I feel like SEN has gotten pretty unlucky with how everything has transpired this year, and now with JohnQT’s surgery, which I hope he recovers from safely and healthily. Hopefully, the rest of the split goes smoothly.
I went back and rewatched some of their games, and I forgot how close they were to beating NRG and LEV. They do not get destroyed by good teams. They just need to improve at closing out games, which Reduxx also mentioned in one of their new videos.
I might be delusional, but I genuinely think they can beat every team in the Americas. I am just not sure whether they can maintain their form consistently enough to beat good teams repeatedly. I also think starting the split off strong will be important because the confidence could help through the rest of the stage.
If they lose their first game against C9, I do not think it changes much because JohnQT is not at 100 percent. However, if they then go on to lose their next two games after having so much time off, it could be pretty discouraging.