The LOL Asian Invitational is approaching, and Doinb recently disclosed on stream that Weibo and JD teams aren’t giving much importance to the “Nirvana Cup.” I looked into the ranked activity of Chinese and Korean participants; LCK players have been consistently playing ranked matches. DK boasts four players above 1000 LP and one at 800 LP master, whereas only NIP from our three local teams has been practicing on the top ladder.

After the play-in stage, JD and Weibo teams basically stopped logging in. Xun played a few games during the National Day holiday, but the rest were resting. Although it was just an exhibition with a casual nature, the difference in professional attitude between LPL and LCK players is quite obvious. Competitors next door always take matches seriously, while our region’s teams show little dedication even when there are competitions to play.

LPL “Annual Highlights” data revealed

Following the conclusion of the play-in matches, the LPL’s season has officially ended. Recently, a netizen compiled the “best” statistics of LPL players throughout the year. Kanavi earned 34 MVP awards across three splits, far ahead of others. Gala and Angel both achieved the highest kills in a single game (19 kills), while the nation’s top mid laner Knight claimed the title of the year’s solo kill king with a staggering 68 solo kills.

The player who was solo killed the most was TheShy, who was taken down solo 37 times across the three splits. Meiko and PPgod hold the record for the most deaths in a single game this year (12 deaths). ON died a total of 556 times this year, making him the highest death count in the LPL. Meanwhile, Hope leads in total kills with an impressive 842 kills this year. Although often underestimated, Hope truly knows how to secure kills.

KC’s owner posts furious criticism of Riot

Recently, Riot officially announced a format change for the LEC: next winter’s split will expand from 10 teams to 12. The two new teams are the top performers from Europe’s secondary league. This move sparked widespread dissatisfaction among European teams. KC’s owner recently expressed anger in a post: nobody agreed with the new LEC format, and if it continues like this, it might as well let the second teams play winter, while the first teams go to Korea for training.

Riot’s reform has been accused of favoring “European Gang” (a second-tier caster who formed one of the new teams). KC’s owner even declared: if Riot wants to sue, he’s ready to respond. The boycott against Riot is understandable because the current 10 teams bought their spots, while the two newcomers didn’t pay for their places but directly entered the top league. This is unfair to the teams that spent money on their slots.

Liu Qingsong reveals tattoo leak fine

As mentioned earlier, WBG and JDG players have been quite lax recently. During a livestream, Liu Qingsong was playing Teamfight Tactics and showed no sign of preparing for the Invitational. He also revealed that he was fined tens of thousands this year for having a visible tattoo during matches. He joked that the director seemed to target him, as the camera always focused on him whenever he placed his hand on the table.

Although Liu Qingsong’s comment was humorous, honestly, if they didn’t fine him, wouldn’t that make the tattoo pointless? Compared to the retired Leng Shao, Liu’s fines shouldn’t be considered much. Icon’s two large arm tattoos are impossible to cover during matches; he’s probably the LPL player fined the most for tattoos. However, tattoos really aren’t suitable for display, so being fined is something he has to accept.

Conclusion:

Riot’s reform of the LEC is somewhat confusing. Either make the promoted teams pay the entry fee, or refund the current teams’ fees. Previously, teams paid to participate, but now the new teams get in for free. For the paying teams, this is definitely unfair. The LEC franchise fees must be worth tens of millions at least.

So, what do you think Riot should do?

Feel free to leave your thoughts and join the discussion!