On the evening of April 21 (Vietnam time), Riot officially announced the situation regarding the LPL’s participation in MSI 2022. As everyone knows, the COVID-19 pandemic in China is still complex. Therefore, not only has the domestic league been affected, but teams also face significant challenges in traveling for international competitions. There were even reports that LPL might switch to playing online or skip MSI 2022 altogether due to the time constraints for their preparations for LPL Summer 2022 as well as subsequent events.
Accordingly, Riot has officially allowed LPL representatives to compete online while all other teams will gather in Busan, South Korea. At the same time, Riot will provide all necessary equipment and personnel to ensure that LPL representatives can compete under the best conditions. It is clear that Riot is aware of how the absence of LPL would affect the quality of the tournament.
However, on League of Legends forums, the community has erupted into heated debates about this situation. Korean League of Legends fans were the first to voice their opinions. Most comments from LCK fans suggest that Riot is discriminating between Major regions and smaller regions. An example used by LCK fans is the case of VCS. Vietnamese teams have had to sit out of international tournaments for two consecutive seasons. This has significantly impacted both the teams and the players in VCS.
On the other hand, some fans argue that Riot’s support for LPL is completely normal. The geographic distance from Shanghai to Busan is shorter than from Ho Chi Minh City to Busan. Secondly, during those years, while the domestic leagues in these regions were operating normally, VCS faced numerous challenges. Especially, VCS had to cancel the Summer 2021 tournament when the pandemic situation was too complicated.
However, it is very possible that in the 2022 season, VCS will have the opportunity to return to the international League of Legends stage after many years of absence. And if they do return, the task of the teams will still be to do their best to achieve the best results possible for the Vietnamese League of Legends scene.