CKTG 2024 MV Almost Fails to Meet Expectations
According to the “tradition” of CKTG, every year, with the new CKTG season, Riot releases a new theme song, but the main MV will revolve around the journey to the top of the champion team from the previous year.
Since the concept of CKTG songs was introduced, this has not changed, even when SKT T1 is the team frequently featured in these MVs, the previous songs have been well-received by music listeners in general and the LoL community in particular.
In fact, some songs have become legendary, such as Warriors or Legends Never Die. Even some controversial songs like STAR WALKIN’ or GODS have somewhat met the expectations of fans.
In 2023, the CKTG champion was T1. With the stature and dramatic journey of Faker and his teammates, the LoL community and especially T1 fans expected a truly grand CKTG MV worthy of the championship that T1 fought hard to achieve. However, the reality was quite the opposite.
The CKTG 2024 MV features catchy music and had been teased beforehand. However, the MV itself left viewers, especially T1 fans, extremely disappointed. Although it garnered over 1.4 million views within the first hour, the CKTG MV faced numerous issues that sparked intense controversy.
“Spotting” the huge flaws that are considered to ruin the CKTG 2024 MV
The arduous journey of Faker and T1 is depicted too superficially
Of course, when a new MV is released, viewers will compare it to the subjects in the MV itself and previous MVs. From there, it can be concluded that the journey of Faker or T1 as a whole is depicted too superficially, only through a few posters at the beginning of the clip and… that’s it. In fact, compared to last year’s MV GODS, it clearly falls short. In the GODS MV, it is evident that Deft had to overcome formidable opponents, many of whom were his former teammates like Meiko and Keria. Even the 2022 CKTG finals were clearly depicted when the entire DRX faced off against the star-studded T1 team, led by Faker and Keria.
In the CKTG 2024 MV, the most prominent figure is Bin. Otherwise, no one clearly sees who T1 had to face in the MV. In reality, T1 had to defeat all 4 opponents from the LPL, and the Shurima Shuffle moment performed by Ruler was the most crucial situation, which Riot and the LoL community have repeatedly mentioned throughout the year, but it was absent.
The MV seems to be a promotional piece for Linkin Park, not a CKTG MV about the current champion T1
In all previous CKTG MVs, excluding live performances at events, there has not been a consistent appearance of the performing band throughout the MV, or at most, they were briefly featured, while the players and their journeys remained the main focus. In contrast, the CKTG 2024 MV gives viewers the impression that this is a song where Linkin Park collaborated with Riot to announce their comeback with a new member replacing the late legend Chester Bennington.
Throughout the MV, the band’s images appear and take up even more screen time than T1 itself. This has left many viewers dissatisfied as the MV lacks important scenes but allows the band to dominate the duration. In fact, the image of T1 lifting the trophy is only depicted through a sketch on a poster rather than an official image like many previous MVs about teams such as SKT T1, Damwon Gaming, or DRX.
Other teams are also viewed as lacking the necessary respect from Riot in the MV’s content
In fact, T1’s journey at CKTG 2024 prominently features key teams, starting with Team Liquid – the first team to give T1 a hard time. In reality, the match against Bilibili Gaming was important but was merely one game in the Swiss round. Meanwhile, the match where T1 defeated “The Unicorns of Zhuhai” LNG Esports truly opened T1’s conquest journey, yet LNG is barely mentioned.
Furthermore, selecting RED Cadnis or FlyQuest for the MV teasers has no relevance to T1. Neither RED nor FlyQuest are the strongest teams in the wildcard group or LCS. However, importantly, neither of these teams reached CKTG 2023, leaving everyone puzzled as to why Riot included them in the MV. Meanwhile, the two strongest opponents on T1’s journey to conquer CKTG 2023 – JD Gaming and Weibo Gaming – are completely absent.
According to some opinions, Riot might be referring to T1’s journey to defend the championship against teams trying to contest it. However, clearly, in terms of regional correlation, RED Cadnis is not dominant in CBLOL and has been absent since last year’s CKTG. Meanwhile, in LCS, it is well-known that TL is much stronger than FlyQuest as TL has dominated LCS in recent domestic seasons.
Currently, the CKTG 2024 MV continues to attract controversy. Most of it revolves around how Riot constructed the script for the MV, and many viewers still believe the music has somewhat “rescued” this MV.