League of Legends fans around the world have long since lost faith in North America winning the World Cup. On May 5, however, retired pro Zven showed why the region has no chance of doing so.
Why NA sucks at WCs | @doublelift
The former Danish League player attempted to enjoy a high-ranked solo queue in his latest stream. After finding a game, someone dodged it at the end of the pick-and-ban phase, sending Zven back to the lobby where he had spent nearly 25 minutes earlier. Zven, who played professionally in Europe before joining several successful LCS teams in NA, satirically laughed off the whole situation, saying that it’s because NA doesn’t have a foundation to build teams that can compete internationally.
"How can we even win Worlds, bro? I've been standing in line all day, while Korean players play 10 games in an hour," Zven said. "Oh, we can't win man. It's so fucked." Furthermore, the Dane pointed out that when he finally finds a game, he'll be up against champions like Teemo, who are useless in the pro league.
The lack of competitive solo queue is one of the many reasons behind NA's weakness on the international stage, and certainly a major topic of discussion in recent years. Due to the vast differences in ping between regions, it is also difficult to find a good team to polish your skills in high-rank solo queue. Despite Riot Games' many attempts to solve it, the problem persists.