It can be said that the VCS has never been in such a chaotic state as it is now. The number of players under additional investigation is approximately half of the total members in the current 8 VCS teams. Not to mention, all 8 teams have individuals who are believed to be directly involved in the ongoing negative scandal. In fact, teams like MGN Blue Esports and Team Flash have more than half of their roster implicated. Only a few individuals from these teams are considered clean. However, these numbers are preventing the teams from operating normally.
On the morning of March 29, after the VCS organizers announced that the Spring 2024 VCS playoffs would continue to commence in early April, Vikings Esports, led by SofM, immediately took to social media to search for players. This was an unavoidable but completely reasonable action given the current context. Of course, these are merely stopgap measures, and if VCS organizers and Riot can only announce the investigation results in the latter half of April, participation in MSI 2024 will need to be discussed.
If Riot and the VCS organizers decide that there will be no representatives from Vietnam at the upcoming event in China, then everything will be considered over. However, if they are allowed to participate in MSI 2024, teams must consider better options. This is because there will be no substitute players or stopgap solutions strong enough to compete in the second-largest international tournament of the League of Legends scene.
At this moment, a solution that the LCK has implemented could be a good lifeline for the VCS region, should Riot still allow participation in MSI 2024. In mid-March, the LCK allowed teams to borrow players. In fact, this has been a solution used when players face visa issues each time they compete internationally. But the LCK’s mechanism applies to domestic tournaments as well. Of course, there are still some mandatory regulations, such as “No borrowing from international leagues other than LCK,” and “Borrowed players can only participate in certain matches.”
However, given the current situation of the VCS, Riot and the organizers could be more flexible if they intend to consider and implement this option. Players like Sty1e and Zin are currently in a “lost” situation as nearly all their teammates are implicated and under additional investigation. Meanwhile, VKE, GAM, and TS have lost players in key positions, needing quality replacements.
Nevertheless, this is just one option. The VCS organizers and Riot may also need to consider all avenues to ensure that Vietnamese League of Legends still has the opportunity to develop in the future.