Thus, GAM Esports successfully defended their VCS championship after the finals against Team Whales. The “Whales” could only manage to cause some difficulties; otherwise, they were dominated by GAM in all four games. In game 1, if it weren’t for the outstanding performance of the bot lane duo Artemis – CBL, the score might have been 3-0 for GAM as they had too many advantages. Furthermore, this championship is even more meaningful as it marks GAM’s ninth title, on the exact date of September 9, 2023.
However, it can be said that there were moments when the GAM players were truly unfocused. A prime example is in the first game when they were ahead with a significant advantage. No one understands why GAM lost that game when they could have easily won by patiently increasing their lead. Notably, these mistakes occurred a couple of times in the subsequent games. Fortunately, in the remaining three games, GAM’s lead was substantial enough that TW could not create any “comebacks”.
The audience of VCS did not hesitate to point out the biggest choke of the GAM finals, which was the AD Carry Slayder. In fact, some fans even stated that Slayder was the weakest link in the finals. If it weren’t for the other four members, especially Kiaya in the first two games and Kati in the decisive fight of game 4, GAM might not have had such a good match. Additionally, some people are worried for GAM that at the 2023 World Championship, opponents will surely not give GAM a chance to “turn the tables” if they don’t throw away such advantages.
Of course, it may be that this is the first time in a long while, since his time at Team Flash, that Slayder has been so close to a championship like this. During his time at SBTC Esports, although he also participated in the VCS Hừng Đông finals, SE was not rated as highly as GAM, and Slayder did not have the best teammates around him. Therefore, the psychological pressure he felt is perhaps not too surprising.
Therefore, VCS has concluded, and GAM will be the number 1 seed while TW is the number 2 seed representing the region at the 2023 World Championship. The players themselves need to quickly recognize the mistakes made in the past matches to prepare for the upcoming 2023 World Championship – where VCS will be scrutinized even more, especially after what GAM brought to last year’s World Championship and MSI 2023 earlier this year.