As known, in the Chinese League of Legends community, there is always a tournament called the Demacia Cup, which is traditionally held at the end of the year. Not only aimed at creating an environment for young players who have not had many opportunities to showcase their skills in official matches, but the Demacia Cup can also be seen as a “review”. This is because, at this time, the LPL has finalized its roster for the new season.
Of course, according to previous regulations, teams are not required to field 100% of their main lineup. However, this does not diminish the appeal of the Demacia Cup, especially as the LPL has recently required teams to use a certain number of players from their starting roster.
However, up until this point in the Demacia Cup, a series of “giants” from the LPL have surprisingly “stumbled” for various reasons. Among them, the most disappointing are the two names: LNG Esports and Weibo Gaming. While Top Esports only lost to JD Gaming with strong performances from Ruler, no one understands why LNG and WBG lost to Rare Atom and Ninjas in Pyjamas – two teams that have never been able to compete with these “giants” of the LPL. LNG is currently facing the most criticism for their attitude in the matches.
In fact, while watching the match between LNG – RA, an international viewer bitterly remarked: “Watching RA play really feels like a professional League of Legends team, while it seems like the LNG players just want to go home and celebrate the New Year early.” Meanwhile, another viewer lamented the fate of LPL in the new season: “Seeing these teams lose to NIP and RA, I honestly don’t understand how they will beat LCK next year.”
In international matches of 2023, LPL teams still performed well at MSI 2023. However, when it came to the World Championship, their performance dropped shockingly. All four representatives from LPL managed to secure only one game win against T1. Among them, LNG even lost without controlling any Dragon buffs.
Of course, one cannot judge the entire new season based on a single Demacia Cup, especially when the Pre-Season adjustments have not yet appeared. But with such poor performances, perhaps even LPL fans no longer have much confidence in their representatives for the coming year.