Introduction: The S15 season matches have officially started, and most players are paying close attention to the recent clashes. The World Championship battles are very fierce. From the current overall situation, this year the LPL region has had its poorest quarterfinal results in recent years. In the past two years, LPL had four teams reach the quarterfinals, but this year IG was knocked out in the play-in stage, while BLG and TES were definitely eliminated during the Swiss stage. After the group draw, BLG fans were very upset and immediately criticized Xiye. In a post-match interview, Knight openly stated that they hardly lost any scrims, but didn’t show their true strength in the official matches, and wanted to face TES in the Swiss stage finale.

Knight stated they almost never lost in scrims.

Most players are quite focused on this World Championship, especially with it being hosted in the LPL region, where everyone is eager to fight hard for the ultimate champion trophy. However, from the recent Swiss stage matches, the overall form of the LPL region seems off, even less stable than the MSI rhythm. Particularly, BLG, the number one seed from LPL, has become like a practice target for other teams on the stage, feeling like every team passing by steps on them. After four grueling rounds, BLG faces a do-or-die match at 2-2; a win means advancing to the quarterfinals, a loss means immediate elimination.

The group draw was highly anticipated. Originally, WBG’s mid laner Xiaohu was invited as the draw guest, but he declined due to more important matters, so Xiye replaced him. After some favorable draws early on, it seems LPL’s luck ran out as BLG and TES ended up facing each other in an internal clash, while T1 and CFO met teams from the European and North American regions. Compared to meeting two strong teams, this draw was somewhat better since it guaranteed at least one LPL team a quarterfinal spot. However, after the draw, BLG fans were extremely dissatisfied and immediately blamed Xiye.

Xiye himself responded directly, saying that at the moment of the internal clash draw, he felt like his soul left his body. But in the comment section, most neutral LPL fans defended him, believing that Xiye helped secure an LPL quarterfinal spot. The disappointing outcome is blamed on BLG and TES themselves—one team couldn’t beat European and American teams, and the other was thoroughly crushed by LCK teams. Comparing the two teams’ overall strength, BLG definitely has the advantage since they won the regional championship. Meanwhile, TES has suffered consecutive defeats in recent BO3 matches, being swept 2-0 twice by LCK teams.

In a Korean stream interview, BLG’s mid laner Knight openly said they nearly won all their scrims, but didn’t show 100% of their strength in real matches, and they need to prepare more perfectly. The team’s goal remains unchanged: the championship. Although he wants to face TES, he prefers not to have an internal clash and personally hopes to compete against T1. Frankly, the interview sounded quite stubborn; it’s unclear whether BLG truly has strong capability or if the players are just overly confident. Judging solely from the Swiss stage matches, even if BLG advances to the quarterfinals, they will most likely be inexperienced underdogs.

Goodbye thinks

This interview with Left Hand surprised me. Given their current results, they almost achieved a clean sweep in scrims. This might be the classic scrim talk; I remember G2 also mentioned their scrim results at a previous World Championship. If BLG reaches the quarterfinals, a 3-0 team can only face a 3-2 team—wonder if there will be another internal LPL clash then?

What do you all think about this situation, dear viewers?