Mid-Season Invitational 2022: How will the VCS fare with Saigon Buffalo?

VCS Spring Playoffs ended and GAM Esports beating 3-1 Saigon Buffalo in the Finals. Despite winning the split, GAM will not play as the Vietnamese representative at MSI. Let’s find out why and what this will mean for VCS.

VCS 2022 MSI SGB

© Saigon Buffalo Esports

VCS returns to MSI, but without the Champions

Last year, VCS could not send their representative to MSI due to the travel restrictions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Coincidence or not, the top 4 teams in last year’s Spring Playoffs are the same ones from this year, in the same exact order. However, GAM Esports could not attend and they weren’t given an online format as they did with the LPL this year.

GAM dominated the Regular Split, achieving a perfect split with 14-0 and only losing two series out of the 30 games played. They were head and shoulders above everyone else and deserved to play at the first international tournament, the Mid-Season Invitational, which would take place in Busan, South Korea.

Unfortunately, GAM Esports, having a full Vietnamese team, will send all of their players to the SEA Games that will start two days after the beginning of MSI, on May 12th. This means that the whole team will not be able to play, thus the decision to allow Saigon Buffalo to represent the VCS as the second-place team at MSI 2022.

Saigon Buffalo representing VCS at MSI 2022

The second team from the VCS has performed decently, with a 56% winrate over 45 games during the regular split. With that being said, the team might struggle in Bo1, where they would need to perform their best in any given match in order to advance to the next stage.

SGB mainly relies on their ADC as the main carry for the team, taking more than 28% of the total damage output. Contrary to most players this season, SGB’s top has played mainly carries, which will make things very interesting against some of the best top laners worldwide.

With one team (LCL) already missing, Riot Games couldn’t afford to delete yet another team. SGB, having lost 3-1 in the finals to GAM Esports, will hope to make a strong showing for the region, even if they might not be as strong as GAM.

Honestly, its good that the VCS is back at international events, even if they drop all Group Stage matches. We’ve been lacking the explosive style of Vietnamese LoL for way too long at international events.

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