After the LCK Spring 2023 concluded, the focus of League of Legends fans in general, and LCK fans in particular, is certainly on MSI 2023. However, another tournament has emerged in the minds of many, along with some information regarding the team selection for the event. That is the Asian Games in Hangzhou, which will take place at the end of 2023 after being postponed due to pandemic issues.
For the LCK region, this is even more significant as players who win gold medals will automatically be eligible for special military service exemptions – a ticket that allows players to continue their professional League of Legends careers.
However, which names will be selected is a big question. Just a few days ago, LCK announced a list of players who will be chosen for the training squad. Notably, according to that list, Oner is the only change as he has to make way for Peanut. Additionally, Coach kkOma has been selected to lead the South Korean League of Legends team for this ASIAD. The selection will be based on the performances of players (statistics, form, titles…) from Summer 2021 to MSI 2023.
Recently, the CEO of Gen.G spoke about the selection process. According to him, basing the selection on statistics may cause difficulties for many players. Because there will be those who do not have ‘pretty’ statistics like their teammates or rivals, even though they are the ones who design the team’s playstyle. For example, Faker. His minion stats are very low, and he does not have a good KDA. But he is the key playmaker for T1 and is one of the players who contributes the most damage. Many opinions also agree that statistics should only be a reference factor when selecting an appropriate lineup.
However, the ‘headache’ of having too many choices for LCK is a wish for other regions, particularly LPL, PCS, and VCS. Specifically in LPL, although this region still has some very strong stars, they are not better than LCK rivals. Take the recent LPL Spring 2023 champions – JD Gaming – as an example. AD Carry Ruler, who just earned FMVP, is Korean, as is Jungle player Kanavi. Knight is clearly a skilled Mid Laner, but he often underperforms on the international stage. Similarly, 369 struggled against Zeus during their match at the 2022 World Championship.
As for VCS, audiences may witness a selection tournament similar to the preparations for last year’s SEA Games 31. This would be the most reasonable and convincing approach. The winning team from the selection tournament will confidently head to the Asian Games in Hangzhou without any objections.
It will be very difficult to predict whether LCK or any region will win the prestigious gold medal. The abundance of talent in LCK is leaving them confused. But surely, no matter which names are chosen, the highest goal will still be to bring gold back for the domestic League of Legends scene.