When Garena granted an extra spot to the runners-up of the Vietnamese Championship Series in the Garena Premier League, there was an uproar by various teams from other GPL regions, citing the increased difficulty of Worlds qualification with another team in the mix. In a sense, their fears were not unfounded; Young Generation, the 2nd seed from Vietnam, came from behind in a tight series against Ascension Gaming to grab the second seed, and with that Vietnam earned two spots at Worlds - leaving the other regions with none.

According to second-hand information relayed by Clement Chu, caster for the LMS, the Gigabyte Marines were, at the time of the spring split, probably close to being a play-off qualifying team in the Taiwanese region. Yet, the LMS teams who scrimmed with GAM also felt that the Marines would not amount to anything at the Mid-Season Invitational; they had good reason to think so, as GAM were allegedly going to compete at MSI without their own mice or keyboards.

The Vietnamese representatives had swept the GPL, albeit having to come back from 2-0 down once, and the facts had been made abundantly clear. A wildcard team from Vietnam, unknown to most, competing without equipment of their own, had shown to be definitively above the level of their peers in South East Asia, and close to a play-off level team in Taiwan. Considering their past two splits have been 3-0 blowouts in the play-offs, even after several roster changes and strategy changes, it is fair to say that they have exceeded the boundaries of their current environment and are ready for the next level.

Even the MSI play-ins proved to not be too much of a challenge for GAM, as they defeated Supermassive Esports with relative ease and finished the group stage with a 5-1 record, the sole loss coming on the last day when they had already secured passage.

All of these results only lead to one conclusion: the Gigabyte Marines are better than any wildcard team ever seen so far.

This, along with Young Generation's success at the GPL, of course raises questions over whether Vietnam as a region has outgrown the GPL. The community’s opinion is a resounding yes, but the matter is a bit more complicated than when Taiwan split from SEA. Here are three possible scenarios for Garena and Riot to consider, now that Vietnam has grabbed two spots at Worlds:

1. Gigabyte Marines joins the LMS

The LMS could certainly use a team like the Gigabyte Marines, and vice versa. The competition in the LMS would be fiercer and GAM would likely benefit from having better teams to play against weekly.

There’s a very obvious problem with this, however: logistical issues would prove a challenge. Moving from Vietnam to Taiwan to compete for months at a time might not suit the lifestyles of the Vietnamese players, and could throw off their game. Not to mention, there is a ban on full import teams which would fly against the face and spirit of such a move. Due to the lack of precedence, it is difficult to tell if such an arrangement will be sanctioned.

Additionally, would GAM even want to trade what is currently an easy passage to international events with a much harder league and a difficult path to Worlds? GAM had a losing record against Flash Wolves at MSI, which is a glimpse into the sort of struggles they would face in the LMS. While the competition may make GAM a better team overall, it could also have the converse effect.

So while GAM may be a huge outlier in SEA, they may just be another average team in the LMS - a situation which doesn’t seem to benefit either side in the long run. Does the LMS need another team which isn’t able to beat either ahq or Flash Wolves consistently? The other LMS teams, I imagine, would balk at the suggestion too, given how more competition isn’t always looked upon favourably by teams interested in success.

2. Vietnam splits up from the rest of SEA and gets their own slot at international events

The popularity of League of Legends in Vietnam far exceeds that of other Southeast Asian countries. At least 20 thousand viewers tune in live at a time to watch the MDCS, while other countries like Thailand and the Philippines are lucky to have 2000 viewers. This disparity has carried over to regional events like the GPL, where Vietnam has dominated for the past three years.

One might recall Taiwan encountering a similar issue in the early days of the GPL, when Taiwanese teams were at a skill level far exceeding that of the other countries. Vietnam actually came rather close to competing at their level, but had not managed to consistently produce results against those teams.

Could a similar split end up benefitting Vietnam? Absolutely - the guaranteed spot at international events would give organisations a further incentive to invest in the country’s esport scene, and encourage more players to go pro. With more players, the level of competition will rise and maybe equal or surpass that of the major regions. Now that Riot has done away with the grouping of minor regions in the same category, this would be the best time for Vietnam to break off from the rest of the GPL, and forge ahead on their own.

At the same time, the other GPL regions gain a boost of their own - as they do not have to face Vietnamese teams to qualify for international events, passage is made that much easier. With a greater chance of qualification, investments will naturally follow - already after GAM won a second seed for SEA, the SEA Serpents was founded. Organisations like the SEA Serpents, who are bringing money into the scene, may turn countries like Thailand into a greater force to be reckoned with, and it is hoped that other SEA countries will follow suit.

SEA would not suffer heavily if Vietnam left. In other words, the situation can only benefit both sides.

3. The status quo remains - Vietnam stays in the GPL, with more slots allocated to them

Rift Rivals gave the best example of the disparity that exists between Vietnam and the other GPL regions. While Japan and Oceania had brought three teams of relatively equal skill to the table, GPL featured a mish-mash of very inequal skill distribution. Gigabyte Marines stood head and shoulders above Ascension Gaming and Mineski, and it showed clearly during the King of the Hill matchup between GPL and OPL.

Both Mineski and Ascension Gaming somehow contrived to lose to SIN Gaming, rated third in the OPL and known for a less refined style than their compatriots in Dire Wolves and Legacy Gaming. Once GAM entered the fray, however, they reverse swept the entire OPL contingent, an astounding achievement for any team.

It was yet another in a long list of examples where GAM had thoroughly outshined the rest of the wildcards, and one can only imagine the situation to be further exacerbated in the future unless GAM loses its star players or disbands.

Now, ignoring the massive outlier that is GAM, how would teams like Young Generation compare to the rest of SEA? Aas they are showing in the GPL, YG is far ahead of teams from every region save Thailand. This might be the biggest reason as to why Vietnam should stay in the GPL - if the Gigabyte Marines are the only team that’s way better than everyone else, then in the event of a disbandment, the disparity might be lower than it would appear currently.

Still, we can see that the Vietnamese league is already becoming more competitive with the emergence of the Marines as a force - the top 5 teams were relatively close in terms of skill, and most of these teams could easily compete with and defeat GPL-level ones.

The Best Course of Action

Scenario 3 still does not solve the problem of the Marines having outgrown the rest of the league, however. Were it the case that regional movement of teams not as strictly regulated, there would be a short-term solution in moving GAM away (aka Scenario 1). As this is not possible unless an exception is made, the more drastic and long-term step of taking the entire Vietnamese league out of the GPL should be seriously considered.

When Garena Malaysia took the step of splitting up from Singapore's circuit to determine qualification to the GPL, they were doing it with the long-term goal of eventually being able to fight for their own spot at international events, without having to go through the mega play-off that is the GPL.