In the matches that took place on the afternoon of January 13 (Vietnam time), the debut of Weibo Gaming was the most notable highlight. The simple reason is that this is the first match where LPL fans had the chance to witness the “two gods” of the Chinese League of Legends scene, TheShy and SofM, competing in the same jersey.
There were many doubts and questions surrounding the duo TheShy – SofM. While the “Top God” has had several unsuccessful seasons since winning the 2018 World Championship, SofM experienced a rather unsuccessful season as well, as he and his teammates ended up empty-handed in the domestic league and even lost their ticket to the 2021 World Championship. Behind-the-scenes clips revealed in the LPL documentary also showed that SofM and Bin – the former top laner of WBG – did not truly harmonize while playing together, even though they are close friends outside of the game.
In their opening match, SofM and his teammates faced off against Team WE – a team that reached the semifinals of the LPL Summer 2021 playoffs and only lost to FunPlus Phoenix and the eventual champions, EDward Gaming. In game 1, WE demonstrated that they were not an easy team to bully in the LPL. However, thanks to some “godly” moments, Gwen in TheShy’s hands and Aphelios from Huanfeng – two of Riot’s “200-year” champions helped WBG secure victory despite being behind for almost the entire match.
In game 2, once again, Huanfeng showed how formidable Aphelios can be. In this match, WBG played more comfortably. The game ended in just 25 minutes with a dominating performance from WBG.
Although they won on their debut day, there are still concerns regarding WBG’s lineup. Huanfeng cannot carry the team in every match, and surely opponents will not always allow WBG to have access to those “200-year” champions in their lineup. Nevertheless, this is just the starting match, and from the lessons learned in this game, it can be believed that WBG will improve to be a worthy contender for titles in the new season.