The LOL World Cup is in complete chaos, with Faker stopping in the semifinals and five major Chinese and Korean teams eliminated—all upsets.

Hello to all LPL viewers and League of Legends summoners, this is the World Game Hub.

Yesterday, the EWC World Cup reached the semifinal stage with two BO3 matches, producing two huge upsets. The unexpected teams KC and DK eventually met in the finals, creating the strangest narrative of this World Cup.

Since then, all eight major teams from the MSI main event have been eliminated, and the World Cup is in utter turmoil.

Upsets everywhere, MSI powerhouses all out.

Before the start of this World Cup, most people believed the MSI heavyweights would dominate the tournament. HLE and BLG were considered a tier above everyone else, with other notable teams like GEN, G2, and LYON. If someone had said at the start that none of these teams would win the championship—or even make the finals—everyone would have thought they were crazy.

Yet that bizarre scenario actually unfolded in yesterday's matches.

This World Cup had already seen a flood of upsets, and yesterday's semifinal games were both upsets as well. The pre-match favorites all fell in the semifinals. Specifically, T1, despite holding a huge lead in the deciding game, repeatedly made mistakes and gave away opportunities, allowing KC to defeat them.

Fans thought T1 finally had a chance to win the title, imagining they might lose to GEN in the finals—but never expected them to lose to KC.

In the second match, GEN also stumbled. The bot lane gap was enormous, with Ruler being outclassed by Smash in a positional gap. In the deciding game, Chovy was also suppressed by ShowMaker. Ultimately, DK pulled off a miracle and advanced to the finals. After the match, Smash was in tears and crushed GEN's key. It's worth noting that these five DK players had been owed a month's salary.

Of the seven major Chinese and Korean teams, only one remains.

Since then, all eight teams that entered the MSI main event have been eliminated. Let's briefly recap the MSI semifinalists' performances. First, the European and American duo: G2 was eliminated by DK in the group stage; LYON was the most shocking, swept 2-0 by FUR, leaving many suspecting match-fixing.

MSI champion HLE was directly swept by T1 in two straight games, while BLG was defeated by DK with a 2-1 score.

Among the Chinese and Korean teams—seven in total—six have been eliminated. The sole survivor is the often-mocked DK team. DK encountered difficulties during the team sale process. It is expected that after this World Cup, the acquisition will proceed smoothly, and the players should finally receive their wages.

In terms of upsets, among just six knockout-stage matches, five were upsets. The only non-upset match was JDG vs GEN. The other five were all upsets without exception, with the favored teams always being eliminated.

Everyone is puzzled: why has the international tournament landscape changed so drastically just a few days after MSI? Is there a problem with Riot's patch?

LOL ideal state: regional gaps are narrowing.

Personally, I believe the core reason for this situation is the decline in dominance of the Chinese and Korean regional teams. Almost every team has faced issues to varying degrees. Some may be fatigued from exhaustion, but more often it's due to insufficient team strength or skill deficiencies.

For example, T1 made the same mistake as BLG while in a winning position, allowing KC to seize the opportunity and turn the game around. BLG's main problem was severe mental fragility. The common trait between the two teams is that they never expected to lose—but they did.

In the past, even if Chinese and Korean teams made mistakes, European and American teams could hardly capitalize on them. But this year is different. From the First Stand to MSI to the EWC World Cup, it's clear to see the progress and improvement in strength of the European and American regions. The regional gap has indeed shrunk, which is exactly the ideal state Riot has always pursued.

If the cluster of upsets in the EWC after MSI is due to patch issues, I personally lean toward thinking this patch is actually good, not a broken one. If Riot can create a patch where all regions have the ability to compete for top rankings, then that patch would be the ultimate answer for LOL esports. I hope this year's World Championship can also become more intense.

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