Vivo Keyd Stars’ journey to the League of Legends World Championship was already an uphill battle, but few expected their biggest challenge to happen behind the scenes.
The Brazilian squad found themselves without scrim partners in the Worlds 2025 Swiss stages after nearly every other team turned them down.
“Given how rough we looked in Swiss, it’s natural teams wouldn’t want to scrim us. I literally went room to room asking, even for one scrim. CTBC Flying Oyster (CFO) helped, and the Chinese ‘mix’ team (an LPL practice squad for Worlds scrims) helped a lot too,” Head coach Christopher “SeeEl” Lee explained in an interview with Daily Esports.
The issue wasn’t just the perception that the team from LTA South was weak. It was also a travel-related constraint for the squad. After a gruelling 50-hour flight to China and only two days to settle in, VKS were already behind on preparation, and players were sleep-deprived.
According to the coach, the team faced visa issues after the LTA Championship, and the VKS team had to return to Brazil before heading to China for the event. They spent 15 hours in Amsterdam and three in Madrid, while other teams were already preparing for the tournament. With top teams prioritizing more competitive practice, the Brazilians were effectively left out of the pre-Worlds ecosystem.
Despite the setbacks, VKS showed resilience on stage, managing a hard-fought 2-1 victory over PSG Talon to stay alive in the tournament. SeeEl said he has faith in his players, who have the capability to pull off upsets.
Limited access to high-quality scrims can drastically affect a team’s performance, preventing them from preparing their picks in the meta. Inspired recently revealed how FlyQuest’s below-average scrim results affected their performance. However, the sportsmanship of CFO and their willingness to help ensured that VKS weren’t entirely shut out.
In a competition defined by rivalries, CFO’s quiet act of cooperation may have been one of Worlds 2025’s most meaningful moments to help a smaller region perform to their best. VKS face the threat of BLG in their next match to stay alive in the competition.
