As we know, in early July, the Esports community in general and League of Legends in particular will welcome the Esports World Cup 2024, which will be held for the first time in Dubai, Saudi Arabia. Specifically for League of Legends, the tournament will gather powerful teams from 4 Major regions. Thus, the EWC 2024 will almost replicate the recently held MSI 2024 in Chengdu. Many viewers also believe that the results may not differ much from MSI 2024, especially since Gen.G is currently demonstrating a devastating form.
However, for T1, it is likely that EWC 2024 will also be hard to claim the title. This is because, right in their opening match, Faker and his teammates faced a very tough opponent, Bilibili Gaming. Although known as the “LPL’s Slayer”, since 2023, T1 has only beaten BLG once in a BO3 at the 2023 World Championship. In all other encounters, Faker and his team have faced defeat, with their most recent loss being in the lower bracket finals of MSI 2024.
However, for League of Legends fans, there is one factor that the community is more concerned about, which is that all matches will only be held in a BO3 format, excluding the Semifinals and Finals. In this round, the losing team will be immediately eliminated with no chance for a rematch. According to many opinions, the BO3 format will be quite boring and with a limited number of matches, a BO5 would be more reasonable to attract excitement for the tournament. Nevertheless, some opinions suggest that BO3 is suitable for the quick nature of this tournament.
In fact, EWC 2024 is a young tournament and has no precedent. Therefore, inviting only top teams, combined with a concise and quick competition format, can be seen as an “experiment” for future tournaments. Moreover, teams may only come with the goal of interaction, practice, and market development. Thus, the win-loss factor may not entirely determine the outcome of this EWC.