How does the MSI 2024 format affect T1, Gen.G?
Since MSI 2023, Riot has made notable changes to increase the competitiveness of the annual tournament held in the middle of the year of the League of Legends village. The most typical example is 2 big changes: the champion team of MSI 2024 will have a direct ticket to the group stage of CKTG 2024 if they make the playoffs of the Summer tournament. And the remaining thing is that the 2 regions with the best results will have 4 slots for their region at CKTG 2024. With T1, Bilibili Gaming, Gen.G in the group of 3 strongest teams at MSI 2024, LCK and LPL are 2 regions with 4 representatives all participating in the group stage of CKTG 2024.
MSI 2024 has many changes in the format and one of them is “the 2 regions with the best results will have 4 spots at CKTG 2024”
However, this has created a consequence in the 2024 Summer Split, when T1 did not perform well and had to play in the regional qualifiers. In fact, T1 only won a ticket to the 2024 World Championship after defeating KT Rolster in the final match of the regional qualifiers, thereby reaching the upcoming World Championship with the 4th seed. Specifically, some League of Legends viewers have commented: T1 reached the 2024 World Championship “thanks to the spot that Gen.G brought to the LCK”.
But from here, this type of content began to appear frequently in the Vietnamese League of Legends community and caused a lot of controversy.
No one knows the basis for some viewers to think that “T1 reached CKTG 2024 thanks to Gen.G bringing the 4th spot to LCK”
Riot's announcement causes the LoL community to misunderstand T1's role
After Gen.G defeated BLG in the upper bracket finals and secured the first spot in the grand finals, Riot posted an announcement in English that read: “With Gen.G's qualification for the MSI 2024 Finals, the LCK has secured a 4th slot at Worlds 2024.” At the moment, many viewers are using this as a reason to assert that it is thanks to Gen.G that T1 reached Worlds 2024.
Riot's announcement after Gen.G defeated BLG in the winners' bracket finals accidentally became an argument for some viewers to defend the argument “T1 reached CKTG 2024 thanks to Gen.G”
However, League of Legends audiences may have forgotten one important thing: Riot's format clearly states that as long as the 2 regions have the best results at MSI 2024, those 2 regions will have 4 spots to attend CKTG 2024, regardless of whether the grand final will be a “civil war” or a great war between two different regions. And the context of that round, in the winner's bracket final, it was the Gen.G – BLG match, while in the loser's bracket, it was T1 – G2 Esports. At that time, there were 4 teams left, representing 3 regions (LEC, LCK, LPL).
MSI 2024 Round 3 scenario with only 4 teams representing 3 regions
With Gen.G entering the grand finals, of course, LCK has guaranteed to be one of the two regions with the best results, because whether BLG makes it to the grand finals or G2 beats T1, there will still be an LCK representative in the final match. However, there is a fact that many viewers have forgotten (or intentionally forgotten): T1 also has the ability to ensure that LCK will be one of the two regions with the best results, regardless of the outcome of the Gen.G – BLG match.
Many viewers do not realize that: T1 is completely capable of deciding whether LCK will keep 4 spots in CKTG 2024 without caring about the result of the Gen.G – BLG match.
T1 can also independently secure 4 spots to attend CKTG 2024 for LCK
To clarify this issue a bit more, the audience needs to go back to Round 2 of the MSI 2024 playoffs. At that time, although BLG dropped them to the loser's bracket, before Round 2 ended, T1 eliminated the remaining representative of the LCS (Team Liquid) and helped the competition for “the 2 regions with the best results” become a game of only the LPL, LEC, and LCK. The situation was even more favorable for the LCK teams when on May 14, G2 eliminated TES.
So, first, T1 narrowed the playing field to a competition between LEC, LCK, and LPL. G2 helped LCK lose a strong representative from LPL, putting BLG in a “one-on-one against the world” situation while LCK had 2 representatives.
T1 itself has narrowed the game down to a 3-region competition for the position of “2 regions with the best results at MSI 2024”
G2 eliminated TES from Round 2 to push BLG into a “one-on-one against the world” situation while LCK has 2 representatives.
After that, T1 single-handedly eliminated G2 in a 3-0 match to advance to the loser bracket finals. At that time, many audiences, experts, and streamers commented that T1 “helped” LPL keep 4 spots to attend CKTG 2024. That was true, because thanks to T1's victory, LPL and LCK were the 2 regions with the best results at MSI 2024.
But as mentioned above: regardless of the score between Gen.G and BLG, T1 still has full control over how many spots LCK will have at Worlds as long as they still have a match against G2. The statement “T1 will reach Worlds 2024 thanks to Gen.G” is only true if T1 loses to G2. In all other cases, the statement “thanks to Gen.G, T1 will reach Worlds 2024” is meaningless.
The statement “T1 will reach CKTG 2024 thanks to Gen.G” is only true when T1 loses to G2, otherwise all such statements are meaningless.
Suppose Gen.G loses to BLG, then Riot's announcement will change the clause “Gen.G” to “BLG” and “LCK” to “LPL”. But LCK still has nothing to worry about, as the T1 – G2 match has not yet taken place. And in that case, T1's role in deciding the 4 LCK 2024 World Championship spots will be clearer, instead of being overshadowed because Gen.G has entered the grand final before.
The winner bracket finals took place first and Gen.G won, but that doesn't mean that T1 players “thanked” Gen.G for going to CKTG 2024.
T1 has completely decided their own fate, at MSI 2024 or even recently, the matches from the group stage to the playoffs and the regional qualifiers. Gen.G has completed their mission at MSI 2024. But as for T1, they may be weak, but it would be a heavy contempt for the efforts of Faker and his teammates to think that this team reached CKTG 2024 “thanks” to another team.
