Players of LCK teams (from left) DRX, T1, Griffin and Damwon pose after winning the Rift Rivals against the LPL teams in 2019. (Riot Games)
The top four teams of Korean League of Legends league LCK and Chinese LoL league LPL are to clash online on May 28, according to reports, but Riot Games has yet to make an official statement regarding the event.
The top four teams of LoL Championship Korea -- T1, GenG, DRX and Damwon Gaming -- and the top four teams of the LoL Pro League -- JD Gaming, Top Esports, FunPlus Phoenix and Invictus Gaming -- will determine which region is on top. The Korean teams will play in LoL Park in Jongno, central Seoul, while the LPL teams will play in TJ Sports in Shanghai, with a latency of 30 to 40 milliseconds, according to esports page FOMOS.
Similar events cannot be held for the North America and European regions, as the latency would be much higher given the distance between the regions, causing significant lag.
Rift Rivals, the competition where teams from the same region group to fight other regions, was abolished in 2019. Last year, T1, Griffin, DRX and Damwon Gaming won the Rift Rivals against the same four teams that are expected to appear on the LPL side, although rosters have changed since.
As the Mid-Season Invitational has been canceled due to the spread of COVID-19, fans of League of Legends expected the next international competition to be the 2020 LoL World Championships.
However, T1 CEO Joe Marsh posted a poll on Twitter that gave hope to esports fans.
“Would you want to see @T1LoL play friendly matches with @lplenglish teams to fill the MSI void (if rules allow),” Marsh posted on April 26, which received 95.8 percent positive answers among 16,945 votes as of 9 a.m. on Sunday.
Marsh also tweeted on May 2 asking the top three teams from LCK and LPL if they would be willing to play together in May.
Riot Games is reported to be working to organize the competition, but Riot Games Korea has yet to confirm the hosting of the event or the details.
If realized, this would be the first time for LPL and LCK teams to clash since the World Championships last year, heightening fans’ anticipation.
Although Chinese and Korean teams are known to have scrimmages regularly, results are rarely shared with fans, keeping the comparative strength of the regions a mystery.
FunPlus Phoenix mid-laner Doinb had reported on his stream on April 25 that his team lost to GenG in scrimmages six games to none, but scrimmage results are known to differ from actual games.
By Lim Jang-won (
ljw@heraldcorp.com)