Recently, Royal Never Give Up claimed the championship title at MSI 2022. This marks the second consecutive year that the “Royal Legion” has secured this title. Not only did RNG defend their championship, but they also surpassed SKT T1 in the historical MSI trophy count. Furthermore, RNG is the second team after SKT T1 to successfully defend the MSI championship.
Whenever there is a champion team, there must be a team that can only finish as runners-up. Typically, fans may not pay much attention to the teams that come in second, unless they are well-known names in the League of Legends community, such as T1 (who recently became MSI 2022 runners-up) or FunPlus Phoenix (runners-up twice consecutively in the Spring and Summer 2021 splits). RNG itself, specifically AD carry Uzi, is also one of the “great second placers” in League of Legends.
In a recent stream, Xiaohu, a former teammate of Uzi at RNG, commented on the runners-up position in League of Legends tournaments: “Finishing second is also an honor. It is a reward in itself. The runners-up position doesn’t mean much, but if a team consistently finishes second, it means they are truly strong. If you consistently come in second, people will remember you as a formidable opponent. I think being a runner-up is nothing to be ashamed of. Finishing second 2 or 3 times a year means you’re really strong. Even stronger than a team that only has one title a year. The prize money is also significant. But excluding Worlds, of course. I’ve never been to a Worlds final, so I won’t comment on that.”
Always being hailed as the pride of LPL and carrying immense expectations before entering any tournament, Xiaohu and RNG understand that the pressure is incredibly intense, especially without a title. According to many viewers, he may be referring to RNG’s historical context, as well as FPX in 2021 and T1 recently.
FPX in 2021 and recently T1 at MSI 2022 are both runners-up
At the end of his statement, Xiaohu expressed his determination to reach the Worlds in the 2022 season. With their current strength, one can confidently say that RNG could achieve better results than at Worlds 2021 if they participate in this tournament. However, the journey ahead is still long, and Xiaohu as well as RNG will need to strive even harder.