Perhaps at this moment, all the attention of the League of Legends community is focused on the upcoming matches in the Swiss round. With the Play-in stage alone witnessing 3 Pentakills, plus the strongest teams in the tournament gathering in full for the Swiss round, the upcoming matches are expected to be even more exciting. The players themselves are also training hard, especially the stars from LCK and LPL as they have less time due to the ASIAD schedule.
Of course, practice matches typically do not reflect 100% of what teams show in an official match. However, practice is still a necessary requirement for players to get accustomed to new metas, experiment with their own strategies, and scout the opponents. However, relying on practice match results to predict the outcome of an official match is undoubtedly always a mistake.
Nevertheless, recently, some information from international media regarding the practice match results of teams has genuinely surprised the audience. Specifically, according to information from LCK and LPL, Team Whales has defeated Weibo Gaming in practice matches a staggering 6 times. Additionally, NRG’s player IgNar shared that T1 practiced very well while Asian teams experimented with some unusual picks in the Bot Lane for AD carries.
However, TW’s result of winning against WBG 6 times left many fans from both LCK and LPL surprised. Still, many LPL fans remain optimistic. This is because teams that have previously announced good practice results often do not have favorable outcomes when entering an official match. A prime and recent example is TW, who were unable to advance past the Play-in stage to reach the Swiss round of Worlds 2023.
Of course, the results of practice matches are also a crucial factor for players and team coaching staff to refer to and learn from. However, they will not be the key factor in reflecting or evaluating a match, particularly in a tournament like Worlds.