After a poor showing by Team Liquid at the League of Legends Worlds 2023 Championship Series, LCS fans are beginning to question whether importing League players from “superior” regions like Korea should remain the status quo if they continue to underperform.
A discussion was sparked following yesterday’s first round of elimination matches with NA darlings Team Liquid out immediately after a 0-3 record during the Worlds Swiss stage. As a result, fans aren’t convinced imported players are worth it anymore.
Many speculate as to why LCS teams and players fail to keep up with their Eastern competition, with some pointing to a lack of motivation and challenge they’d find in competitions like the LCK or the LPL, a difference in the quality of matches and practice in North America, and even their structure and training outside of the server brought into question by unsuspecting fans.
Given the LCK and LPL are the two regions dominating at League—and have done so for years—it’s no surprise LCS teams and franchises are paying exorbitant amounts to import players from these regions in the hopes of reaching even just the quarterfinals.
It’s also no secret the LCS has struggled at Worlds. The last time we saw an NA team even reach the quarterfinals was in 2021 when Cloud9 was effectively knocked out in a best-of-five series against Gen.G. The last time an LCS team made it as far as the semifinals was back in 2018 when Cloud9 was pitted against Fnatic and lost.
However, with several LCK imports, many League fans had high hopes for the LCS teams at Worlds this year. Sadly, even before Worlds began, hope faded as teams like FlyQuest—who’d had two imports in Lee ‘VicLa’ Dae-kwang and Lee “Prince” Chae-hwan play this split—didn’t even make the Worlds cut.
It’s not to say the pros on TL have no experience on the Worlds stage, with the core of Jo “CoreJJ” Yong-in, Park “Summit” Woo-tae, and Hong “Pyosik” Chang-hyeon present in some of League esports’ biggest moments in history.
On the other hand, fans suspect communication issues are at fault where teams cannot communicate on a top professional level due to the language barrier. Teams need to start looking at not only importing players from these top regions but also improving their training structures and team communication.
Or they could make a TSM move and switch to another region altogether.
For Cloud9, the fate of the LCS making it into the knockout stage rests, once again, on their shoulders alone. First, they must beat Fnatic during their elimination match on Oct. 26. No pressure or anything, guys.
