League of Legends Worlds 2024: One Last Dance for VCS, LJL, CBLOL & LLA

This 2024 Worlds marks the last dance for many regions, as we will be saying farewell to CBLOL, LLA, VCS, and LJL, with their future mergers planned for 2025. CBLOL and LLA will merge with the LCS to form the Americas League, while the VCS will fully merge with the APAC region, in which the LJL has already participated this year. As these regions step onto the Worlds stage for the last time, it’s time to relive some of their great international stories and fully grasp the stakes of their final international journey.

The oldest of all the current minor regions is sending two of its best weapons to make 2024 their best international year. Indeed, GAM is one of the few from the VCS and minor regions overall to have ever been to the main event. This is mainly because Play-Ins were only introduced in 2017, but also because the VCS has consistently sent the most dangerous underdogs. Alongside them will be Viking Esports, their greatest rival this season, which may be able to upset some teams that underestimate them.

The Vietnamese league's first international appearance was at Worlds 2012. The Saigon Jokers competed through the Southeast Asian Regional Finals and earned their ticket to the championship after showing a good level of play. The esports landscape was far different back then, and all year long, they fought against teams from all of South Asia, like future Worlds champions Taipei Assassins or Singapore Sentinels, even though they did not represent the same countries. However, they finished 9th-10th after winning only one out of their three games.

The league had to wait several years and the introduction of the Play-Ins in 2017 to make its great comeback to the competition. That year, Vietnam actually got their best result to date. The region was directly allocated a place in the group stage for their first seed. GAM almost reached the quarterfinals after taking a game off Fnatic and Immortals, ending in an iconic three-way tie with Fnatic and Immortals at 2-4. Sadly for them, though logically, Fnatic came out on top. The next year, Phong Vu Buffalo also took a game off G2 Esports, Europe's third seed.

In 2022, the VCS made waves by taking a game off TES, one of the top teams in the world, led by midlaner Zhuo "knight" Ding. They followed this up in 2023 with another great achievement, winning a best-of-three series against Team Liquid's super team and world champion Hong "Pyosik" Chang-hyeon. They eliminated the renowned North American team from the competition. These moments highlight the resilience and talent of the VCS despite facing significant challenges in recent years. The corruption scandals that plagued the region’s esports scene, coupled with the travel restrictions imposed by the COVID pandemic, created a difficult period for the Vietnamese league, which could not attend Worlds in 2020 and 2021. However, the VCS is now making a final push to prove its worth before merging with the PCS, LCO, and LJL to form the new APAC region. This marks the end of an era for the VCS.

The LJL made its first Worlds appearance in 2017. Out of its eight participations, including this year, the league has sent only four different organizations, largely due to the dominant reign of DetonatioN FocusMe, which has represented Japan five times.

In 2021, DetonatioN FocusMe became the only Japanese team to qualify for the Main Event. The Play-In format at the time placed teams in two groups, with the top team from each group advancing automatically. DFM tied 3-1 with Cloud9, leading to a tiebreaker where Shunsuke "Evi" Murase and Yuta "Yutapon" Sugiura faced off against Luka "Perkz" Perković's squad. In Japan’s greatest Worlds success, Evi delivered a standout performance on Gnar, dominating Cloud9's topside and securing the win that sealed their historic qualification.

Beyond that, they took a game off Splyce in 2019 and a game off Evil Geniuses and RNG in 2022. They come into this 2024 edition with the ambition of making up for their immense failure last year, when they didn’t win a single game and lost 0-2 twice against CTBC Flying Oysters and Team BDS.

Neither the LLA nor CBLOL have ever progressed beyond the Play-In stage at Worlds, with some of their closest chances coming years ago. In 2018, Infinity was two nexuses away from qualifying but lost 3-1 to G2 Esports. In 2019, Isurus fell short in a similar 3-1 series against Hong Kong Attitude. For CBLOL, Team oNe's 2017 run came closest, only to be denied by Fenerbahçe Esports with the same 3-1 result. Unfortunately, in the past six years, teams from these regions have consistently finished at the bottom of the rankings.

However, there have been flashes of brilliance. South American teams are known for their ability to surprise and entertain, with memorable upsets that are still remembered by League of Legends fans. In 2022, LOUD shocked Fnatic with a victory, birthing the "bot gap" meme after Diego "Brance" Amaral’s amazing 2v2 bot lane outplay. Brazil’s Kabum Esports delivered another iconic moment back in 2014, with Pedro Luiz "Lep" Marcari becoming a meme himself when his KDA was humorously highlighted.

Brazilian teams have had sporadic success in individual matches, such as INTZ defeating Team Liquid in 2020 despite finishing last in their group, and earlier, overcoming EDG in 2016 once. In 2015, paiN Gaming made waves by taking a game off CLG, preventing them from advancing to the quarterfinals. Despite rarely winning many matches, these performances show that CBLOL and LLA have the capacity for impactful, if brief, moments on the world stage.

Only four spots are up for grabs among eight competing teams. Among the contenders, five are representing their region for the last time: paiN Gaming (CBLOL), Movistar R7 (LLA), Fukuoka Softbank HAWKS gaming (LJL), GAM Esports (VCS), and Vikings Esports (VCS), each fighting for one final opportunity to prove their worth. These teams are set to provide intense opposition to the third seeds from the LCS and LEC, 100 Thieves and MAD Lions KOI as well as PSG Talon from the PCS.

Teams will face their final battles against one another, and in a Play-In stage where favorites from major regions are expected to dominate, it’s likely that minor regions will knock each other out in the loser’s bracket. Tune in starting September 25th at 2 PM CET for the Play-In kickoff.