The special Worlds of LPL
In the past, LPL has always been famous for its large number of foreign soldiers, with most of the players from LCK. In fact, LPL in recent years has always been considered a good land of LCK players who have not been looking for a foothold at the League of Legends. The skill platform does not need to be discussed, plus the discipline is what previously lacked in the middle of China. Worth mentioning, in the past, the LPL teams ascended to the Worlds have the contribution of at least 2 Korean players in the squad. There was even a time when Royal Never Give Up was nicknamed “Royal Army” because they were the only team that did not use foreign soldiers among the top LPL teams.
RNG was once called the “Royal Army” because they were the rare top team of LPL without any foreign soldiers.
However, in Worlds 2024, LPL will have an incredible change. Specifically, among the 4 teams participating in this year's Worlds from China, only Tarzan (Weibo Gaming) and Scout (LNG Esports) are from Korea. The remaining, Top eSports and Bilibili Gaming both use 100%domestic players. This is a positive signal that currently, LPL also produces talents. But in addition, it is an alarming signal for LCK.
But Worlds 2024, only 2 teams of LPL use foreign soldiers and each team 1 person
The good news for LPL is bad news for LCK
But when LPL started using many domestic players, it also means that LCK is scarce so talented that there is no more players from abroad. Even at LPL, the Korean foreign soldiers they own, if they do not take a break (Theshy, Doinb), they cannot find a place in the top teams (Rookie). Even Fisher had to go back to his hometown to find the competition.
Fisher also has to go back to LCK to find opportunities
Not to mention, this also shows: LCK is currently extremely scarce for young players. Over the past few years, the number of players has been promoted from the Challengers teams impresses not much. Perhaps only 2k2 of T1, or Peyz of Gen.G. The remaining, only stopped at an acceptable level as the Kwangdong Freecs.
LCK has also been no longer produced as talented as before
This is a truly alarming situation for LCK when in the near future, their elders will have to leave and the players in the middle will also be older. Without the appropriate inheritance generation, LCK may face many difficulties, directly affecting their achievements in the international arena.