Not-so-warm welcome: Top Esports spoil GAM Esports’ return to League’s World Championship

For three years, the VCS has been unable to take part in the League of Legends World Championship. Thanks to the difficulties in traveling due to COVID, the talented players from Vietnam have been forced to watch the biggest international event from afar, uncertain as to when they’d be able to return.

Today, the VCS made their triumphant return to the Worlds stage in the form of GAM Esports, the team that has controlled the Vietnamese scene for nearly two years to earn their spot as the region’s first seed. Unfortunately for GAM, their first game back had them staring right at the LPL’s second seed, Top Esports, who turned their valiant return into a wake-up-call.

Welcome back to Worlds

While the VCS’ official return to international tournaments was at this year’s MSI, their representative was Saigon Buffalo, not GAM Esports. Therefore, GAM had quite a bit to prove to the world in their first match of Worlds, as they have not been seen internationally since representing the VCS at Worlds 2019, where they were unable to progress out of groups.

GAM sought to follow the slow, more methodical playstyle that earned TES a top finish in the LPL. But in a sharp pivot to the strategy, as soon as members of the GAM squad gained access to their ultimates, they came together to catch the LPL representatives in their blind spots. Yet jumping straight into a W from Tian’s Poppy brought the team back to reality, handing over four quick kills that turned into a near-unstoppable snowball lead for TES.

Every teamfight, even if initiated with strong engage from GAM, turned in the favor of TES. Mark’s Yuumi hopping back and forth between the members of TES kept them healthy enough to run through all of GAM’s players, while Tian’s Poppy ensured that engages from Bie’s Rell would prove futile and even backfire for the VCS representatives.

While this was only GAM’s first match of the tournament, they face an uphill battle following this loss to TES, as soon they’ll have to face some of the best players that the LEC and LCK have to offer. Though this game proved their team-wide communication is strong, successfully committing to those plays can take them to the next level.

Ice, ice baby

One Everfrost wasn’t enough to satisfy TES’ hunger for a win. Instead of opting for a standard Mythic item like Moonstone Renewer, or focusing more on damage with Luden’s Tempest, Mark instead built an Everfrost on Yuumi. Regardless of which carry he attached himself to, this unorthodox Mythic item allowed the TES support to further inflict crowd control on his enemies outside of the slow on his Q and root with his ultimate.

When attached to Knight’s Ahri in the mid lane, who had also built an Everfrost, no member of GAM was able to move past the immense amounts of CC. This combination of damage, mobility, and CC—when combined with a bit more damage and healing from Yuumi—turned Knight into a one-man wrecking machine capable of starting and ending fights as soon as he entered them.

Thanks to this assistance from the Magical Cat, TES’ carries ended a sub-25-minute game with a combined 17/2/25 KDA, while Mark himself earned a 3/0/20 scoreline, even out-damaging multiple players across teams.

Following this game, every team competing in the Worlds group stage has competed in at least one match thus far. All of the LPL representatives have earned at least one win, and are on the cusp of ending the first weekend of groups at or near the top of their respective groups. GAM will compete again tomorrow against Rogue, while TES will face DRX to close tomorrow’s action.