Although he is no longer associated with GAM Esports, Noway still maintains a very good relationship with his former teammates. The former player shared that he feels very sad to witness GAM’s defeat in the VCS Spring Finals 2020, but asserted that those who feel the worst are the GAM players themselves.
When asked about the “evergreen topic”: who is better, SofM or Levi? Even though he is a close friend and former teammate of Levi, Noway honestly replied: Levi cannot be compared to SofM.
He further emphasized that not only Levi, but no Vietnamese League of Legends player can reach SofM’s level. In the realm of professional gamers in Vietnam, the only classification is “SofM and the rest”.
It can be seen that Noway’s comment is not a “diss” towards Levi, but perhaps this is something that many have recognized, from professionals to the gaming community. Even the captain of GAM Esports admitted that comparing him to SofM was pointless.
However, some gamers have expressed the opinion that: The comparison issue here is that Levi has participated in many international tournaments, while SofM has not. Furthermore, many comments have raised the question: Is SofM’s stay in China a mistake, a step back that prevents him from making it on the world stage?
In response to this question, Noway also shared that SofM currently has an extremely high salary in the LPL, specifically ten times the amount that VCS teams can afford to pay him. Not only is the treatment good, but the professional esports environment in China is also extremely developed, clearly superior in every aspect compared to Vietnam.
From a personal perspective, Noway believes that if he had the opportunity like SofM, he would choose to stay as well.
As we know, previously, Teacher Ba also revealed that SofM is earning a salary of up to 2 billion VND/month. Coupled with the information that Noway just shared, with the top players of VCS potentially earning salaries in the tens of millions, even hundreds of millions per month, SofM’s income being ten times means it could reach billions.
Additionally, from an objective assessment perspective, SofM’s return to Vietnam would facilitate opportunities to participate in Worlds or MSI, however, reality shows that Vietnamese teams are not yet capable of creating miracles on the international stage, or in other words, with the current power dynamics, we can only be satisfied with being “the underdog” at best, thus comparing the choice of returning to Vietnam versus staying to compete for opportunities in the LPL, SofM’s decision is quite understandable.