In the match between GAM Esports and Golden Guardians on May 3 (Vietnam time), the representative of VCS suffered a defeat summed up in two words: “devastating.” Levi and his teammates had almost no chance to counter the LCS representative. Even though Kiaya and Sty1e tried hard, the rest of the team did not perform as expected, and the two “swallows” could not bring about a spring revival.
As one of the figures approved by Riot and VCS to co-stream matches at MSI 2023, SofM also watched and analyzed the picks and gameplay of both teams in both games. And of course, when witnessing GAM’s picks, the former runner-up of the 2020 World Championship seemed very confused.
In Game 1, SofM pointed out that GG’s picks of Viego – Ahri impacted every lane in the match. Additionally, Sett and Poppy were unusual picks for VCS and very easy to dive under towers. Not to mention, according to SofM, Sett is a hard counter to Nautilus from Zin, and the matchup against Tristana would be very difficult for Ahri. In fact, SofM did not really trust that GAM would get through the early laning phase. And the results proved that SofM’s concerns were accurate.
In Game 2, SofM was very surprised when GAM chose Orianna even though Tristana was clearly going AD. Moreover, GG used LeBlanc later for Gori – a player from LCK with very good skills. SofM concluded: “GAM again chose champions that do not control lanes or the map well. Orianna must play extremely well to hope to get through the laning phase. But entering the mid-game will also be very difficult due to Viego and LeBlanc’s strong control.”
In both games, the concerns SofM had all came true. GAM could not control the laning phase, and their champion picks proved ineffective. Kati himself became a weak point in both games, causing GAM’s playstyle to falter. Moreover, the GG players performed exceptionally well, making the already difficult situation for GAM even tougher.
From SofM’s analysis and the performance of the players, GAM is facing many issues from champion picks to performance. These shortcomings need to be addressed immediately before GAM faces R7 in the decisive match for both teams.