Riot Games has updated fans throughout the past few months regarding the upcoming World Championship. Through COVID-19 and location changes, they have not failed to alert fans when they have new updates. Unfortunately, Riot has shared that Vietnam (VCS) will not participate in the 2020 Worlds due to COVID-19 travel restrictions.
A #Worlds2020 Update from Tom Martell:https://t.co/TuGKBBlI78 pic.twitter.com/6jNhYcxcR1
— LoL Esports (@lolesports) September 1, 2020
VCS out of Worlds
This is the first time VCS has ever been unable to attend the championship, and many fans and players are beyond disappointed. Worlds, taking place in Shanghai, was a tricky issue during the pandemic, as many countries went into lockdown and prevented non-essential travel. Although there are fewer infections now a few months later, there’s still apprehension regarding a second wave. Because of this, Vietnam’s rules regarding travel has complicated things for VCS.
Riot communicated the change through an official statement on their site, saying “VCS teams and VCS fans have been an irreplaceable fixture of Worlds, but in consideration of current circumstances, we have made the difficult decision to proceed without them this year.” In consideration of the VCS teams no longer being involved, Riot will also award them with their full share of the prize pool.
Yeah, health and safety first, as always….
But at least we have SofM to cheer us up. Can’t wait to see his performance at Worlds.— Not_Bruised_At_All (@LiquidRekto) September 1, 2020
A change in team placements
Because of the situation, there will schedule and placement changes regarding current teams. Now, there will be twenty-two teams competing for victory rather than twenty-four. As a result, Riot has condensed the Play-In stage to involve ten teams instead of twelve. These teams will be placed in two groups, with five teams in each one. Luckily for the LCK, Riot has advanced its third seed into group stages. Doing this will even out the number of teams in Play Ins.
Each group will play a single round-robin cycle, resulting in the winning teams advancing to the Group Stage. The third and fourth place teams will play against each other, with the winners of those matches will also head to the Group Stage. Riot has the entire update detailed on the official website.
At this point, there are no more updates regarding the teams in this year’s Worlds. Although every team besides VCS will compete, that doesn’t mean there won’t be any future adjustments in scheduling.
Stick with Daily Esports for more updates on the League of Legends 2020 World Championship.
