On the evening of October 7th, DetonatioN FocusMe achieved a remarkable feat in both the history of this team and Japanese League of Legends: defeating a North American team at Worlds and securing a direct spot in the group stage. Notably, their opponent was the powerful Cloud9, featuring familiar names to League of Legends fans like Perkz and Zven…
With this historic victory, first and foremost, DFM has elevated the status of the LJL region in the global League of Legends landscape. Once a very small region with little to show at international tournaments, the LJL has made significant strides in recent years, especially in 2021. At MSI 2021 a few months ago, DFM also managed to draw with C9 in the group stage. Although they exited early, considering their patched-up roster (DFM had to field coach Kazu), what DFM achieved is commendable.
It must be said that until 2021, the LJL was still viewed as a weak region and was placed in Pool 4 at Worlds. There are not many local League of Legends players who meet quality standards, and most teams here have Korean imports (like DFM, which has three Korean members: Steal, Aria, and Gaeng). In fact, according to Evi—the player seen as a legend of Japanese League of Legends—he even had to spend his own money to organize tournaments in hopes of contributing to the development of the League of Legends community in the land of the rising sun.
With such factors, despite establishing a system in 2014, the LJL at Worlds should still be seen as a “rookie”. But with over 200% effort, at the highest level of the League of Legends tournament, DFM has made a historic achievement. Their victory is even more meaningful as their opponent comes from one of the four regions that Riot classifies as Major: North America. C9 itself, in terms of experience, level, and reputation, far exceeds DFM.
Remember, before the play-in stage of Worlds 2021 officially began, there was drama surrounding Riot’s lack of respect for teams in this group. Of course, aside from LNG Esports and Hanwha Life Esports, as well as C9, the other teams came from very young or weak League of Legends scenes (the 5 teams in Pool 2 were all domestic champions but were not highly regarded). So whether or not this reflects the attitude of the international community toward most teams from small and medium regions like PCS, VCS, LJL, OCE, CIS…
DFM’s victory over a representative from a Major region could create a significant shift in the global League of Legends community’s perception, especially Riot’s view towards small and medium regions. Previously, representatives from VCS also achieved similar feats when Lowkey Esports defeated Damwon Gaming in the first game of the knockout stage, or GAM Esports and Phong Vũ Buffalo continuously pushed formidable international opponents like G2 Esports, Fnatic, Flash Wolves, or even Longzhu Gaming to their limits.
Once again, a representative from a small region has convincingly defeated a “giant” from North America. DFM has changed the history of Japanese League of Legends specifically, as well as the League of Legends scene for small and medium teams internationally. Regardless of how DFM continues their incredible journey ahead, it is certain that Riot will have to take a different perspective, even invest more and pay more attention to such promising regions.