MSI champion controversy erupts, Guan Zeyuan speaks after the match: The winners' bracket champion should also have a second chance

Hello to all LPL viewers and League of Legends summoners, this is World of Games.

The MSI Mid-Season Invitational finals concluded yesterday, with BLG ultimately failing to defeat HLE twice, as HLE avenged their loss and took away the crucial championship. The way they lost the match was also disappointing.

Following this, caster Guan Zeyuan posted a Weibo that sparked huge controversy.

MSI champion controversy, no advantage for winners' bracket

Since this MSI is the first time in history that a losers' bracket champion won the final title, it has sparked discussions about whether the double-elimination format is reasonable. In previous MSIs, the winners' bracket champion always went all the way, and overseas forums have also discussed this issue.

Many viewers believe that this format is unfair to the winners' bracket champion, because all teams have a second chance except the winners' bracket champion.

In fact, this has been a controversy ever since League of Legends introduced the double-elimination format. From the very beginning, viewers have discussed that teams coming from the losers' bracket have an advantage. Moreover, in League events, the losers' bracket champion gets sufficient rest time after finishing the losers' bracket. If the losers' bracket champion had to play two consecutive BO5s, then the winners' bracket champion's advantage would become apparent.

Guan Zeyuan posted a long Weibo about this point, first preemptively defending himself, saying that he is not saying this just because BLG lost the finals, but rather he came up with a new double-elimination tournament format, referencing the format of fighting games. The losers' bracket champion would need to win twice in a row to claim the championship. If the winners' bracket champion wins the finals, then an exhibition match would be played.

Guan Zeyuan faces criticism, then explains his reasoning.

Guan Zeyuan's idea is that since League of Legends cannot schedule two consecutive BO5s in one day, why not simply add another BO5, selling tickets for two days. If the winners' bracket champion wins directly on the first day, then the second day would be a more exhibition-style match. If the losers' bracket champion wins on the first day, then the second day would be the real championship decider.

That is, the losers' bracket team would have to achieve a "let one, then win two" in a BO5.

Guan Zeyuan's remarks undoubtedly sparked huge controversy. Many viewers said that if it weren't for the double-elimination format, BLG wouldn't even have made it past the first round of the playoffs, because in the LPL's second split playoffs, BLG lost to WE in the first round. Also, the LPL has used the double-elimination format for many years, with many cases of losers' bracket champions winning the title. Why didn't Guan Zeyuan mention this before?

Although he preemptively defended himself a lot, most viewers were still criticizing Guan Zeyuan's behavior. Guan Zeyuan later posted another Weibo, stating bluntly that he has always felt that the winners' bracket champion has it tough, and that he didn't just start saying this yesterday.

In esports, the winner takes all. Under the double-elimination format, losing the final match makes you the biggest loser.

BLG losing the MSI championship has nothing to do with the format.

Personally, I think Guan Zeyuan's issue should be considered from two separate aspects. First, BLG's loss of the MSI championship in this tournament has nothing to do with the format, because the double-elimination format is an established fact, and everyone follows the same rules. The team that wins the finals is the champion.

BLG lost this championship due to their own poor performance, and they deserve criticism from viewers and need to reflect deeply.

But at the same time, this does not mean that League's double-elimination format is correct. The current double-elimination format does have problems. After BLG lost the match, Guan Zeyuan, along with Miller, also criticized Bin, expressing frustration that Bin's playstyle severely hurt the team.

After that, Guan Zeyuan came up with a plan to optimize the double-elimination format, but he posted it right after BLG lost the championship, giving viewers the impression that he was trying to defend BLG.

Editor

The viewers' angle of refuting Guan Zeyuan is also incorrect. Guan Zeyuan is not opposed to double elimination; rather, he believes there is room for improvement in the double-elimination format, and adjustments can be made on its basis. If he had advocated for removing double elimination, they could use the case of BLG not even beating WE to refute him. Regardless of whether Guan Zeyuan's proposal is reasonable, it is not impossible that Riot will further adjust the double-elimination format in the future.