World Championship 2021 is the highest level tournament in the League of Legends scene and one of the most anticipated Esports events of the year. As of now, the teams participating in the World Championship are making their way to Iceland to prepare for the intense matches competing for the most prestigious title in the “national” Esports.
However, Riot – the publisher of League of Legends, has unexpectedly been criticized for a very basic mistake in scheduling matches. This mistake was pointed out by a team that will compete in the World Championship: PSG Talon, who is also a “victim” of Riot’s disastrous scheduling.
Accordingly, PSG was very upset as they are the number 1 seed (champion of the PCS region) but have to play 2 consecutive matches in Group C. Specifically, on October 17, Group C with the participation of PSG Talon, Royal Never Give Up, Fnatic, and one team from the play-in round will kick off the round-robin matches. According to the original schedule, PSG will have 2 consecutive matches against the play-in team and RNG respectively. This is unreasonable because the number 1 seeds in Groups A, B, and D (DK, EDG, MAD Lions) do not have to play 2 consecutive matches like PSG.
Meanwhile, a team that is only seeded number 3, RNG, has the “privilege” of playing 2 matches with breaks in between. Specifically, on October 17, according to the old schedule, RNG will face FNC in the first match and meet PSG in the third match. Thus, RNG will have some time to rest and prepare while PSG will face more difficulties having to battle 2 tough opponents, especially since PSG has a poor track record against RNG.
Many netizens have questioned Riot’s scheduling decisions. In fact, numerous debates arose surrounding the suspicion that Riot is intentionally “favoring” RNG. Everyone understands that during intense matches, players who have to compete continuously are more likely to become fatigued and less responsive, not to mention that if the previous match results are unfavorable, it could affect the mentality of the following matches.
It is worth noting that this is not the first time Riot has made scheduling decisions that made number 1 seeds feel “oppressed” this year. What’s more, both scheduling incidents pertain to two major international events of League of Legends and both involve RNG.
Remember back at MSI 2021, DK – the number 1 seed at the time, was scheduled to play after the RNG – PSG match. However, due to the short time frame, DK had a “nightmare” schedule when they had to face MAD and Cloud9 (on May 17), then continue to face PSG and RNG (on May 18). Notably, while RNG had almost the entire day to rest (they only faced PSG at the start of May 17) and DK (at the start of May 18), DK had to compete continuously. Even Riot in Korea could not understand how DK could be given such a schedule, but due to the tight timeframe, despite complaints, nothing changed afterward.
According to the latest announcement from those involved, Riot has apologized to PSG and has proceeded to change the match schedule. The number 1 seed from the PCS region will now play the first match of Group C (against the play-in team) and the third match (against RNG), followed by the sixth match (against FNC).
However, the new schedule has not yet been updated uniformly, and the lack of professionalism in Riot’s preparation and scheduling process, along with the underlying suspicions, may lead to the League of Legends community increasingly losing faith in the “creator” of this “national” game.