A few days ago, SBTC Esports unexpectedly announced the farewell of Celebrity. The post was published on the team’s official social media page with a black-and-white theme, causing a stir in the Vietnamese League of Legends community. Celebrity is a veteran player not only of SE but also of the entire VCS scene. Therefore, after SE’s announcement, even VETV posted about the event. At the same time, the Lol.fandom page—considered an encyclopedia of the League of Legends community—also announced that Celebrity had left SE.
However, recently, SE surprisingly announced that Celebrity would remain with SE to prepare for the VCS Summer 2022. In this announcement, SE also included the phrase “Thank you,” typically used in farewell posts for players, but the content was entirely different. Accordingly, SE expressed gratitude to Celebrity for his contributions to the team and his role in motivating Dia1’s return after a penalty.
SE’s unexpected “turnaround” left the Vietnamese League of Legends community in shock. Although SE fans are accustomed to the team’s “content creation at all times,” even the team’s hardcore fans were caught “offside” this time. In fact, many opinions suggest that SE’s content creation style is becoming increasingly over the top and may risk losing the trust of fans in the future.
In fact, from the announcement regarding Dia1’s return, SE had already indicated that Celebrity would not be leaving. However, this “turnaround” from the “Pink Chickens” further undermines fans’ trust in the professional commitments of this team, which is known for “creating better content than competing.”
With Celebrity staying, SE’s roster for the upcoming season may only see one change in the Mid Lane position with Dia1 replacing 2T. This can be seen as the strongest roster SE can have, with all positions filled by reliable names, including NPer. However, for this team to truly compete for a top 4 position and subsequently secure 2 spots at the World Championship, the players themselves need to put in significant effort, especially as top teams like GAM Esports and Saigon Buffalo are growing stronger by the day.