As we know, since the teams from LCK have dominated the world of League of Legends, and those who have won major international tournaments (MSI, Worlds) have always had the mark of Korean players, stars from the land of Kimchi are always seen as the standard. Not to mention, their professional imprint is clearly reflected through their playing style, practice, and lifestyle. Additionally, the Korean rank is also considered a standard for selecting potential players. In short, players from LCK are always rated higher than the general level of the LoL scene.
As for these players, most of those who must go abroad are in the “unable to find development opportunities” category in their home country. A typical case is Scout, Doinb, TheShy… There are also names that want to conquer new challenges like Ruler, Deft, Peanut… but these are just a minority. And certainly, this formula cannot be applied to Korean imports competing in smaller regions (VCS, PCS) or wildcard.
Recently, after LOUD’s defeat against GAM Esports and then CBTC Flying Oyster against Team BDS, all teams using Korean imports in the Play-In stage of Worlds 2023 have returned home. These players themselves did not leave much of an impression, if not to say they were completely outperformed by their counterparts in the same position. A clear example is Crocs who was completely outperformed by Levi and was one of the direct reasons why LLL could not execute the game in the second match.
Not long ago, the media manager of CERBERUS Esports shared why VCS cannot recruit quality Korean imports. According to them, the reason stems from the lengthy process of obtaining work permits for these players. Next is the issue of salaries. And finally, the skill level of these imports. Not to mention cultural and language integration issues… CES was the pioneer in using Korean imports (Poss and Leash). And in reality, “The Hound” failed with these two imports.
Quality Korean players will almost always choose LPL. This is a region that not only meets the demands for expertise and salary but also provides them with opportunities to participate in international tournaments and build their reputation. Almost only players who are overlooked by LPL turn to smaller regions like PCS, CBLOL… Therefore, the professional factor is extremely unpredictable. The performance of teams like LLL, CFO… at Worlds 2023 is the most recent and typical evidence.
Meanwhile, names like GAM, BDS, PSG, and especially TW have shown that it is not necessary to use imports to achieve success. Because low-quality imports not only do not elevate the organization but can also drag down the remaining members.