A team of veterans under a new flag.
The League of Legends World Championship is beginning in a few days with many familiar names and faces heading to North America. With major regions like the LPL and LCK looking to lift yet another Summoner’s Cup, it’s the minor regions that will be looking to make an impact once again on the world stage. The likes of the PCS are one of the minor regions that have slowly made a name for themselves over the last few years. Teams like Beyond Gaming and PSG Talon are just some of the household names that have made consecutive appearances at Worlds. With that said, CTBC Flying Oyster will be making their grand debut at Worlds 2022 in the group stage no less.
The PCS has long been dominated by PSG Talon since its inception in 2020. They’ve won four of the past six PCS regional splits but this year, including this year’s Spring Split with CTBC Flying Oyster placing second. But when it mattered most, Talon could not find it within themselves to replicate their past successes, bowing out to Beyond Gaming in the lower bracket finals. With the grand finals up for grabs, CTBC Flying Oyster achieved the unthinkable, beating Beyond Gaming 3-0 to clinch the Summer Split title – a first for the org after joining the PCS only this season. That win puts CTBC Flying Oyster straight into the group stage. They will face up against the number one seed from the LCK, Gen.G Esports as well as the number two seed from the LCS, 100 Thieves.
But who is CTBC Flying Oyster?
For the most part, it’s a brand new team that was formed for the 2022 season after acquiring Hong Kong Attitude’s slot in the PCS. Owned by the privately-owned Taiwanese bank CTBC, it also has ownership of basketball and baseball teams in Taiwan. As to why the team is named Flying Oyster, it’s because of the CTBC Bank’s official slogan, which is “We are family”. In a clever play of words, the word ‘family’ in Mandarin has a similar pronunciation to ‘飛(Fei) ç‰¡è £ (Mu Li)’, which translates to ‘flying oyster’.
However, the roster they picked up happened to be seasoned veterans from around the PCS over the years. This includes Chen “M1ssion” Hsiao-hsien, Huang “Gemini” Chu-xuan, Sung “Atlen” Ya-lun, and Lin “Koala” Chih-chiang, four former Machi Esports players with a wealth of experience at their disposal. The last member of the starting lineup is Hsu “Rest” Shih-chieh, a former longstanding member of J Team. The team also has its substitute, Chao “Shunn” Ying-Shun who is playing in his first-ever PCS season and is already in the Worlds 2022 group stage.
Of the five members in the starting line-up, they have all played with and against one another over the past two years at some point. Back in the 2020 season, the likes of Koala, Gemini, and M1ssion were on the same Machi Esports squad. But for the 2021 season, M1ssion went over to J Team to partner up with Rest while Atlen joined Machi Esports in return. Both M1ssion and Koala have also been to Worlds on three separate occasions while Gemini has been twice and Rest also has qualified at least once. Only the likes of Atlen and Shunn will be making their debuts at the world championship.
For the players who have been to Worlds, they have never gotten past the group stage or even the second round of the play-in stage at one point. While these players are coming into the scene under a new banner, it will be their first international tournament together. It will be down to the seasoned veterans on the team like M1ssion, Koala, and Gemini to lead the team past the group stage, a first for everyone involved.
Being grouped alongside the likes of 100 Thieves and Gen.G Esports does not exactly bode well for the debutants. Gen.G Esports has been one of the most consistent teams in the second half of the season, having overthrown T1 during the LCK Summer Split. 100 Thieves has also been a steady performer, losing out only to Cloud9 during the LCS Championship finals. CTBC Flying Oyster will look to get on the front foot once the group stage starts, no matter who their first opponent may be.
The League of Legends World Championship is happening in just a few days with the Play-in Stage at Mexico kicking us off!
