In the LPL play-in tournament, the winners' bracket matches have finished. After Top Esports claimed the third seed, only one Worlds slot is left for the LPL. The victor between WBG and JDG will take on IG, and the winner will be the fourth seed. Based on IG’s form against Top Esports, it’s highly probable that IG will fail to qualify for Worlds this year, since their power has dropped drastically since the playoffs started, and currently they are unable to win against anyone.

As the most followed team in the LPL, although IG’s losses were quite embarrassing, they provided plenty of entertainment. Former IG jungler Jiejie even streamed live on the opening day of the play-in tournament, commentating on IG’s matches. During the stream, a small incident occurred: his originally prepared microphone was criticized by viewers for poor sound quality, so Jiejie quickly ordered a new mic and set it up.

After adjusting the new microphone, viewers complained the sound was even worse than the first one. Frustrated, Jiejie switched back to the original mic. After this back-and-forth, he started complaining: “You told me to change the mic, then I switched back and it worked fine. What does this prove?”That the original one was never any good, but when you try something worse, you end up missing the original, right?

Though he was complaining about the microphone, the implication was clear. When IG lost two consecutive playoff matches, many fans blamed management for kicking out Jiejie. But when Jiejie was underperforming, those same fans demanded a new jungler. Now Wei is in an awkward spot—praised when playing well, but once IG’s results dipped, comments saying he’s not as good as Jiejie flooded forums.

Besides Jiejie, IG’s other jungler Ning Wang also sparked controversy during a livestream. When Ning heard about Jiejie’s stream, he immediately exploded: “You can’t do this, Jiejie. You’re just giving people more reason to criticize you.”“You’re just leeching off IG’s reputation.”“If you hadn’t joined FPX, streaming and commentating would be fine, but since you’re with FPX,”“At least you should be considered a deserter.”.

Ning accused Jiejie of deliberately provoking criticism, calling him a leech and a deserter. If one didn’t know better, they might think Jiejie did something unforgivable to IG. To be honest, Ning’s harsh words were somewhat unreasonable. Jiejie was off-season and free to stream if he wished. Also, even when commentating on IG’s matches, he wasn’t necessarily hostile; overall, he was fairly objective.

Jiejie played two splits with IG, helping the team earn some Worlds points. But in the third split, management suddenly signed a new jungler, aiming to rotate players like BLG. If it had been an unknown player, Jiejie might have accepted it, since IG has unparalleled attention in the LPL and performing well would bring fame. But Jiejie is a world champion jungler, and not even securing a starting spot was something he was willing to accept.

When he left the team, some bloggers revealed that Jiejie had a lawyer negotiate with the club to successfully terminate his contract. It was clear that the conflict with management had reached an irreconcilable point. So, even if he mocked IG during his commentary, it’s understandable. Except for Wei’s Zhaoxin play during the RE match, most of the commentary was quite standard.

In conclusion:

If switching teams made someone an esports deserter, then 99.9% of pro players would bear that label. Ning’s outburst was a bit exaggerated—he has already left and joined a new team. Commentating on his old team’s matches is perfectly normal. If people attack him just for that, it really shows how narrow-minded they are.

So, do you think Ning’s comments were inappropriate?

Feel free to leave your thoughts and discuss!