Recently, Riot officially announced the final verdict for the VCS in one of the largest match-fixing scandals in League of Legends history. This incident has drawn significant attention from both the domestic and international LoL community. Moreover, the VCS case comes at a time when the region is under special scrutiny following its achievements at international tournaments, particularly the recent Worlds 2023. Furthermore, only two years into Riot’s management of League of Legends Vietnam, such a significant issue has arisen, making it no surprise that this event has garnered more attention than usual.
However, it is noteworthy that for the Vietnamese League of Legends audience, not only the individuals and teams declared guilty in the incident have faced scrutiny, but another team has also come under fire. Specifically, there have been some opinions expressing skepticism about the championship titles of VCS held by GAM. The reason is that no one knows if any team has played dishonestly during GAM’s journey. Therefore, for some, GAM’s championships are not entirely deserved. There are even opinions suggesting that GAM won titles thanks to other teams’ cheating, which is why they performed poorly on the international stage.
However, the majority of opinions have strongly refuted the one-sided assertions that undermine the significance of GAM’s championships. GAM has demonstrated their strength throughout their VCS journey. Furthermore, when stepping onto the international stage, the only truly forgettable moment for GAM was MSI 2023. In other periods, the VCS representative has shown that they can certainly leave a mark. For instance, when GAM defeated Team Liquid, which gathered many strong players, or when the VCS representative eliminated LPL runner-up Top Esports from the Worlds 2022 group stage.
It is true that the match-fixing incident in the VCS will somewhat affect the audience’s trust in the Vietnamese League of Legends scene, both now and in the future. However, to deny GAM’s championship titles solely for this reason would be a significant injustice to those individuals who have competently competed honestly throughout this time.