MSI 2023 Preview: PSG Talon
| Tags: League of Legends
| Author Bence Loksa
The strongest team of the PCS is trying to live up to the hype they received after the 2021 MSI, where they made it to the semi-finals.
The 2023 Mid-Season Invitational is starting next week on Tuesday! The first match will be played by PCS representatives PSG Talon, who are looking to fight until their last breath in order to make it out of Play-Ins and make it to at least the top 4 as they did 2 years ago – but first, they have to get through DetonatioN FocusMe.
Luckily for the Hongkongers they are very much back in the form in which the squad took the 3-4th spot in the 2021 event – even though nobody stayed from that roster. Huang “Azhi” Shang-Jhih joined after the 2021 Season, so he was not the part of the roster that managed to defeat Royal Never Give Up. The core of the team joined the team after the end of the 2022 season, with current jungler Yu “JunJia” Chun-Chia being the latest addition, who has took the place of Huang “Husha” Tzu-Wei as the team didn’t do so well at the start of the PCS split.
The Journey of PSG Talon
The team had a fairly strong start in the 2023 Spring PCS Split: they beat 4 out of their 6 opponents in the first two weeks, only suffering defeats at the hands of Frank Esports and Impunity. JunJia joined the squad before the start of the third week, and he immediately impacted the squad: PSG Talon went on an 11-game winning streak with their new jungler, but they didn’t have a flawless split after the first two weeks as they lost the last match of the Regular Season against J Team – who didn’t make it to the Playoffs, so it was a surprise for everyone.
Nevertheless, PSG Talon won the 2023 Spring PCS Split with a 15-3 scoreline, going into the Playoffs as the first seed of the region – which meant that they could skip the first round of the Knockout Stage. In their first appearance, they played a tough Bo% against 4th seed Impunity, but they managed to defeat them 3-2. Afterwards, they faced off against CTBC Flying Oyster, who took away their Worlds spot last year, so JunJia and co. were out for revenge. While Oyster fought valiantly, they ultimately couldn’t defeat the strongest PCS team of recent years, and PSG Talon made it to the Finals. Surprisingly, this was the series they had the least trouble in, as they beat Frank Esports with ease, not giving them a single match.
And with the victory over their challengers, PSG Talon won the 2023 PCS Spring Split, qualifying for the 2023 Mid-Season Invitational’s Play-In Stage!
Players to look out for in PSG Talon
The main carry of PSG Talon is of course it’s ADC, Tsou “Wako” Wei-Yang. The 24-year-old Hongkonger has dealt 32% of the damage of his team in the Spring Regular Season and Playoffs, dominating with picks such as Nami, Zeri and Aphelios, while playing the odd Ashe as well. However, Wako wouldn’t be able to run rampant without his support, Lin “Woody” Yu-En, whose Rakan was flawless this Spring, and while opponents of Talon didn’t ban the Vastayan dancer in the regional league, we should expect to see the ban% rocket up for the pick.
The topside of PSG Talon is fairly traditional: JunJia helps his team with the best picks, mainly Wukong and Sejuani, but he played some Kindred, Lee Sin and Viego as well, so he is capable of surprising picks. Azhi is the main frontline with picks such as K’Sante and Gnar, having an 87.5% winrate with the latter pick, which can be blind picked as well as used as a counter in some matchups. The midlaner, Chen “ubao” Chang-Chu drew the most attention this Spring in terms of the Pick/Ban Phase: the third most banned pick against PSG Talon was Ryze, and the 5th most banned was Tristana, both picks of ubao – and for good reason, as he won all 3 Tristana matches he played, and only lost one Ryze showdown out of 8. While he’s not the usual carry of PSG Talon, opponents always have to be on the lookout for his Realm Warps.
Overall, PSG Talon looks like a pretty strong team for a region which is floating between the Big Leagues and the Wildcard Regions. While luck factored into the top 4 finish of PSG Talon 2 years ago, the representatives of the Southeast-Asian League of Legends Tournament are certainly capable of surprising the audience yet again.
Catch PSG Talon playing in the opening match of the 2023 Mid-Season Invitational on next Tuesday at 14:00 CEST against DetonatioN FocusMe on the official Riot Games Twitch Channel, the League of Legends YouTube Channel and lolesports.com, and don’t forget to check out our other MSI Team Previews!