The VCS is currently looking ahead to 2025
After GAM Esports was officially eliminated from the 2024 World Championship, the VCS region seems to have concluded its season, and most viewers are now only following this year’s World Championship with the hope of supporting the remaining teams. Of course, during the break between rounds, the Vietnamese League of Legends community has some interesting topics to discuss, as 2025 promises to be quite eventful. The topic currently attracting attention is which teams will represent the VCS at LCP 2025 – the tournament specifically for the APAC region after the VCS also merges.
Recently, there have been some reports indicating that Team Whales will be the next team to secure a spot at APAC 2025. However, similar to the news about Team Secret previously, the official fanpage of “Whales” has yet to confirm any information. Additionally, neither GAM nor Vikings Esports – last year’s VCS runner-up – have made any moves. Therefore, the future of the top VCS teams remains a question mark.
Only GAM can be guaranteed, the other VCS teams remain a mystery
Based on all the criteria that Riot has mentioned, only GAM fully meets the requirements, including: competition results, financial conditions of the team, and the team’s tradition. Therefore, unless something unexpected happens this year and next, GAM will be the first (and perhaps the only) team currently guaranteed a spot at LCP 2025.
Aside from GAM, the other top teams in the top 4 (VKE, TS, TW) have various factors that do not match, both objectively and subjectively. First is VKE – the VCS 2024 runner-up. SofM’s team has competitive results, and their financial status can be considered stable, but they lack tradition since they bought the competitive slot from Saigon Buffalo without inheriting the legacy of the “Buffalo Herd.” Therefore, if VKE can participate in LCP 2025, it will mainly rely on their domestic competition results this year.
Next is TW – a familiar face in the international arena for two consecutive years, but in 2024, they disappeared after losing the core duo Gloryy – BeanJ. Financially, TW is fully qualified and even has the potential to recruit two players from the LCK for their lineup. TW can also be considered traditional because before VKE appeared and the “32-player scandal” occurred, TW was the team competing with GAM in the VCS. However, if examined strictly, TW only has financial strength to boast.
Finally, there’s TS – the only team in the top 4 of the previous Summer Split that can compete with GAM in terms of tradition. TS is also the only League of Legends team in Vietnam with 100% foreign ownership. Being a large organization in the Esports scene, their financial issues are also secure.
However, the “Hidden Sect”‘s results have raised many questions. Among the oldest teams still competing in the VCS, only TS has not achieved any notable results. They have also never participated in any international tournaments. Even counting the period of Lowkey Esports, it’s similar, only adding one appearance at the 2019 World Championship, where they had to exit early in the Play-In stage.
It can be said that the slot for VCS at LCP 2025 likely does not fall outside these four teams. However, before official information is released, the audience will also need to wait and avoid any misleading information that could affect the teams and players involved.