In the opening match at MSI 2023, Levi and his teammates faced off against an opponent deemed quite manageable – Golden Guardians (GG). In fact, many believed in a victory for the VCS representative. However, it was GG who found joy after the match. Stixxay even became the first player at MSI 2023 to achieve a pentakill (taking down all opponents within a certain timeframe) on his own.
In GAM Esports’ (GAM) defeat, captain Levi was likely the name that bore the brunt of the responsibility. Levi’s Gragas in game 1 was completely ineffective. And in game 2, when he used Wukong, the efforts of the 1997-born player to create impact were meaningless as GG played too focused and supported each other too well.
Being a familiar name to the audience of LPL (Levi once played abroad in this region) as well as being the most famous player of GAM, Levi became the center of discussion. Accordingly, many opinions criticized GAM’s captain. One LPL viewer even bluntly stated: “GAM’s captain can only beat Tian. Too bad Tian isn’t at MSI this time.”
This comment recalls last year’s defeat of Top Esports against GAM at the World Championship. However, another opinion noted that GAM actually faced quite a few challenges against TES. And even when Tian performed poorly, he still managed to help TES retain a significant amount of resources in the jungle.
The majority of opinions from LPL suggest that TES’s defeat skewed the perception of GAM. In reality, it was just a BO1 match, and perhaps GAM was slightly overrated. These evaluations likely put pressure on the players, leading them to perform poorly against GG. The opening loss at MSI 2023 may be a necessary lesson for GAM, but the VCS representative must wake up quickly as they face an important match against Movistar R7.