Although the Play-In stage of the 2023 World Championship (Worlds) has ended for a few days, the echoes still linger. Rarely do fans of LoL witness such a dramatic and captivating Play-In stage. In fact, Riot was even cheered by international LoL fans for daring to change the boring BO1 format to BO3 matches, allowing for stunning comebacks from Team Whales and the strong resurgence of GAM Esports.
Recently, Riot announced the “Top 10 most epic highlights of the Play-In stage.” It’s no surprise that VCS completely dominated the list with 7 out of 10 plays featured. Among these, there were instances where GAM or TW were “destroyed” by their opponents, like the first Pentakill of the tournament when Route took down the entire GAM lineup. However, many of these plays showcased spectacular maneuvers by VCS players. Notable examples include Bie’s incredibly “magical” hook, Kiaya’s counterattack with Gnar, and Palette’s annihilation of the battlefield, which also took down TW.
Interestingly, for the plays involving TW, they mostly occurred in matches where the “Whales” ultimately secured victory. These highlights can be seen as “souvenir gifts” that TW “gave” to their opponents before forcing them to taste defeat.
However, it’s unfortunate that Slayder’s Pentakill and Kati’s high-level plays didn’t meet the criteria to make the list. The top highlight went to Nuc’s “Tristana firing all out” during the decisive match against PSG Talon. Nuc and his teammates’ play was also the moment that ended Game 5, leading to their ultimate victory and a spot in the Swiss stage for BDS.
In the Swiss stage, only GAM remains from the smaller regions, and the yellow-and-black team will have to face off against the “big names” of the global LoL scene. The journey ahead is arduous, but the Vietnamese LoL community, and fans of smaller regions in general, will continue to cheer for GAM and hope the team can put forth their best efforts in the remaining part of the tournament.