Recently, the draw for the Play-in stage of the World Championship (Worlds) 2023 took place. Accordingly, GAM has been placed in the same group as Movistar R7, PSG Talon, and LOUD – the three champions from the wildcard regions of LLA, PCS, and CBLOL respectively. Notably, all three of these teams (along with GAM) are regulars at international tournaments within the LoL scene. Among them, PSG Talon can be considered the closest “neighbor.” Meanwhile, R7 has a lot of history from MSI 2023.
However, despite being in a group comprised entirely of teams from smaller regions, VCS fans no longer hold much faith in GAM. This is understandable given that the VCS champion has exhibited disappointing performances at Worlds 2022 and especially at MSI 2023. Once highly regarded, no one understands how GAM could lose to R7. While the team from LLA has many quality Korean players, the way GAM lost so helplessly has left VCS fans very frustrated up to now.
Nevertheless, even though they are in a group of teams that can be considered at their level, GAM faces many difficulties and has only one way to advance to the Swiss stage of Worlds 2023. Specifically, GAM can only advance if they secure the top position in their group. This means GAM must defeat LOUD and then also beat the winner of the match between PSG and R7. With two victories, GAM will top their group and only face the second-placed team from the other group.
With Team BDS/Golden Guardians being teams from major regions, the likelihood of Team Whales, DetonatioN FocusMe, or CBTC Flying Oyster finishing second is quite high. These are all teams that are considered very weak. Among them, TW is GAM’s former opponent at VCS. Meanwhile, DFM has never been regarded as a strong enough team to pose a challenge at Worlds or MSI, and CFO is merely the runner-up of PCS.
However, in reality, whether GAM advances or not still depends on the performance of the players themselves. The theory is clear, but whether GAM can turn this into a good result in practice remains to be seen when the tournament begins, as fans will only get a clearer picture then.