A rather sad fact is that aside from the first two World Championships (2011 and 2012), all subsequent League of Legends world championship titles have belonged to representatives from the LCK and LPL. Even before international tournaments took place, representatives from the LCK and LPL were always considered top contenders for the championship, regardless of their rankings in regional leagues.
Meanwhile, the champions from the LEC, LCS, or even further back from the PCS, VCS are only seen as average, at best a “dark horse.” This shows the skill gap between the LCK and LPL regions compared to the rest of the world is significant. This is directly due to the tournament system that Riot operates. Let’s explore what this discrepancy is.
Consequences of the Inadequate Tournament System
First, we need to recognize that each season of League of Legends only has 2 international tournaments, MSI and Worlds. Even for MSI, each region has only 1 representative competing. This results in an extremely low number of international matches for a team in a season, thus significantly reducing the opportunity for skill improvement.
Remember that with high-quality tournaments like the LCK and LPL, teams can significantly improve their skills just through regional tournaments. However, in other regions, the competition is not as intense, and it is easy for one team to dominate the regional league.
Without going far, GAM Esports from VCS is a prime example, having secured 5 out of 6 regional championships in the last 3 years. Clearly, GAM has completely outclassed the VCS, and this team cannot grow stronger if they only compete in regional leagues. This has also happened in the LCS, LEC, and the consequence is that strong regions like the LCK and LPL only get stronger over time, leaving the rest of the world far behind.
Riot Can Definitely Do Better
The issue here is that Riot has enough experience and capability to increase the number of international tournaments. Just look at another Esports title from Riot, VALORANT, and we can see this clearly with 3 international tournaments held in 2022 alone, including 2 Masters and 1 Champions.
As a result, the competition between regions in VALORANT has significantly increased. Specifically, the champion of VCT Champions 2022 was a representative from Brazil, while strong representatives from North America, Europe, and Korea were all among the top 4 teams. This is in stark contrast to the LCK and LPL “playing alone” in recent Worlds tournaments of League of Legends.
Conclusion
In summary, the lack of international tournaments is leaving other regions of professional League of Legends struggling to compete with the LCK and LPL. Simply put, since LCK and LPL are already strong, they are only getting stronger, while the rest of the world has too few opportunities to catch up. Perhaps it is time for Riot to upgrade or completely change their system to make professional League of Legends more exciting in the future.