The next Rift Rivals event starts July 4
The next Rift Rivals competition starts tomorrow, July 4. Competing this time around are the teams from the LCK (Korea), LPL (China), LMS (Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau), and VCS (Vietnam). For the purpose of this Rift Rivals event, the LMS and VCS will count as one region. Each region sends their top 4 teams, based on their spring split region ranking.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at who is competing at Rift Rivals.
LCK
The first team to represent the LCK at Rift Rivals will be SK Telecom T1. SK is the only three-time world champion of League of Legends. While their performance this split has not been the best, they always find a way to turn things around in their international performances.
Next up is Griffin, the LCK Superstars. Griffin is currently tied for first place with Sandbox Gaming at 7W-1L in the LCK Summer split. Many experts see Griffin as one of the favorites to win the entire event, alongside their Chinese rivals in FunPlusX.
Currently, Kingzone Dragon X is fourth in the LCK summer split. However, they have improved a lot from the earlier weeks of the Summer split. The team will have a lot to prove during Rift Rivals, but they have the fans there with them.
Last but certainly not least is Damwon Gaming. Currently third in LCK Summer, this team has impressed a lot of fans this split, and they’re looking to stay in contention for the summer playoffs later this year.
LPL
To introduce the LPL, we can’t go any other way but to start with the reigning world champions, Invictus Gaming. Invictus maintained their entire roster after winning the world championships. However, they are struggling to keep up with the competition this split and are currently sitting at a tied 5th place.
JD Gaming is easily the LPL team that has fallen off the most from last split’s performance. They currently sit at a tied 9th place out of the 16 teams competing in the Summer split. This is far lower than we expected from this team, but there is still time to turn the split around.
FunPlusX is a team not many people in the West are familiar with, but they very well should be. FunPlusX is back with a vengeance after their absolutely dominant performance in the Spring split of the LPL, with a series score of 13W-2L. This split they are off to a fantastic start, sitting at the top of the scoreboard with 7W-0L. The team aims to improve on their previous split’s win rate and to improve on their performance in the LPL Spring playoffs. FunPlusX is one of the favorites to win the entire Rift Rivals event this time around. We hope to see Griffin face off against them at some point during the event, as that would make for an incredible game of League of Legends.
The final team to represent the LPL at Rift Rivals is Top Esports, previously known as Topsport Gaming. They are currently sitting at a shared 2nd place in the LPL spring split and are seemingly a top 4 contender for the event. However, this new team still lacks the international experience that other competitors have. That could, potentially, hurt their chances.
LMS
Representing the LMS will be the Flash Wolves. After their incredible performance in the last split, things have taken a turn for the worst. The team currently sits at the bottom of the scoreboard at a 1W-5L series score, having the second-worst overall game win rate of any team competing. It is unlikely they will be performing with their past strength this event, but who knows? They may still surprise us.
The second representative of the LMS region is MAD Team. They currently sit at a 2W-3L series score, putting them in the middle of the pack. Based on the past week’s games, I have to say that they are not looking that much better than the Flash Wolves. This makes the LMS likely the weakest region to be represented at Rift Rivals this time around.
VCS
Representing the new Vietnamese region, the VCS, is the Dashing Buffalo team. Dashing Buffalo was known previously as Phong Vü Buffalo at their previous international performances, and the team looks great again this split. After their 13W-1L score in the last split, they are off to an amazing start for the Summer, going 4W-0L so far. While they may still be considered an underdog to many of the LCK and LPL teams, I would not be surprised to see them go far in the Rift Rivals event.
The last representative of the VCS headed to the Rift Rivals event tomorrow is Evos Gaming. Currently, Evos sits at the 4th place in the VCS Summer split, but the team has shown a lot of potential. The Vietnamese organization has little international experience, but the team will be headed into the event with nothing to lose.
The Rift Rivals schedule
The event starts tomorrow, July 4, at 9:00 AM CET / 3:00 AM ET / 4:00 PM (Previous Day) in Korea. The Rift Rivals event will run for four consecutive days, ending on Saturday, July 7. All games will be streamed and can be watched on the Watch page of Lolesports.
For more coverage of this Rift Rivals event, be sure to check back tomorrow on Daily Esports!
