Ever since ELK joined BLG, he has been regarded by many BLG fans as the top Chinese ADC, and even the LPL has seemingly boosted his reputation by “tweaking stats,” placing ELK, who is only third in average damage, above IG’s GALA as number one in the league (ELK averages 843 while GALA averages 930). Because both his fans and the league are pushing him so hard, ELK has become quite arrogant lately, even going so far as to “flash the clown” to mock IG in their high-profile match.

After ELK’s “clown gesture,” many IG fans criticized him for being arrogant. Unsurprisingly, ELK got his “karma” during the match, suffering a heavy defeat at the hands of GALA, who earned MVP twice in their head-to-head. With both his in-game and out-of-game antics, ELK’s reputation has taken a nosedive, and many LPL viewers are joking, “There are only wrong names, not wrong nicknames.” ELK truly lives up to the title of “King of Lilliputians”—his recent behavior fits the persona perfectly.

Besides the “clown gesture” that drew massive backlash from LPL viewers, more of ELK and BLG’s controversial history has been dug up. For example, ELK once liked and saved a compilation of JKL’s defeats, and has privately argued with WE fans, even calling them clowns. BLG’s own scandals are too many to count—the most infamous being when they made WEI take the blame by picking a “palace intrigue” comp of mid Kassadin, jungle Nocturne, and bot Jinx right after WEI had just won MVP.

Responding to the “clown gesture” mocking IG

Because of ELK’s worsening public image, many of his fans worried that this would affect his mentality. But to everyone’s surprise, ELK addressed the issue in a fan group, saying he doesn’t care about outside opinions and hopes his fans can be the same. This “carefree” statement left many IG fans speechless, since it was ELK who started the mocking in the first place. From his response, you’d think IG fans were making things up, and some believe ELK’s words are a bit too “pretentious.”

After ELK’s “forgiveness” statement towards IG fans came out, a flood of LPL viewers went to his official Weibo to criticize him. Many pointed out that ELK is just deceiving his fans, and that he actually cares more than anyone about public opinion. If ELK truly didn’t care, he wouldn’t have liked and saved compilations of JKL’s losses, nor would he have lost his temper with viewers during streams or in private messages. (ELK once got so triggered by barrage comments during a stream that he threatened to “punish” the viewers’ base.)

From the strongest all-Chinese roster to the most criticized team

Due to ELK’s questionable actions, BLG as a whole has drawn the ire of many LPL viewers. BLG was once hailed as the best all-Chinese lineup in the league, but as the season went on, more and more fans noticed the team’s many flaws. Both management and players have repeatedly let supporters down, and some LPL fans even say they wouldn’t like BLG even if they won Worlds. (Do you think BLG could turn public opinion around if they became world champions?)

Conclusion

All I can say is that BLG’s current reputation is a result of their own actions. There are many all-Chinese teams in the LPL, but BLG is the only one whose “all-Chinese” rallying cry has completely fallen apart. No wonder at their past anniversary events, not a single other LPL team showed up to celebrate. So, how do you think BLG could redeem their image? In my opinion, unless BLG knocks out T1 at Worlds and wins the championship with an all-Chinese roster, it’ll be very hard for them to clear their name.