As the last representative of the LCK and the only hope for Korea after advancing past the group stage of the Mid-Season Cup 2020 – the China-Korea friendship tournament, Gen.G Esports anticipated the difficulties of facing off against three powerful teams from China.
In the second semifinal between TOP Esports – the reigning LPL runner-up and Gen.G Esports – the reigning LCK runner-up, a completely lopsided display of skill took place, as Karsa and his teammates easily annihilated Gen.G in just three games.
While FPX, IG, or JDG might be cited as reasons to justify that “Koreans still have the greatest influence in the world of League of Legends,” since the core players of these three teams are all Korean, the defeat of Gen.G against TOP Esports – a team without any Koreans in its lineup – has proven that LPL is currently far superior to LCK.
Of course, in the end, the Mid-Season Cup 2020 is merely a friendly tournament, and LCK fans should not be too disappointed for long. The more important issue is the weaknesses that Korean League of Legends teams need to address in this tournament.
LCK had to pay the price of defeat due to a few moments of mistakes, and their overall gameplay also became much more passive compared to LPL teams. There is still an entire summer season ahead for Koreans to find solutions to this problem, but with the current power dynamics between the two regions, it seems that the dominance of League of Legends in 2020 will likely remain in the hands of the Chinese.