Buzz
(Homeland) - Gen.G's CEO shares insights on the strength of LPL teams at the 2022 World Championship.
Since 2018, when Invictus Gaming became the first LPL team to win the 2018 World Championship, the biggest international tournament of the League of Legends (LoL) community has almost been a battleground dominated by the LCK and LPL regions. Since then, if it's not the LCK, it's the LPL taking the crown. Only G2 Esports (G2) has come close to breaking this dominance.
At the 2022 World Championship, it's widely believed that the competition will still revolve around the LPL and LCK. Other regions, according to many opinions, may only cause upsets. A notable example is MSI 2022. During that time, G2 displayed strong performance throughout the Group Stage and the first round of the Knockout Stage. However, in the second round of the Knockout Stage, G2 suffered a complete defeat, even against Saigon Buffalo (SGB).
Among the teams competing in the 2022 World Championship, Gen.G Esports (Gen.G) - the reigning champions of LCK Summer 2022 are highly rated. Chovy and teammates are even considered capable of defeating strong representatives from the LPL. If they can emerge victorious in this tournament, it would mark the third time in the team's history to win the World Championship. This record counts from the time when the name Samsung Galaxy first emerged in the world of LoL to when it was renamed Gen.G.
Despite the high regard from experts and the international LoL community, Gen.G's CEO - Mr. Arnold Hur, remains humble. The CEO shares, 'For me personally, the opponent I most want to defeat is Cloud9 (C9). We had a very bad season in 2018, so C9 is the opponent I most want to beat. Then it's G2. But honestly, I'm quite apprehensive about the teams from the LPL myself.'
For those unaware, at Worlds 2018, Gen.G had a very poor record of 1 win - 5 losses in the Group Stage and got eliminated early. Gen.G's only win was against C9. Meanwhile, the team nicknamed 'Cloud9' performed very well. It was C9 along with Royal Never Give Up who advanced from Group B into the knockout stage at Worlds 2018. By the end of the tournament, C9 made it to the top 4 strongest teams.
Conclusion
The Worlds 2022 tournament is fast approaching with only about 2 weeks left until the Play-In stage officially begins. Being highly rated serves as both proof of Gen.G's current strength and an invisible pressure weighing on the players. The task for Chovy and teammates at Worlds 2022 will be extremely difficult. They need to focus to the maximum, play with 100% performance to bring the Worlds trophy back to the LCK and affirm the strength of Korean LoL against their arch-rivals, the LPL.
