One of the events that the League of Legends (LoL) community is very interested in for the 2022 season is the World Championship (Worlds). Although this is an annual event, Worlds is the biggest tournament in the LoL scene, and the matches here are incredibly exciting with fierce competition among teams.
Especially the race between representatives from the two largest regions of the LoL world: China (LPL) and South Korea (LCK).
Recently, Riot officially announced the schedule and the number of slots for Worlds 2022. Accordingly, this year’s tournament will not be held in a single country but will be a collaboration between the USA and Mexico (collectively referred to as the North America region).
The Play-in Stage will be held in Mexico City, Mexico. From the Group Stage onwards, matches will take place in the USA, specifically in three cities: New York (New York), Atlanta (Georgia), and the Grand Final will be in San Francisco, California.
In addition, Riot also announced the number of slots for Worlds 2022 for each region. In which, VCS has officially been confirmed to return to the biggest international tournament in the LoL scene with 2 slots, 1 slot directly to the Group Stage and 1 slot for the Play-in Stage. The two largest regions, LPL and LCK, will each have 4 slots, where the 4th slot will have to play in the Play-in Stage. The European region (LEC) also has 4 slots, but 2 of them will have to play in the Play-in Stage.
However, the fact that LPL and LCK have the same 4 slots for Worlds 2022 has left some LPL fans feeling aggrieved. According to these fans, recently, the LCK has clearly declined as T1 has almost “dominated” in their regional tournament. But when stepping into the first international tournament of the season, MSI 2022, T1 failed against Royal Never Give Up (RNG). Not to mention, T1 also performed poorly, even when facing teams from smaller regions like VCS (Vietnam).
The LPL community also argues that because T1 was defeated by RNG, while in the largest LoL tournament in China, there are many teams on par with RNG. Therefore, the conclusion of some LPL community members is that: Riot has been unfair in placing LPL and LCK on equal footing, even though currently, LoL in China is showing clear superiority.
However, it seems that everyone understands that the number of teams participating in Worlds from a region will be hard to exceed 4, no matter how strong that region is. Moreover, taking away one slot from the LCK region will certainly cause controversy. Riot’s approach is simply to implement the best solution for all parties involved.