Due to the impact of the well-known pandemic, many tournaments around the world across all Esports genres have either held matches without an audience or have been canceled altogether. MSI 2020, the major international tournament just after the World Championship, was not spared when Riot Games announced its cancellation just a few days ago. This is a significant loss for both the teams and the audience, as who wouldn’t want to watch the champions of top tournaments compete?
Perhaps understanding this well and wanting his players to have the opportunity to compete without a prolonged break, the CEO of T1 is planning to organize a showmatch between his team and a representative from the LPL (most likely the champion team). The T1 boss has created a small survey, and of course, the majority voted in favor of this plan, with him even sharing that if given the choice, FunPlus Phoenix is the team he prefers the most.
T1’s CEO – Joe Marsh: “Do you want to see us – T1LOL compete in a showmatch against a team from the LPL to fill the gap left by MSI?”
It seems everyone agrees. I should have asked a harder question, right?”
Journalist Ashley Kang: “Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!”
ESPN reporter Jacob Wolf’s troll account: “What about T1 facing off against The Shy?”
T1’s CEO – Joe Marsh: “Personally, I want to see the most intense match possible; if so, FunPlus Phoenix will be my choice for this showmatch.”
In recent years, after the spring season concludes, the entire League of Legends world turns its attention to MSI, as it is a highly prestigious tournament gathering the championship teams from major regions organized by Riot Games. Unfortunately, this year, it has been canceled, and since it will be a long wait until the summer split begins, such as LCK starting mid-June, that vast gap of over a month is hard to fill.
If T1’s CEO’s plan becomes a reality, it would be an invaluable gift for League of Legends fans. T1 is currently the strongest team in Korea, and everyone hopes to see them compete against top teams from other regions, and that showmatch, though unofficial, can help assess the strength of this team.
Who knows, perhaps other teams from both LCK and LPL will respond, and we might have a small Korea-China friendly tournament organized online for us to watch.