In less than 2 days, MSI 2023 will officially kick off with the match between PSG Talon and DetonatioN FocusMe. These are two familiar representatives from the VCS region, as PSG hails from PCS while DFM is a well-known team from LJL. In a season of MSI 2023 filled with changes, the matches from the Play-In stage are attracting great attention from the audience.
However, for the audience of LoL in Vietnam, this year’s MSI feels somewhat… “empty”. Specifically, on many forums, Vietnamese gamers are eagerly awaiting Riot’s prediction events. For those who are unaware, there will be a prediction event called Pick’Ems where players can make their assessments. Besides choosing winning and losing teams, players can also vote and predict individual categories such as the player with the highest KDA, the player with the most Pentakills… This is a familiar activity from Riot, allowing players to receive exciting rewards, from in-game items to physical prizes.
However, this prediction event is only applicable to tournaments like Worlds. On international social media platforms, some players have decided to create spontaneous Pick’Ems for MSI so that the community has a place to make their predictions and discuss together.
As for Vietnamese gamers, there used to be events from Garena surrounding MSI. Although Garena did not bring Pick’Ems to Vietnamese players before, they compensated with many prediction events or promotions around each tournament. This has led many gamers to express their nostalgia for Garena when the publisher was still associated with LoL.
However, currently, LoL in Vietnam is under Riot’s ownership. Therefore, all event activities must be decided by this publisher. And not just in Vietnam, the global LoL community is also anxiously awaiting events from Riot for MSI 2023 this year, especially when the official tournament start time is just around the corner.