The journey since the start of the 2025 season has highlighted three critical weaknesses of GAM at the moment
GAM is too unstable
As mentioned during T1’s player swap at the AD Carry position between Smash and Gumayusi, there is a truth in Esports in general and League of Legends in particular: it is very difficult for a team to be strong while having an unstable lineup that is inconsistent from start to finish. The rare exception to date is SKT T1 2015. But at that time, even the substitute chosen, EasyHoon, was a top-tier player in his position and perhaps he only lost to Faker. Otherwise, as commentator Hoàng Luân once shared in a stream earlier this season: only teams from mid-table down to the bottom frequently change players.
Yet GAM has done this even in an official match at the MSI 2025 tournament, and it can be said that this is a very worrying signal. Not to mention, the position they replaced was Mid Lane – one of the lanes that requires the highest stability and is the main axis in the gameplay of teams in recent metas.
The truth has proven: both Aress and Emo have not performed at their highest level. Aress’s playstyle has somewhat turned against GAM, and now he is not consistently utilized. Meanwhile, Emo has only shown he is truly skilled with Yone and Taliyah. And when playing other champions, Emo often loses lane and consequently loses control of the game; even MVKE or TSW, not to mention CFO or G2, can overpower him.
The eternal story of “Khánh and Sang”
This issue perhaps does not need much elaboration, as it has been both a strength and a weakness of GAM for many seasons now. Kiaya is still very good, and Levi still has his “godly” plays, but GAM is too easy to “read”. For those who may not know, apart from BLG who have outclassed them, both FUR and G2 focused on completely camping Kiaya’s top lane while he often had to use damage champions.
And the Fearless Draft mechanism further emphasizes this weakness of GAM. It can be seen that in game 5, when GAM was pushed by G2 into a situation where they had to choose champions they were not comfortable with or ineffective, both Levi and Kiaya were “shut down”. The pick of Vi was a strong choice, and G2 was ready to use it to crush GAM. But when Levi used it, the result was clear.
GAM has quality players but has never maximized their potential
The biggest bright spot for GAM in the recent MSI 2025 journey was indeed Aress and Artemis’s positions. However, if Aress has had to get used to playing as a support, Artemis has faced a significant disadvantage. He still shines and utilizes resources well. But almost throughout the early game, Artemis – Elio had to fend for themselves. GAM’s playstyle still shifts too much towards the top lane while Artemis has proven he can hold his own against Hans sama.
Clearly, GAM can completely rectify these weaknesses. But they have yet to do so, and although they have won with familiar playstyles, when facing strong enough opponents, GAM’s gameplay has backfired time and time again.