At MSI 2023, GAM Esports will have to compete from the Play-In stage against formidable opponents like Bilibili Gaming or Golden Guardians. In fact, GAM can definitely defeat GG, the representative from North America. It’s not that they underestimate their opponents, but GAM’s chances of winning are seen as promising by both domestic and international experts. Even international League of Legends fans believe GAM could overcome the Spring 2023 LCS runner-up.
However, facing BLG is a different story. After reshaping their roster and bringing in new high-quality players, BLG has made significant progress in the recent Spring split. However, in the finals, they couldn’t overcome the all-encompassing JD Gaming. The runner-up position can still be considered acceptable, especially when just last Summer, BLG was struggling in the middle of the standings and barely made it to the playoffs.
Evaluations of GAM also depend on this team’s performance at the 2022 World Championship. While many VCS fans show skepticism towards GAM, fans in the LPL region are eagerly anticipating the GAM – BLG matchup. Some netizens have even shared clips of GAM defeating Team WE—one of the “Three Imperial Families” of the LPL—when this team was still performing well at MSI 2017 as a way to showcase GAM’s strength.
However, some others joke that: “GAM might beat GG and face BLG. I’m really looking forward to the match. But GAM shouldn’t think they can create surprises like when they faced TES. BLG doesn’t have anyone like JackeyLove.” The reason behind this statement likely refers to JackeyLove being one of the worst-performing players at the 2022 World Championship. Some LPL netizens even circulated memes about the former 2018 World Champion.
Nevertheless, many believe that if ON or Bin doesn’t perform well on that day, these two players could become weaknesses for GAM to exploit. Particularly, ON sometimes has “grounded” moments, and if he gets taken down before a fight, BLG will face significant difficulties.
Of course, GAM will face many challenges in the upcoming matches. But if the black and yellow team can surprise like they did against TES (who had two World Champions and one mid-laner considered among the best in the LPL), there is every reason to believe that GAM can replicate that miracle. And in a League of Legends match, as long as the Nexus hasn’t exploded, anything can happen.