Time flies. For over 1,000 days, no North American League of Legends team has beaten an LCK or LPL contestant at Worlds.
Team Liquid achieved North America’s most recent victory during the 2021 tournament. On Oct. 18, they defeated Gen.G in the group stage. However, this was followed by MAD Lions’ victory over LNG Esports, which forced a four-way tie. Liquid then lost a rematch against Gen.G and were disqualified from the event.
Besides beating Gen.G once, Liquid also defeated LNG Esports, their LPL rivals in Group D at Worlds 2021. In another group, 100 Thieves once got the better of EDward Gaming, though the latter still advanced over the North American League squad alongside T1. In Group A, Cloud9 defeated FPX once, allowing them to fight in tiebreakers as well, which they successfully won.
Unfortunately for LCS fans, that’s where the region’s victories end at Worlds. In the last two tournaments, they failed to beat opponents from China and South Korea.
If you only look at best-of-series wins, the case isn’t any better at the Mid-Season Invitational. This year, Liquid managed to take a single game off T1 but still lost the series 3-1. In 2023, the North American representatives went 0-9 against LPL and LCK teams. At MSI 2023, however, Evil Geniuses managed to steal one game from T1 in the Rumble Stage.
Overall, it’s a dire record for a region that’s been struggling against the LPL and LCK competition for years. LCS’s biggest international successes arguably took place in 2019 and 2018. In the former, Liquid took down the defending world champions, Invictus Gaming, in MSI’s semifinal but lost the following final to G2 Esports. In 2018, C9 placed second in Group B and then took down LCK’s Afreeca Freecs 3-0 in the quarterfinal before losing to Fnatic in the semi.
In the meantime, LCS teams managed to secure single wins in group stages but always failed to advance. Liquid are arguably the unluckiest team in that regard. From 2018 to 2021, they went 3-3 in the Worlds group stages but never actually qualified for the playoffs.
This isn’t just an issue for North American teams; European squads have faced similar issues. G2 are the only European team who compete against the LCK and LPL squads every year. At MSI 2024, they took down Top Esports 3-0 and secured a best-of-five series against T1. At Worlds 2023, they defeated Weibo Gaming and Dplus KIA.
With a third international tournament joining League’s calendar in 2025, both regions will have the chance to improve their record against their Asian competition—or worsen it.
