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Super-teams in the professional League of Legends scene are not as uncommon as every year at least one major region is found to have one of these star-studded rosters. However, the problem that most of these teams face is that their star value seldom corresponds to trophies and success.
Such has been the case with the two super-teams during the 2022 season, namely Team Vitality and Team Liquid. Both these teams promised the stars, but they never left Earth to begin with. The consensus within the community is that the failure of these two teams might finally put an end to the concept of super-teams altogether.
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However, simply claiming that these super-teams will cease to exist is not enough. This is because, understanding the philosophy behind their existence and the reason on why they fail is also equally important.
Team Vitality and Team Liquid's failure during the 2022 season of League of Legends proved the importance of team synergy over individual prowess
Before the 2022 season of League of Legends officially began, there is no doubt that both Team Vitality in the LEC and Team Liquid in the LCS managed to gather a lot of fan following. Both these teams managed to bring forth some of the best players in the entire world and promised nothing but success.
In fact, back during December 2021 and January 2022, the general idea was that Team Vitality would win the LEC without even any competition. The hype was further exaggerated by the addition of Perkz to the team, who previously played a huge role in Europe's success on the international stage with G2 Esports.
In the case of Team Liquid, the feeling was that North America finally had a team that could challenge the likes of South Korea and China. The addition of players like Bwipo and Hans Sama gave confidence to North American League of Legends fans that success is knocking on the door.
The marketing was tremendous and the money was flooding in for these teams without limits. Suddenly everyone was either a Team Liquid fan or a Team Vitality fan as winning a trophy seemed like a formality.
Now, fans need to fast forward to the present date. Both Team Liquid and Team Vitality have not only failed to win anything, but both these teams have failed to qualify for League of Legends Worlds 2022. This is entirely different to what they promised and thus is an absolute disaster.
While these results may seem shocking, they are not at all surprising. This is because team synergy will always triumph over individual brilliance, and that is a truth that has always existed within League of Legends.
As it happens, the biggest example of this is none other than G2 Esports. During the 2021 season, G2 Esports recruited Rekkles and built a super-team that everyone predicted would win everything.
The team also failed to win anything and ended up missing out on a spot at Worlds 2021. The same Caps and Jankos, who once challenged Faker and won the MSI trophy back in 2019, looked bruised and battered.
As a result, G2 Esports decided to rebuild. The team made a few controversial decisions during pre-season 2021 as they kicked out Wunder, Mikyx and Rekkles. Instead, the team recruited Brokenblade and two rookies, namely Flakked and Targamas, while retaining Caps and Jankos.
These signings were initially heavily criticized, but the team delivered. The brand-new G2 roster with the same old Caps and Jankos won League of Legends LEC 2022 Spring Split, had a brilliant run at MSI 2022, qualified for Worlds 2022, and is sitting comfortably in the grand finals of LEC 2022 Summer Split.
Jankos, in fact, specifically mentioned during an interview that after the 2021 season, the team decided to go for synergy. G2 had the option to sign a world class player, but instead went for a rookie. This was because the players and the coaches felt that it was in line with the team's synergy.
In North America as well, while everyone was living in the promised land of Team Liquid, a young Evil Geniuses roster with rookies like Jojopyun and Danny ended up winning the Spring Split 2022. The Evil Geniuses roster played so well that suddenly the Team Liquid bubble burst into reality.
There is no doubt that Team Vitality and Team Liquid often looked scattered. The players seemed to rely too much on hero moments instead of a strict plan. As a result, both these teams got demolished by even weaker teams at times.
Thus, the failure of G2 Esports in 2021 and eventually that of Team Vitality and Team Liquid in 2022 might have been the final nail in the super-team coffin within professional League of Legends. It is clear at this point that simply buying five superstars for millions of dollars is not enough.
Recruiting players that work with each other is much more important and there is no-doubt that future potential rosters will take a lesson from these failures. In truth, the term super-team itself is flawed.
League of Legends is a very complicated game, and unless all five players are working as one, the results will always end in disappointment. Money does not buy success and the same remains true for League of Legends as well.
