As we know, in the context of VCS Spring 2024 being incredibly chaotic due to the biggest negative scandal in Vietnamese League of Legends history, Riot and the tournament organizers’ decision to allow the playoffs to continue is a significant effort. However, the teams themselves also have to strive to find worthy substitutes for the players suspended due to this scandal. Amid the excitement of the audience, legends like SofM, Optimus, and former superstars like Bigkoro, Palette, Killerqueen… have returned to help their teams navigate this challenging period successfully.
For SofM, based on what he has achieved in the past, the co-owner and coach of Vikings Esports is the most notable as he decides to “plug in the keyboard” back into the professional arena. According to some information from SofM, the former star of Suning – Weibo Gaming will not play in his main role as a Jungler but will take on a Support position instead. Nevertheless, fans still believe that SofM will deliver his best performances, and the matchups against Levi will be highly anticipated.
On the other hand, alongside the excitement, quite a few fans have also raised “conspiracy theories”. Specifically, on some forums, netizens have suggested that this action by the VCS organizers and Riot, besides “cleaning up the tournament”, also aims to leverage legends or past names to attract attention to the tournament. Some even joked that this move is to facilitate VKE’s participation in MSI 2024 and bring the trophy back for VCS.
However, in reality, this is quite unreasonable. If they only used such a “quick fix” approach, it could only last throughout Spring 2024. A tournament that wants to develop cannot rely solely on “veterans”. For instance, LCK is currently making efforts to prepare for a future when Faker retires. Likewise, T1 is also carefully promoting players who could become the face of the team, such as Gumayusi or Keria.
Regarding the professional aspect, the players called up this time, only EasyLove is currently still competing, and he is the only case where a VCS team borrowed a player from another team still active this Spring. Names like SofM or Optimus have been away from professional League of Legends as players for long enough to create a difference from their former selves. Therefore, the likelihood of SofM “carrying” VKE to the VCS championship is not easy, let alone MSI 2024.
It can be said that the current replacements and additions only serve situational purposes. Of course, the tournament will still have bright colors after a series of days submerged in negative crises. But it would be a grave mistake to hastily conclude that the tournament organizers and Riot have ulterior motives regarding this negative scandal of VCS.