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The biggest tournament in the League of Legends season is in full swing as they wrap up the Swiss Stage over the weekend at the KBS Arena in South Korea.
Two more teams will move on to the Knockout Stage after LNG Esports qualified Friday morning after they took down the LCK’s kt Rolster 2-1. Three teams that are guaranteed not to be in the Knockout Stage are MAD Lions, GAM Esports, and Cloud9 after they each took their third loss of the Swiss Stage, eliminating them from the tournament.
Meanwhile, Dplus KIA, Fnatic, and WeiboGaming FAW AUDI extended their tournament one more round, leading them to a must-win best-of-three to qualify for the Knockout Stage.
GAM Esports
The VCS representatives, GAM Esports, can’t be too upset with their performance on the World Stage.
To make it to the point, they had to prove doubters wrong as it was, and they ought to leave with their heads held high after they nearly were eliminated in the early phases of the tournament after they lost their opening match against LOUD in the Play-In Stage.
They were able to bounce back, taking down Rainbow7, LOUD, and Team Whales en route to the Swiss Stage. Once at the Swiss Stage, GAM Esports went 1-3, lasting longer than the other Play-In qualifier, Team BDS, and finding an upset win over the LCS’s Team Liquid.
Though they won’t be the League of Legends 2023 Worlds champions, they still had a great run, continuing to make a name for the VCS on an international level.
MAD Lions and Cloud9
The same optimism isn’t shared with the Western teams as the LEC’s MAD Lions and the LCS’s Cloud9, who have once again fallen flat at yet another International event.
Though G2 Esports and NRG are both still competing for a spot in the knockout stage, it’s hard to ignore the fact that four of the five teams eliminated so far from the Swiss Stage are from the Western regions. The LPL and LCK have yet to have one of their representatives eliminated from the tournament.
This trend isn’t anything new; after all, no North American team has ever won the World Championships, and the last time a European team won was in Season 1, all the way back when China and Korea hadn’t built their competitive infrastructure for League of Legends yet and didn’t send competitors to the Championships. Since then, the Eastern teams have dominated the international competitions, leaving Western fans frustrated and desperate for answers.
The good news is both regions could still have a team make it to the Knockout Stage, though for both NRG and Gen.G Esports to make it to knockouts, one of them will have to take down another Eastern team, a feat Gen.G has proven to be able to do this tournament.
You don’t want to miss any of the action as the last two western teams battle it out, and you can catch all the action live on both YouTube and Twitch.
WeiboGaming, Fnatic, and Dplus KIA
The LPL’s WeiboGaming FAW AUDI, the LEC’s Fnatic, and Dplus KIA from the LCK all kept their tournament alive by finding wins in the 4th round of the Swiss Stage after falling to a quick 1-2.
They now get one more match to prove that they deserve to participate in the Knockout Stage when they compete in the 5th and final round of the Swiss Stage.
Who has what it takes to survive, and who will crumble under the pressure? Only time will tell.