International competition is the lifeblood of esports. The viewership is just on another level entirely. Both for MSI and Worlds.
10 international BO5s a year is just way too few. Especially when a big chunk of them were Korea vs Korea or China vs China, so it probably ended up being like 7-8 a year on average.
7 to 8 international bo5s in a full fucking year. No wonder we didn’t see shit like Rookie vs Faker bo5 ever. Or Knight vs Chovy.
LoL esports has been enjoyable but it could have been soooooo much better, it’s actually wild.
Imagine how insanely hype history would be if we saw the regions clash more often. There are so many great players we didn’t really get to see compete out of their regions very often.
It’s much better with new MSI format and with the upcoming 3rd international tournament next year but this should have been a thing for many years already. I can’t believe they dragged their feet that much.
I honestly think all regions should be allowed the same amount of teams. “Oh, but wildcard regions…” who cares? If they lose, let them lose, at the very least they were all given an equal chance and more players had the opportunity to play in an international environment and improve. Like, we literally are just lifting up those who are already high instead of trying to do the same to everyone, Korea and China have huge investment in their teams, but who the fuck would invest in a small region team for a chance to have ONE slot at an environment they don’t even know if they’ll be in the next year? I don’t want to sound like I hate Korean or Chinese players or teams, because I don’t, but I’m fucking sick of having pretty much only them being relevant at Worlds.