Ranking all 24 teams at the League of Legends World Championship
By Josh Tyler
12. GAM Esports
Qualified via
VCS 2019 Summer Champion
Roster
Top – Lê “Yoshino” Trung Kiên / Phạm “Zeros” Minh Lộc
Jungle – Đỗ “Levi” Duy Khánh
Mid – Đỗ “Blazes” Đình Sang / Trần “Kiaya” Duy Sang
ADC – Nguyễn “Zin” Tuấn Thọ
Support – Ngô “Hieu3” Minh Hiếu / Nguyễn “Slay” Ngọc Hùng
How they got here
Given the constant roster instability, it’s astounding that this team would even make it back to the World Championship, let alone win VCS and be rated this high. During the spring, this roster was almost entirely different save from Yoshino and Blazes. GAM struggled and finished in fifth place with a 5-6 record.
As a result, GAM made big moves before the summer split, including bringing back former Gigabyte Marines members Zin, Slay, Zeros, and Levi. When Slay struggled out of the gate, they brought in rookie Hieu3 to replace him.
These moves paid off massively, as GAM won the regular-season title with an 11-3 record (23-8 in games) to get the first seed going into the summer playoffs. They dispatched of Lowkey and Team Flash in the two series without dropping a game, ending the summer as VCS champions with a combined record of 29-8.
Player to watch
Levi, probably the best player to ever come out of the Vietnamese region, who has carried the load for this team in the Summer Split. After disappointing stints with 100 Thieves and JD Gaming, Levi returned home to GAM and put up some massive numbers including a 9.08 KDA in the summer playoffs (and a still-impressive 5.54 KDA during the regular season).
Best case scenario
They’re already in the main event, so they’re hoping to get a soft group, take some games off teams that are overlooking them, and maybe make it out to the quarterfinals as the second seed from their group.
Worst case scenario
They get into a “Group of Death.” Unlike AHQ and J-Team, though, I still think GAM is good for at least one win (probably two or three) even if they get into a tough group.
Prediction
There’s always one highly-regarded team in the major regions that slips up in the group stage and finishes fourth in a group they anticipated challenging for first or second in. GAM is one of those teams that can cause the slip-ups and will finish third in that group. Keep one eye open Liquid (and Splyce, Cloud9, Fnatic, Invictus, Griffin…).