumored, they're going to APAC, and Miraculous Youngster's "anti-dive" style is very easy to counter, and I don't think stomping mediocre and bad Chinese teams shows that you're top tier.

any RNG win would put Rogue into playoffs

I think Rogue is still in their golden age (they were stuck in Canada for most of Contenders, and once returning to Vegas, they looked alive vs Kungarna) but if they somehow beat EnVyUS, then I'd say they definitely still are.

I thought you meant as in 1v1s, like how well they perform compared to their counterparts. If you were talking about aKm trying to shut down SDB, then I agree with you.

I honestly hope all of those predictions actually happen. I want a really close FaZe-Rogue match with Rogue coming out on top and is also very possible

not really aKm vs SDB, because aKm is playing hitscan, not projectile. If aKm, NiCO, and uNKOE bring it back (akm and unkoe to the level they were playing against the 2 best teams in the world) they can definitely win, I want a close upset (Rogue 3-2 FaZe)

Rogue can upset them, but I think FaZe has the upper hand here. FaZe are the favorites to win 3-1 or 3-2 (4-0 is not expected from neither sides) but if Rogue can clutch it like they did against IMT and have done in the past, I reckon they can beat everyone in Contenders that they will face for the rest of their 7 games except for EnVy. Their best bet is EnVision crushing Kungarna (which before was pretty likely but since Fahzix won't probably be in it would be much more close). However, Rogue did bring out some new comps and did pretty well on the comp they ran on Lijiang (winston zarya but also rein zarya). My brain says FaZe 3-1 Rogue but my heart says Rogue 3-2 FaZe.

Yep. If they lose against RunAway, they can only beat Meta Athena, which would place them as 3rd.

Reinhardt is getting more and more viable, and Kaiser is the best Rein in the game. So if Kaiser is put in with Miro mostly playing Rein, I expect a 3-2 for either side. But I want this to be an amazing match, with WhoRU replacing Gido/Lee and Kaiser and Runner for a true rematch, and a 3-2 for RunAway.

Do you really think Rogue takes ranked as seriously as actual tournament play?

Personally, I feel like France or FRogue is the only one. China only faced tier 3 teams, and Thailand was suffering from fatigue after facing Argentina. Taiwan hasn't looked that strong and if USA can take them to the limit, then there's not a doubt in my mind Taiwan is not a contender to beat SK (unless Taiwan is tactically throwing to avoid SK in quarterfinals or USA is really really strong and that would make them a contender). France looked sloppy because of lack of practice and play. With Contenders Season 1 on the corner, once Rogue gets some much needed practice against EnVyUS (Immortals is probably not gonna beat Rogue similar to old Selfless) and perhaps Immortals. If they can beat those two, then I feel like they'll at least take a map. France probably won't beat SK, but if France gets less cocky, prepares and coaches and scrims as much as they can, I think France can take them to the limit or beat them. South Korea will be very, very hard, but they're not invincible.