The journey left its mark. On Wednesday, during streamer Baiano’s live stream, FURIA's jungler Pedro "Tatu" Seixas spoke about the jetlag affecting both him and the team, as they had only arrived in Riyadh two days before their first match at the Esports World Cup. The jungler made it clear it wasn’t an excuse, noting that many teams faced the same issue.

The Brazilian players were so exhausted on July 16 that they had to sleep between their two BO1s, lacking the time to properly adjust. Other teams like CTBC Flying Oyster, FlyQuest, and Cloud9 also struggled with similar issues. On stream, FURIA's jungler admitted that while jetlag wasn’t an excuse—since many teams dealt with the same problem—“the jet lag really punished us, for real.”

An ill-suited schedule

Jack Etienne, Cloud9’s CEO also addressed the situation, stating, “The jet lag for all the LTA teams was really difficult to deal with,” though he didn’t use it to justify their loss. As LTA North’s second seed, C9 endured a 20-hour trip, arriving late at night just one day before their first match. The next morning, they had to wake up early to film content and attend the opening ceremony. The team couldn’t arrive earlier due to LTA content obligations, and according to the CEO, "We were unable to leave for Saudi Arabia earlier as we had required LTA content the day before our flight."

More broadly, the schedule is clearly ill-suited, with very little time between competitions. Teams like T1 and Gen.G are under even more pressure, having played the MSI 2025 final on July 12, then starting the Esports World Cup in Riyadh just four days later on July 16, with the event ending on the 20th. Immediately after, they’re expected back in Seoul for LCK Round 3–5, starting July 23 with a big BO3 between Gen.G and Hanwha Life Esports. Even more striking, the LPL resumes on July 19—before the EWC even ends—though Anyone’s Legend and Bilibili Gaming won’t return to action until July 26.

Edit: After the release of this article, FlyQuest’s General Manager Andrew Barton reacted on X, explaining the team’s difficult schedule: “20 hour flight getting into our hotel at 1am into 9:30am to 5pm content into scrims to stay awake. Be at venue by 11am and be there till like 8pm? Fans should really chill out on bashing LTA teams on this tournament. Just a horrid schedule for all of us really.” When asked if the teams were allowed to fly out earlier, he responded, “Afraid not as we had mandatory Riot LTA content the day before our flights.”