PSG Talon will play with substitutes during the Worlds play-in stage

PCS second-seed PSG Talon recently announced that it will have to play with substitute players in the 2020 World Championship play-in stage due to “travel restrictions and visa requirements”. 

In an official statement, PSG Talon announced that jungler Kim “River” Dong-woo and mid laner Park “Tank” Dan-won won’t be able to participate in the play-in stage because they will still be under quarantine in Shanghai. To replace the two Koreans, PSG Talon has picked up AHQ Esports’ Hsiao “Kongyue” Jen-Tso and Chen “Uniboy” Chang-Chu

As if the two substitutes weren’t enough, star bot laner Wong “Unified” Kit will also miss games in the play-in stage, but luckily not all of them. To replace him in the games he’ll miss, Chen “Dee” Chun-Dee will step in after coaching Machi Esports for most of the year. 

PSG Talon ensures that these substitutions will only be used in the play-in stage, but qualifying for the Worlds main event suddenly seems much less likely than before. 

“Thank you Machi and Flash Wolves in helping us arrange everything with Dee in such a short period of time,” PSG Talon said in its statement. “Given these set backs our objective remains the same. We will put on our best performance and represent the PCS with pride,”

PSG Talon has turbulent year going into Worlds 2020

PSG Talon has been through several ups and downs throughout the 2020 season. The season started out great for them in the newly formed PCS league, as they secured themselves the spring split trophy after beating Machi Esports in the final. 

The team started to struggle during the summer split after star mid laner Kim “Candy” Seung-ju chose to leave the squad. This forced PSG Talon to pick up Tank, who had to play from Korea with a higher ping. 

The sudden roster change had an impact on the team’s results, but they still managed to finish the regular summer split in third place with a 14-4 record. As was the case in the spring split, PSG Talon started to improve during the playoffs. They qualified to the final through the upper bracket, but lost a devastating 0-3 series to Machi Esports. 

The organization, with big football brand Paris Saint-Germain behind them, still managed to qualify for Worlds as the second seed. But things clearly have not panned out as expected since. 

These substitutions will most likely hurt the overall team coordination of PSG Talon, but the individual skill on the team may not take as big a hit. Unified will be particularly missed during the first play-in games, but when he returns the team should have a good chance of winning some games. 

PSG Talon will try to prove themselves at the Worlds play-in stage starting on September 25.