The opening match between GAM Esports and Fnatic drew special attention, especially from the VCS audience. The MSI 2024 can be seen as a challenging tournament due to Riot’s new changes. However, inadvertently or intentionally, at that moment, VCS put forth a representative that could be considered the weakest in many years. Only the duo of Levi – Kiaya seems to have a reasonable level of skill, while Elio has never been a top-tier Support in VCS, and Emo and EasyLove have proven to have many shortcomings. The result was as expected: GAM lost the match in a dismal fashion against the LEC runners-up.
As a streamer who has the right to co-stream the tournament MSI 2024 this year, SofM has made some very noteworthy observations. Specifically, in both games, SofM believes that GAM’s lineup is fundamentally easy to operate and suitable for various strategies, with the core still being the performance of the players. The “Vietnamese Jungle God” himself noted that FNC made many mistakes and GAM had a solid chance of winning. However, ultimately, the VCS representative lost both matches.
But alongside his expertise, SofM also revealed a more crucial disclosure: “This performance will affect the Worlds tickets for next year (2025). This year might be fine. Last year, PCS did not perform well at MSI and Worlds. So they were relegated from their separate region to an integrated region. It’s like they have to play a domestic tournament and also qualify with LJL. In previous years, these two regions had separate slots, but this year they have been merged. VCS is a bit lacking in MSI but performed well in Worlds.”
This is indeed bad news for GAM specifically and VCS in general. If they have to merge with PCS – LJL, the chance for VCS to have representatives at international tournaments still exists, but of course, it will be affected to some extent. Not to mention, the region’s standing in the world will severely decline if it has to merge with other regions.
Nevertheless, the performances of PCS and LJL have been quite poor for many years. Meanwhile, VCS remains a region full of uncertainties. SofM’s assessment may be accurate, but it might not happen immediately in 2025, especially when the Vietnamese League of Legends tournament has gone through upheavals that still have no end in sight. If a merger occurs immediately in 2025, it may not be entirely fair to VCS after their efforts to establish themselves as a separate region and maintain their standing in the League of Legends scene for many years.