Worlds 2022: Top 6 Minor Region Players

The Worlds 2022 Play-In starts next week, bringing together the champions and second seeds of many smaller regions with the lower seeds of the big four - LCK, LPL, LEC and LCS. Here are six players from the "minor regions" that deserve your attention!

With the first stage of the World Championship on the horizon, we will soon see some of the hottest League of Legends teams face off in Mexico during the Play-In stage. Fans are already quite familiar with some of the star players like "Xiaohu" Yuan-Hao, Kim "Deft" Hyuk-kyu or Marek "Humanoid" Brázda, but Worlds will also offer us a rare chance to see the best players from the smaller regions face off against their more famous brethren. Here are six players that you should keep an eye on:

6. Diego "Brance" Amaral - LOUD

The CBLOL might not be seen as a powerhouse, but it has a history of tripping up favorites. While RED Canids came close to forcing a tiebreaker with PSG Talon, they were not so lucky in the summer playoffs, where LOUD defeated them in the first stage. The team proceeded to win the tournament in a very dramatic manner, losing 2-3 to paiN Gaming in the upper bracket semifinals only to sweep them in the final. Throguh it all, their young AD Carry Diego "Brance" Amaral was key to their success and proved to be a rising star. In Group A, he will be facing off several top-tier bot lanes - and perhaps he will once more surprise them.

5. Shunsuke "Evi" Murase - Detonation FocusMe

Detonation FocusMe has been the top team of the LJL league for a while now, but it was last year that the Japanese team had their biggest success yet as they came out first in their play-in group and ended up going to the main event. DFM lost their star mid laner after that tournament, but they were still a powerhouse in their native region and stomped second place Sengoku Gaming in two very one-sided series to go to Worlds again. Veteran top laner Shunsuke "Evi" Murase showed off a lot of interesting picks like Vladimr and Lillia. Can DFM upend their group again?

4. Lu "Minji" Po-Wei - Beyond Gaming

Beyond Gaming entered the PCS summer playoffs in sixth place, but showed they were up to the challenge by defeating the first 3 teams of the regular season to get to the finals. Mid laner Lu "Minji" Po-Wei was widely praised for his key performances, especially in Beyond's victory against J-team. A good player on both assassins and control mages, he is the one who can lead Beyond to success in the Play-In Stage. Will Beyond join fellow PCS team CTBC Flying Oyster in the groups and show their region is not to be slept on?

3. Nguyễn "Shogun" Văn Huy - Saigon Buffalo

The pandemic forced Vietnam's teams to miss international events in 2020 and 2021, but Saigon Buffalo returned to MSI this yead and showed us the region is still home of some of the most explosive teams in the world. The VCS had wins against G2 Esports and PSG Talon and in several games, their AD Carry Nguyễn "Shogun" Văn Huy made us stand up and take notice. The team was able to patch up what looked like an ugly visa situation and will be coming out with their full roster to the Play-Ins, where they will hope to make it out of a very top-heavy group B.

2. Đỗ "Levi"Duy Khánh - GAM Esports

One of the VCS' best junglers has flown under the radar lately as his return from a stint in the LCS and LPL was obscured by the pandemic that caused VCS to not participate in international events. With Đỗ "Levi"Duy Khánh back, GAM Esports won three out of the last four playoffs and missed MSI to go to (and win) the Southeast Asian Games. Saigon Buffalo did okay in their stead, but now the VCS champions are back, and Levi looks as good as ever.

1. Hsu "Rest" Shih-Chieh - CTBC Flying Oyster

CTBC Flying Oyster was one of the big surprises in the PCS summer playoffs, first taking down spring champions PSG Talon and then defeating Beyond Gaming in the upper bracket playoffs and in the finals. Top laner Hsu "Rest" Shih-Chieh was absolutely clutch in securing their trip to Worlds, delivering multiple standout performances and being selected as MVP eight times in the team's twelve victories. CFO will start directly in the groups and we expect to see some bangers when Rest faces off against Gen.G’s Choi "Doran" Hyeon-joon and 100 Thieves’ Kim "Ssumday" Chan-ho.

Read More about Worlds

• LoL Worlds 2022: How Pick'Em Works!
• Worlds 2022 - The Team That Will ABSOLUTELY CRUSH EVERYONE!
• These 5 Players Will Make LoL Worlds 2022 Great

Worlds begins on Thursday, September 29th. Make sure to follow it - and in the meantime, check out our coverage for more LoL news and analysis!