In the world of League of Legends, there are two international tournaments that the community eagerly anticipates every year. The first is the MSI – a short tournament held in the middle of the year, originally just a gathering of teams that won the previous Spring Split. The second is Worlds – the biggest tournament in the League of Legends scene and considered the greatest glory for any team that takes the championship. At Worlds, LCK is the absolute dominant region with a total of 8 championships. However, at MSI, it’s a very unfortunate story for the Korean League of Legends scene.
Specifically, at MSI, LCK holds an extremely poor record with only 2 championships. Meanwhile, since the tournament’s inception, LPL has almost completely dominated, with Royal Never Give Up alone winning more championships than all of LCK combined. Moreover, it’s even more embarrassing for LCK that since 2017, they have not won a single championship. Notably, SKT T1 is the last LCK team to win MSI (MSI 2017), but at that time, they only defeated opponents from LCS and LEC. When facing representatives from LPL in the finals, SKT T1/T1 has never won.
Furthermore, in recent years, LPL has begun to show signs of weakening as RNG has continuously faced internal issues and has not maintained their old lineup. Major teams like Edward Gaming, LNG Esports, and JD Gaming have also undergone many changes. However, LCK teams have still struggled to secure victories. At MSI 2023, the champion Gen.G – considered a top contender for the MSI title, suffered a heartbreaking defeat in the lower bracket against Bilibili Gaming, who were merely the regional runners-up at that time.
MSI is a highly competitive tournament that requires players to adapt as quickly as possible to the new meta when the tournament duration is quite short. However, this season, Gen.G has a very strong lineup and is in great form. T1 and Hanwha Life Esports also have the potential to “break the curse” of LCK at MSI, as well as put an end to the dominance of their “arch-rival” LPL at this tournament. Of course, this can only happen if the players perform at their highest level and maintain maximum focus on every move and coordination with their teammates.