On October 19, GAM Esports faced off against Gen.G in the first match of the Swiss round at the 2023 World Championship (Worlds). Of course, with the need to go up against one of the two championship favorites at this year’s Worlds, perhaps only those who are extremely optimistic would dare to think of a victory for GAM. In fact, most VCS viewers only hoped that GAM would not be completely crushed too quickly, or that Gen.G would not use GAM as a “practice dummy” to disrespectfully test champions.
And of course, Gen.G showed absolute respect for GAM by bringing out almost all of their best meta champions right from the first match of the Swiss round. Once Gen.G played seriously, GAM simply had no chance to create any surprises. Gen.G just played according to what they needed to do and won overwhelmingly after more than 22 minutes of play.
However, despite the result being predictable, GAM still faced numerous criticisms from VCS fans. Admittedly, these criticisms were extremely unreasonable and were fiercely countered by the majority of the VCS community, but clearly, criticizing GAM’s players represented the toxicity of a segment of VCS fans. After all, facing an opponent like Gen.G makes it very difficult to create surprises. The LCK is always known for its disciplined play, with no underestimating of the opponent, and Gen.G had solid winning picks.
Of course, GAM players did make mistakes during the match. However, when the VCS representative was clearly outmatched in both skills and strategic thinking, GAM’s defeat was just a matter of time. Moreover, if Gen.G did not ban or pick seriously, or intentionally dragged the match to “farm KDA,” GAM might have faced an even more disastrous loss. GAM put in effort; it was simply that Gen.G was too strong.