In the early hours of September 12 (Vietnam time), the draw ceremony for the Group Stage and Play-In Stage of World Championship 2022 (CKTG 2022) took place. This is also the first World Championship that VCS has the opportunity to return after a long absence due to various objective reasons. Therefore, the draw results have attracted the attention of the Vietnamese League of Legends (LoL) fans.
GAM (left) and SGB are the two representatives of VCS at the 2022 World Championship
Accordingly, GAM Esports (GAM) – the number one seed from the VCS region will be in the same group with Top Esports (TES), Rogue (RGE), and one other team (most likely DRX). This is considered the “easiest” group for GAM as apart from TES, GAM can potentially surprise against RGE and DRX. Meanwhile, SGB will start from the Play-In Stage with notable opponents being Royal Never Give Up (RNG), DRX, and MAD Lions (MAD).
The draw results for the Group Stage (left) and Play-In Stage of the 2022 World Championship
Recently, the international community has opened a poll to evaluate the chances of teams competing in the Play-In Stage to reach the knockout stage and subsequently the Group Stage. As expected, RNG and DRX were rated the highest. However, it is notable that the international LoL community ranks SGB just above Isurus – a team competing from the Latin America region.
Accordingly, the chances of SGB reaching the knockout stage is up to 34.3%. However, according to the international community, SGB is expected to fall short in the knockout stage with only a 1.2% chance of making it to the Group Stage.
Of course, these evaluations are primarily for reference. Given what SGB has shown at MSI 2022, they can definitely overcome teams in the Wildcard (including teams from smaller regions with less developed LoL scenes). Not to mention, at MSI 2022, when facing RNG, the representative from Vietnam made the defending champions sweat to achieve a hard-fought victory.
Furthermore, for this tournament, both representatives from Vietnam just need to play with 100% ability and effort, focusing on each match. Of course, results are still important, but the VCS audience is not as heavy on the players as before.
With the pressure lifted, and concentration at its peak, Coach Ren’s squad can confidently create unexpected outcomes. And who knows, both representatives of VCS may fully participate in the Group Stage of the upcoming 2022 World Championship.