In the history of the World Championships, LPL teams have had the opportunity to participate in many finals, bringing home 3 championships. This is a very admirable achievement, helping the LPL region become a fierce rival of LCK. However, overall, while LPL teams qualify for the World Championship frequently, they have far fewer championships compared to LCK. This is primarily because SKT T1/T1 has claimed the title 4 times, more than all the LPL region combined.
Weibo Gaming is the latest name to join the list of “victims” of LCK in the finals of the World Championships. But this time, WBG received countless criticisms from fans in the region. Most opinions agree that T1‘s strength, coupled with the “LPL Slayer” title, was overwhelming, yet the manner in which WBG lost was truly hard to accept. In all 3 games, there was only one scenario: both sides tussled at the start – T1 accelerated – WBG took the beating and lost. Even when Faker chose to play “for content” with Ahri and missed numerous Charm skills, WBG still couldn’t win any team fight.
The last time an LPL team lost to an LCK team was back in 2020 with Suning’s defeat against Damwon Gaming. Of course, SofM and his teammates were also “involved”. Accordingly, LPL fans believe that WBG was criticized so harshly because they lost in such a pathetic manner. Although both were considered the lowest seeds, SN still managed to play the finals with the mindset of “winning at all costs”.
Not to mention, SN’s journey was not easy as they shared a group with G2 Esports and Team Liquid – teams that were still very strong at that time. After that, SN also defeated JD Gaming and Top Esports to secure their spot in the finals. Meanwhile, the only team truly strong enough to threaten WBG would probably be Bilibili Gaming.
The results were all defeats, but the manner of the loss is what matters. And WBG did not show that they could be compared to any LPL representatives that have lost in the past, even the weakest LPL teams that have ever participated in the finals of the World Championship like SN.