The "Sure-Lose Curse" of the S15 World Championship Has Become a Hot Topic!

Every year, the LOL World Championship is accompanied by various superstitions. One of the most famous is avoiding foods like "Xiao Yang Shengjian" and "Beef Noodles" before the competition. Recently, a superstition about the champion’s jersey color has also emerged: black jerseys win in odd years, white jerseys in even years. Therefore, all four LPL teams competing this year are wearing black jerseys. Additionally, a new "sure-lose curse" has appeared in the S15 World Championship, prompting many LPL fans to plead with the officials to change the video cover image because of this issue.

Some netizens have noticed that since IG faced T1 in the S15 play-in stage, every team featured on the LPL official pre-match promotional cover has ended up losing badly. IG was on the cover before losing to T1 in the play-ins; on Day 1 of the Swiss stage, BLG was featured and then lost to 100T; Day 2 had HLE on the cover, who then lost to AL; Day 3 featured TES, who lost to KT; Day 4 showed BLG again before they lost to G2; and on Day 6, CFO was on the cover and then lost to HLE. (So far, the "cover curse" has a 100% failure rate.)

As this "curse" has sparked widespread discussion, many LPL fans hope the officials will change the Day 7 match cover to feature GEN, since the upcoming match between TES and GEN is imminent. TES is considered weaker on paper compared to GEN, so many fans are curious whether this curse might actually help TES secure a win. Of course, some viewers believe the curse persists mainly because BLG’s performance has been too inconsistent. If BLG had played more seriously, they wouldn't have lost to 100T and G2.

G2 Advances to Quarterfinals, BLG Becomes the Big Winner

Although G2 has long been called the LEC powerhouse by LPL fans, their recent World Championship results have been disappointing. The last time G2 reached the quarterfinals was back in 2020. Over the past few years, G2 has frequently updated their roster. This year, after changing their support and jungler, G2 finally defeated FLY to advance to the quarterfinals. (Many fans also think G2’s advancement was partly due to luck, as they had to face many European and American teams to reach the quarters.)

After qualifying for the quarterfinals, G2’s mid laner Caps gave an interview with the LPL officials. During the interview, Caps openly admitted that China is a lucky ground for G2, as their last quarterfinal appearance was also in China. He also cheered on BLG, praising their strength and hoping they can regain form and qualify for the quarterfinals in the upcoming Swiss stage. (It seems that BLG deserves half the credit for G2’s quarterfinal spot — if BLG had beaten G2, G2 might not have made it to the quarterfinals this year.)

After G2 defeated FLY to reach the quarterfinals, BLG emerged as the biggest winner, since they have not faced FLY in the Swiss stage yet. This means BLG has a chance to consecutively face five European and American teams to qualify for the quarterfinals. However, this depends entirely on BLG beating the Brazilian team VKS. If BLG loses the crucial match against VKS, even excellent luck in the draw won’t help. I also checked the fan support comparison between BLG and VKS, and it turns out BLG is very unpopular — in the official voting, VKS overwhelmingly leads BLG.

Conclusion

Personally, I really don’t understand why BLG’s reputation at the World Championship has turned out this way. Before the tournament started, many fans saw BLG as a strong contender for the title. But now, it seems most LPL fans want BLG to be eliminated in the round of 16. What do you think — does BLG still have a chance to reach the quarterfinals? And who will win the crucial match between TES and GEN?