Cloud9 coach slams pro League format as “unfair” for Western teams

❘ Published: 2021-10-25T18:00:06

Riot Games

Following Cloud9’s Worlds quarterfinal loss to Gen.G, head coach Alfonso ‘mithy’ Aguirre Rodríguez took aim at the way professional League of Legends is structured that gives Western teams no chance to win at Worlds.

The hopes of the West hung heavy on the shoulders of Cloud9 as they faced Korean second seed Gen.G in the team’s first Worlds quarterfinal since 2018.

However, Cloud9 were never able to find their groove and Gen.G swept the LCS third seed 3-0.

Following the loss, mithy hit out at professional League of Legends, stating that the current format means Worlds won’t have a Western winner any time soon.

Mithy criticized the current format of professional League of Legends for preventing Western teams from succeeding

Pro League format unfair to Western teams

“I think that the way the whole league system is designed is extremely unfair,” mithy said. “The Korean teams get to scrim against LPL, LJL, all those teams, and we’re stuck with EU or NA teams.”

Read More: Worlds 2021 full schedule, results

Professional teams are typically restricted to play teams in their immediate or nearby regions due to timezone and server restraints.

However, the growing disparity in regional talent means teams in China and Korea have the luxury of playing neighboring teams from the LCK and LPL.

Cloud9 crashed out of Worlds in a 3-0 sweep to Gen.G

Mithy said Western teams are at a disadvantage given the current format that professional League of Legends currently operates under.

“For a Western team to do well, we’d have to boot camp in Korea for a while and then do a tournament there. But that’s very hard because we have to play a lot of useless games in Spring Split for example when we could be boot camping”

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Mithy also claimed that allowing teams to “travel the world and learn from each other” would make for “better and more exciting tournaments” on the international level.

DWG KIA after their quarterfinal win at Worlds 2021

DWG KIA is one of three Korean teams left at Worlds

With three of the four teams left at Worlds from Korea and 17 of the remaining 20 players South Korean, the LCK dominance of League is apparent.

Mithy ended with a grim prognosis of the West’s ongoing chances at Worlds.

“Generally speaking, it would be very hard for a Western team to do well until the tournament system changes.”