Now the World Championship ended and the League of Legends season is over, the competitive scene has taken a break worldwide. While leagues will resume action in January, there are still some interesting and fun tournaments being hosted, like the LPL All-Star in China.
The event was announced a few weeks ago and it was supposedly taking place in early December. However, on Nov. 30, the official LPL Twitter account informed fans that the LPL All-Star would be postponed to a later date. In addition, there have been quite a lot of last-minute changes on the rosters as well. What were the issues and what will happen with the All-Star event? Let’s dive deeper into it.
LPL All-Star Weekend Postponed
The LPL All-Star is a yearly event where fans and enthusiasts get to decide which players will participate through a voting system. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, last year’s All-Star event was canceled so the 2022 edition was supposed to mark its return during this offseason.
The event would have taken place on December 3rd and 4th, but a last-minute decision forced it to be rescheduled at a later date. While it’s not confirmed by the LPL organizers, it seems like the reason why the event was postponed was due to former Chinese president Jiang Zemin passing away from leukemia and multiple organ failures. Currently, there haven’t been any official announcements regarding the new dates for the All-Star event.
LPL All-Stars Voting Results mean nothing
Just like on most occasions, the most famous or influential players are the ones that participate in the all-star events. The top two most-voted players from each role will play, with the addition of a third team made of rookies. Of all the players, WBG’s top laner TheShy was the most voted, followed by Uzi.
The two were supposed to be the two team captains, but unfortunately, both of them declined the invite. The Korean top laner was forced to sit out since he just recovered from Covid-19 and still had to stay in quarantine, while Uzi is expecting a baby during the days of the event. That being said, they weren’t the only ones to decline the invite.
In addition to TheShy and Uzi, JackeyLove, Ming and Meiko will all be sitting out due to personal reasons or family matters. Not only that, but with the LPL salary cap regulations, most players in the LPL are finding themselves in contract negotiations, which would further explain their will to decline. Considering the interest of fans in the event, players should be incentivized to take part as it can further increase their popularity.
With half of the players that fans voted not playing at All-Star, the organizers were forced to get new players from the “waiting list”. That said, some of the players’ absence will inevitably hurt the event’s spectatorship, while also risking losing fans’ trust for the next editions.
The New All-Star Player List
Image Credits | LPL Weibo
On Nov. 29, the LPL organizers have published the new list of players that will be participating, with Rookie and Wei as the two team captains:
Top: 369, Bin
Jungle: Wei, Jiejie
Mid: Doinb, Rookie
ADC: GALA, Lwx
Support: ON, Missing
Aside from the All-Star Challenge, the event will also feature a Solo King Challenge, with Harder, Bin, Hang, Hope, shanji, Mark, XLB and Angel as the 8 participants. They will be divided into four groups of two, where the two players will have a 1v1 elimination match.
There will also be a contest between legends, where the veteran players Langx, MLXG, xiye, Kryst4l and LvMao will face off against a full-team made of legendary casts like 957, ZZM, Teacherma, san, PYL.
Last but not the least, there will also be a battle between the newest rookies. Shanj, Frigid, Dream, Doggo and KE on one side, while the other will have Garvey, Monki, Qing, Leave and Lele. The two teams will be coache by Crisp and 369, which will communicate throughout the series with their respective teams.
Keep in mind, this list may not be final once again. Considering potential lockdowns and restrictions, we may see a completely different set of players on stage soon.
The LPL All-Star is a great way for new stars and veterans to gain more traction and have the chance to showcase their individual talents. Despite all the issues it has encountered so far, let’s hope that it can redeem itself with some exciting action.
Read next: LCS Pre-Season Free Agency / Roster Shuffle Breakdown
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