Thus, after the first Semi-Final of Worlds 2023, the first representative to reach the final match of the biggest international tournament in the LoL scene this year is Weibo Gaming. They become the second consecutive fourth seed from a region to reach the Worlds finals. Notably, this is the first time many names wearing WBG jerseys, such as Light, Xiaohu, and Weiwei, step into the final match. Of course, this ensures that LPL still has at least a 50% chance of winning the championship this year.
However, LPL fans should not rejoice too soon. After WBG secured victory, a “bad news” was brought back for Chinese LoL. Specifically, according to a statistic, Xiaohu will be the third Chinese Mid Laner in LoL history to step into a finals match of a Worlds. The previous two were Corn (Royal Club – 2014) and Angel (Suning – 2020). However, what truly worries LPL fans is the accompanying factor for these two players: both Corn and Angel lost in their subsequent finals, with the same score of 1-3.
Notably, both of these players lost to a team from LCK in the year they reached the finals of a Worlds. Specifically, Corn was defeated by a then-powerful Samsung White. As for Angel, he and SN lost to Damwon Gaming, with the current coach of WBG – Daeny – being a member of the coaching staff for the LCK representative. At that time, even though SN’s achievement of reaching the finals was truly surprising, they were clearly placed with high hopes from LPL fans and even from Vietnam. This was because the SN roster that year included SofM – the Vietnamese Jungle player.
At this point, many might have noticed: SN back then is the predecessor of the current WBG. When the largest social network in the land of billions bought SN and transformed this team into WBG, in their first year, they still largely utilized the entire old roster of SN, except for Bin. After a period of unsuccessful results, WBG restructured entirely, and the recent achievement of reaching the finals is their first “sweet fruit”.
Currently, WBG is a strong but unpredictable team in the LoL scene. The only thing is that the players need to truly focus. Whether their upcoming opponent is JD Gaming or T1, both are names that are assessed to have a considerable advantage over WBG in terms of strategy and stability.