Vikings Esports is a Vietnamese professional ''

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL'', commonly referred to as ''League'', is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for ''Warcraf ...

'' team competing in the

Vietnam Championship Series The Vietnam Championship Series (VCS) is a professional ''League of Legends'' esports Sports league, league run by Riot Games and VNG Games, a subsidiary of VNG Corporation since 2022 after Garena stopped publishing League of Legends and its ma ...

(VCS). It was founded in 2016 as Young Generation. The team was crowned VCS champions twice, and qualified for the

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, and

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, as well as the

Mid-Season Invitational The Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) is an annual ''League of Legends'' international tournament hosted by Riot Games in the middle of years, since 2015. It is the second most important international ''League of Legends'' tournament aside from the ...

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

and

. Vikings Gaming acquired and rebranded the team from Saigon Buffalo to Viking Esports in 2023.

History

On 18 May 2018, Young Generation rebranded to Phong Vũ Buffalo after agreeing to a sponsorship deal with Phong Vũ, a major computer company in Vietnam. The team dominated in its first split in the VCS, losing only one series to

EVOS Esports EVOS Esports (briefly known as Zero Latitude) is a professional esports organisation based in Jakarta, Indonesia. It currently has competitive teams in '' Pokemon Unite'', ''Free Fire'', and '' Mobile Legends: Bang Bang''. The organisation pre ...

and one to

GIGABYTE Marines GAM Esports is a professional ''League of Legends'' team competing as a partnered team in the League of Legends Championship Pacific (LCP), the highest level of competitive ''League of Legends'' in the Asia-Pacific region. During their time in ...

, ending with a series record of 12 wins and 2 losses in the 2018 VCS Summer Split. This placement secured them a spot in finals of the VCS 2018 Summer Playoffs, where they defeated Cube Adonis 3–1 and qualified for the 2018 World Championship. Because of EVOS Esports' placement at the

2018 Mid-Season Invitational The 2018 Mid-Season Invitational was the fourth edition of the Mid-Season Invitational, a Riot Games-organised tournament for ''League of Legends'', the multiplayer online battle arena video game. The tournament is the culmination of the 2018 spri ...

, Vietnam was given a spot in the main event at the 2018 League of Legends World Championship, allowing Phong Vũ Buffalo to avoid the need to qualify through the play-in stage. For the group stage, Phong Vũ Buffalo was drawn into Group A, along with the Afreeca Freecs, the

Flash Wolves The Flash Wolves ( zh, t=閃電狼, p=Shǎndiàn Láng) are a Taiwanese esports organization with players competing in ''Arena of Valor'', ''Hearthstone'', and '' League of Legends: Wild Rift''. They formerly had teams competing in ''League of L ...

, and

G2 Esports G2 Esports (or simply G2) is a European esports organization headquartered in Berlin, Germany, with players competing in ''League of Legends'', ''Valorant'', ''Counter-Strike 2'', ''Hearthstone (video game), Hearthstone'', ''Rocket League'', '' ...

. The team ended the group stage with 2 win and 4 losses, failing to qualify for the knockout stage. Phong Vũ Buffalo placed 1st in the 2019 VCS Spring Split regular season, with a record of 13 wins and 1 loss. This directly qualified the team for the finals, where they defeated EVOS Esports 3–1 to qualify for the

2019 Mid-Season Invitational The 2019 Mid-Season Invitational was the fifth Mid-Season Invitational (MSI), a Riot Games-organised tournament for ''League of Legends'', the multiplayer online battle arena video game. The tournament was the culmination of the 2019 Spring Split ...

as Vietnam's representative. Phong Vũ Buffalo was placed in Group A of the first round of the 2019 Mid-Season Invitational play-in stage, along with Turkish team 1907 Fenerbahçe, Australian team

Bombers A bomber is a military combat aircraft that utilizes air-to-ground weaponry to drop bombs, launch torpedoes, or deploy air-launched cruise missiles. There are two major classifications of bomber: strategic and tactical. Strategic bombing is ...

, and Argentine team Isurus Gaming. The team ended the group round robin with a record of 4 wins and 2 losses, tying 1907 Fenerbahçe for 1st and forcing a tiebreaker match, which 1907 Fenerbahçe lost. Phong Vũ Buffalo's victory qualified them for the second round of the play-in stage, where they lost 0–3 to

Team Liquid Team Liquid is a multi-regional professional esports organization based in the Netherlands that was founded in 2000. They signed their first professional players with the release of '' StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty''. In 2012, Team Liquid acq ...

. This result forced Phong Vũ Buffalo to play in a third round against

Vega Squadron Vega Squadron is a Russian professional esports organization based in Moscow. It was originally formed as a ''StarCraft II'' team on 10 July 2012. Currently, the organization has players competing in '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'', ''Do ...

, who they defeated 3–2 in a close series, securing themselves a spot in the main event. Phong Vũ Buffalo placed last in the group stage of the main event with a 2–8 record, failing to advance to the knock-out stage. On 31 May 2019, the organization announced it was renaming to Dashing Buffalo to reflect a change in its sponsorship, with Dashing Shampoo becoming its primary sponsor. Dashing Buffalo renamed to Saigon Buffalo on 26 May 2020 to reflect its partnership with the

Saigon Heat The Saigon Heat is a Vietnamese professional basketball team based in Ho Chi Minh City. Since the 2014 season, the Heat's home games are played at the CIS Arena on the campus of the Canadian International School in District 7. This is the fi ...

. In November 2022, the South Korean esports-focused

think tank A think tank, or public policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governme ...

JUEGO signed a deal to acquire Saigon Buffalo, but the deal fell through. Saigon Buffalo was renamed to Vikings Esports after the 2023 season.

Current roster

Tournament results

Notes

References

External links

* {{Vietnam Championship Series 2016 establishments in Vietnam Esports teams established in 2016 Esports teams based in Vietnam Vietnam Championship Series teams