In recent years, representatives from the LCS have consistently disappointed at the World Championship in a… familiar way. Even the reigning LCS champion Team SoloMid (TSM) ended their run at the 2020 World Championship with a dismal record of 0-6.
To “justify” this issue, TSM’s SwordArt recently spoke out and pointed out the differences between LCS and the region he previously competed in, the LPL:
“In the LCS, scrimming and solo queue face a significant hurdle due to high ping reaching 60. This completely changes the players’ playstyle. For example, if you are being chased, it becomes very difficult to smoothly execute dodges and retaliate with damage, making it hard to outplay opponents. This is why the playstyle in this region tends to be a bit slower than usual.”
In contrast to the LCS, in the LPL, the ping when playing in Korean ranked games is only 37; if playing on the Chinese server, whether scrimming or climbing ranks, the ping will be lower. After hearing SwordArt’s reasoning, many North American fans expressed agreement, believing that the ping disparity significantly affects the playstyle of LCS players, making this region somewhat “sluggish” compared to international competitors.
Furthermore, TSM has just defeated their “arch-rival” Cloud9, and SwordArt shared the training secrets that helped TSM improve, which he applied back when he was with Suning: watching Korean ranked games extensively, while also ensuring that teammates understand and are familiar with the Korean ranked meta.