Controversy erupts at the LOL World Cup! GEN was officially told they cannot select T1 as the base, sparking audience dissatisfaction.

Greetings to all LPL fans and League of Legends summoners, this is Tianxia Game Report.

This year, the four top-seeded teams from the LPL and LCK regions have been determined, with one final match still to be played in the LCK. It is now certain that IG and T1 will compete in a decisive showdown.

During this period, a new controversy has again broken out off the field concerning this year’s World Cup.

World Cup controversy erupts, T1 removed from the base selection.

Many remember this year’s esports World Cup, known as EWC, where in the League of Legends event, GEN claimed the championship and AL finished as runner-up. AL eliminated T1 in the semifinals to reach the final but ultimately lost to GEN on the grand stage.

After the competition, following the World Cup’s tradition, the winning team is allowed to choose the key of a defeated team to crush on stage, which then becomes the base of their champion trophy.

After the match, during the selection phase, GEN’s Ruler decisively chose T1’s key to place under their trophy base.

This unique base system is regarded by fans as one of the best features of the World Cup. Last year, the LPL region lost and was dubbed the “base region.” Last year’s champion T1 was defeated this year and was supposed to become the champion’s base, but this fact was overturned yesterday.

GEN’s official statement revealed that T1’s key was replaced with G2’s. Originally, the champion base keys were AL, HLE, and T1, but now they are AL, HLE, and G2 because GEN was told by officials they could not choose T1 as the base.

Special official rules spark audience dissatisfaction.

This matter quickly caused an uproar. The officials explained that the World Cup champion team cannot choose the previous year’s champion team as their trophy base. However, fans strongly suspect this rule was custom-made to favor T1.

Firstly, this year’s World Cup organizers did not clearly announce this rule at the start. GEN, after winning, obviously did not know about it; otherwise, they would not have chosen T1.

If the rule had been announced from the beginning, there likely would have been no controversy.

But GEN had already won and made their selection, and only after the World Cup had ended for some time did this issue arise, which is clearly unreasonable. This outcome points to either official unprofessionalism or a rule tailored after the fact to protect T1, or simply a poorly managed organization that failed to inform all teams in advance.

The funniest part is that T1’s key was indeed crushed, yet the officials made this move afterward, which ends up tarnishing T1’s reputation, ironically making T1 the victim.

World Cup event feels redundant, its prestige still lacking.

In my opinion, this incident further diminishes the esports World Cup’s credibility and professionalism. This so-called esports World Cup is essentially a non-Riot event funded by Saudi capital, inviting major teams to participate in coordination with Riot, but due to the large number of competitions, the prestige of individual events remains insufficient.

For League of Legends, its greatest value is letting fans watch more China-Korea showdowns, but the champion team of this event is not highly praised after the year’s competitions conclude. Compared to MSI and Worlds, it is far less significant, often serving only as a supplementary accolade.

Its biggest highlight was the creation of this trophy base concept, but this year’s controversy has overshadowed that.

What’s most puzzling is that the Saudi Cup’s rule only applies to the previous champion. According to common LPL sayings, winning the championship grants a “one-year immunity from criticism.” This year, GEN cannot choose T1, but if next year’s champion isn’t T1, they can select T1 as the base. This rule seems pointless and is the core reason fans believe T1 is being specially favored.