Sadly, we have to give our farewell to the Oceanic Pro League (OPL) in 2021, they will be disbanded by Riot
According to Riot Games, the Oceanic Pro League (OPL) will be dissolved from the start of the season 2021. The main reason is: Riot Games shared that this league tournament has no longer able to reach its original goal that Riot wanted to create. At the same time, the current state of Oceania makes Riot can not continue to support financially as well as hosting this tournament. Besides, the main Riot Games office in Sydney has also closed because it only existed to host the OPL tournament.
How About Professional Players?
Regarding the fate of the pro player at OPL, don’t worry, Riot won’t forget them. They will assist them to switch to the LCS tournament (if they are able to sign a contract with Americans) and they also won’t be counted as foreigners. Riot Games expects this movement will open up a new opportunity for both old OPL players and LCS teams, bringing fresh air into the already-old League of Legends NA scene.
However, with the Covid-19 Pandemic problem is still currently one of the highest national concern, a lot of professional players from the OPL are quite disappointed because without Visa they can hardly compete in LCS. The news predicted that at least until May 2021 that they will be able to have a chance to transfer to LCS.
Conclusion
As for the Oceania region, although there is no OPL tournament, they will still be entitled to attend MSI and Worlds 2021, the qualifying round to win the right to participate in those two tournaments will be held separately and exclusively by Riot.
About the LCS tournament, many fans believe that this will help North America become stronger because they can use the talent in the OPL without spending their slot. Especially in the situation where North America’s performance is fairly disappointing at Worlds 2020 (Seed 1 TSM lost all 6 matches in Group C was a highlight case).