North America is not known for performing well at international events. Sure, there is C9 and the hope of NA, but it seems that some LCS fans have had it with imports and the hope they bring, only to be crushed.
LCS fans have high hopes for NA once more this year going into the 2023 League of Legends World Championship. Cloud9 has enjoyed great showings earlier in the year, Team Liquid has picked up a 2022 LoL World Champion and NRG look to be a great underdog story as the first seed.
But, when Team Liquid failed to even win a single round during the Swiss Stage, fans quickly turned on them and began to wonder just why expensive import players seem to underperform whenever they make it to NA.
LoL: LCS Fans Wonder Why Import Players Underperform In Their Region
Team Liquid fielded an almost completely Korean-speaking roster this year and while they did struggle at first, the team managed to make a run for Worlds and got to play meaningful games in South Korea in front of thousands of fans.
The team was led by 2022 LoL World Champion Hong "Pyosik" Chang-hyeon who put the team on his back, showing insane performance on his signature champion Kindred, only to be put on tank duty in the team's final game against GAM and eventually losing.
This loss and elimination from Worlds had some fans wondering about the state of imports in the LCS. The original poster on Reddit explained that they felt that most imports "come in on massive contracts with championship expectations and just fall flat."
While some users believe that NA is simply a place for players to receive a fat paycheck once they've outlived their prime in either the LPL or LCK, others also stated that the environment in North America is just way too different, with a lack of routine as well as good practice.
The solo queue environment is also vastly different, which means when players want to practice on their own, they will not have the same type of challenge they would get on the Korean or Chinese servers.
Why do so many good players from other regions come to NA and underperform? by u/Uncle-Carbuncles in leagueoflegends
It seems that many players are quite unhappy with how NA has performed thus far, with C9 on the cusp of getting eliminated as well with their next match against Fnatic, while NRG have another lifeline even if they fall to G2 Esports in their upcoming match.
But it is clear that there is a large gap between NA and the eastern teams, and this doesn't just concern import players.
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