Saigon Buffalo is a Vietnamese professional ''

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL''), commonly referred to as ''League'', is a 2009 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 War ...

'' team competing in the

Vietnam Championship Series The Vietnam Championship Series (VCS) is a professional ''League of Legends'' esports league run by Riot Games and Garena. From 2013 to 2017, the VCS was a tier below Garena Premier League (GPL). In 2018, the VCS broke away from the GPL and b ...

(VCS). The team has been 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 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

, and

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

, as well as the

Mid-Season Invitational The Mid-Season Invitational (MSI) is an annual ''League of Legends'' tournament hosted by Riot Games since 2015. It is the second most important international ''League of Legends'' tournament aside from the World Championship. In 2015 and 2016, ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

and

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 has competitive teams in ''Arena of Valor'', ''Free Fire'', '' Mobile Legends: Bang Bang'', ''PUBG Mobile'' and '' League of ...

and one to

GIGABYTE Marines GAM Esports is a professional ''League of Legends'' team competing in the Vietnam Championship Series (VCS), the highest level of competitive ''League of Legends'' in Vietnam. The team first rose to international prominence in 2017, after their ...

, 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 spr ...

, 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 Leg ...

, and

G2 Esports G2 Esports (G2) is a European esports organization headquartered in Berlin, Germany, with players competing in ''League of Legends'', ''Valorant'', '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'', '' Hearthstone'', ''Rocket League'', ''Rainbow Six Siege ...

. 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 Spli ...

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 designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an aircraf ...

, and Argentine team

Isurus Gaming Isurus, formerly known as Isurus Gaming, is an Argentinian professional esports organization with teams competing in '' Counter-Strike: Global Offensive'' and ''League of Legends''. Its ''League of Legends'' team is the first champion of the L ...

. 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. With the release of '' StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty'', Team Liquid signed their first professional players. In 2012, Team Liq ...

. 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'', '' ...

, 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, Vietnam. 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. Saigo ...

. In November 2022, the South Korean esports-focused

think tank A think tank, or 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-governmenta ...

JUEGO signed a deal to acquire Saigon Buffalo, but the deal fell through.

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