With multiple tournaments lined up in the second half of 2023, the LPL Summer 2023 has been organized more swiftly compared to previous events. As of now, while the LCK has just started its playoffs, all four representatives from the LPL at the 2023 World Championship have been confirmed: JD Gaming, Bilibili Gaming, LNG Esports, and Weibo Gaming. Notably, WBG has several members returning to the Worlds after years away, such as TheShy and Crisp.
Of course, with the ability to co-stream matches in the LPL, SofM is particularly interested in the key matches. A prime example is the decisive match between WBG and Edward Gaming for the last spot at the 2023 Worlds. With his high level of expertise and being a very well-known figure, not only do Vietnamese fans enjoy watching SofM’s co-streaming of the matches, but LPL fans also love it. Many even edit clips from these streams and translate them for the LPL audience.
However, due to language barriers, SofM has encountered some issues. Specifically, some individuals have deliberately edited SofM’s clips and misinterpreted his comments. A recent incident involved SofM reacting to WBG securing their spot at the 2023 Worlds, where he made several remarks. Unfortunately, some people took advantage of this, translating it to suggest SofM was blaming WBG: “Why didn’t they (WBG) bring Xiaohu to play with me when I was still with WBG?”
For SofM’s fans, it is well understood that the “Vietnamese Jungle God” would never indirectly belittle his teammates like that. He is very close to Angel (the Mid Laner of WBG when SofM played for this team), and they even reached the finals of the 2020 Worlds together. Nonetheless, many LPL fans still misunderstood and criticized SofM.
At present, the situation continues to attract the attention of the LPL community and SofM’s fans. Many fans of the “Jungle God” believe he left WBG long ago, but perhaps the troubles related to his former team still linger. In the past, SofM was criticized by TheShy fans during the time when their idol was underperforming and was seen as a weakness for the team.