On April 20, the LPL Spring 2024 champion officially named Bilibili Gaming (BLG) after defeating Top Epsorts (TES) with a convincing 3-1 score. This victory gives BLG their first LPL title and gives them a great advantage at MSI 2024. Specifically, they will have a spot in stage 2 instead of having to play from the Play-In round (TES must attend the Play-in round). this paragraph).
BLG recently won the first LPL title in its history
And just a few hours after BLG won the championship, the draw results of the MSI 2024 Play-In round were also determined. Accordingly, VCS representative – GAM Esports (GAM) will face Fnatic (FNC) in their opening match. In the same group as GAM, there is also TES and the champion of the CBLOL region – LOUD (LLL).
VCS representative – GAM will have to face Fnatic in their opening match
Immediately after the above results were announced, the LPL press was extremely worried about TES's results at MSI 2024. One of the first reasons mentioned was that TES could meet again. GAM at this tournament. Remember JackeyLove and his teammates had a humiliating loss to GAM at Worlds 2022 and eliminated them right from the Group Stage. This sad history has a chance to repeat if TES clashes with GAM at MSI 2024.
JackeyLove is the “witness” to TES' humiliating defeat against GAM at Worlds 2022
Not stopping there, what worries the LPL press the most is TES's extremely unstable performance. Even in the recent LPL Spring 2024 Final, this team had many unnecessary error handling situations. The sad point here is that TES's brightest star – JackeyLove – is someone who often makes mistakes and puts the home team in a difficult position.
Right in the last LPL Final, JackeyLove had a careless Flash situation and caused the home team to lose the fight afterward.
Sohu page posted an article with a concise title: “The MSI draw has ended, TES and GAM really have a lot of love.”
“This year's spring tournament was really great for BLG but LPL faced bad news. In the Final, TES's performance was really disappointing. LPL will come to MSI with 2 representatives but TES does not seem to have achieved its greatest strength” – An audience frankly shared
“If GAM can meet TES, this will be a match that attracts a lot of attention. Traveling thousands of miles to meet each other is not a simple matter. People often joke that TES single-handedly raised the level of the VCS region (referring to the humiliating loss at Worlds 2022). It's funny that they can meet each other at MSI” – Another gamer sarcastically commented on the Start-Up round draw results
To be fair, to have a chance to face TES, GAM must overcome an experienced Fnatic from the LEC region. This is already an extremely big challenge for VCS representatives. At Worlds 2023, GAM with the strongest force could not win against FNC. Now with a seriously damaged squad, no one dares to believe that GAM will make a difference against the two giants of LPL and LEC.
GAM will need to make every effort to maintain hope of passing the MSI 2024 Kick-off round
As for TES, they need to quickly overcome the weakness called erratic performance in the preparation phase for MSI 2024. Maybe the opponents in the Kick-off round may not be strong or classy enough to make things difficult for TES. . However, when facing stronger teams in phase 2, this weakness will likely make TES pay a heavy price.