With only 9 days remaining until the League of Legends S15 World Championship kicks off, IG is set to battle T1 in the play-ins. The team was recently seen together in South Korea, spotted by fans. Since they are hosting matches there, this timing strongly suggests a scheduled offline team practice. It’s still unclear who they are training with, but given Daeny’s network in the LCK, arranging sessions with elite teams like HLE or GEN is certainly possible.

Although they can learn from LCK teams, beating T1 will still be tough. However, T1 themselves are currently unstable. Their bottom laner, Little Lu Bu, is under intense pressure from fans. Extreme T1 supporters have parked a truck outside the T1 base for two consecutive days, displaying protest signs accusing the “Auntie” of being a nepotism pick who stole Smash’s starting spot. They threaten to stop cheering and stop buying T1 merchandise if no changes are made for the World Championship.

This protest is quite abstract—right before the World Championship, T1 fans are demanding a change in the AD position. They want to replace him with a player from a secondary league who just made the top six. It’s unclear whether these people are true T1 fans or just haters. Even at his worst, Little Lu Bu is a two-time World Champion AD. The treatment he receives at T1 is on a completely different level compared to the veteran Bang. It’s genuinely unfortunate.

During the playoffs, Auntie’s performance was indeed average, which is the main reason for the criticism. But looking at his career overall, whenever his league performance dips, he always shines at the World Championship. This year will likely be no exception. However, Riot has introduced a global pick-ban system this time. Since T1’s bottom lane struggles with champions like EZ, Kai'Sa, and Zeri, their champion pool might become a critical factor in the competition.

The T1 management is surely ignoring these comments. If they actually promoted Smash now, IG’s less than 50% win rate could instantly jump to 80%. T1 would never do that. Another theory about why Little Lu Bu is being targeted online is that in late September, Auntie attended an offline event with T1’s COO and heads of team fights and events.

This offline event leaned towards the Riot staff side, so Little Lu Bu may have offended a certain group. Judging by the messages on the truck, T1’s COO was also criticized, so it’s likely he angered Riot staff. However, T1 fans have never really supported him. When T1 struggled last year and the year before, Little Lu Bu was attacked many times. This time the intensity is just slightly higher than before.

A two-time World Champion AD is a prized asset in any region, yet among T1 fans, Little Lu Bu is seen as worse than Smash, who can’t even grasp the secondary league. It’s hard to understand what these fans are thinking. Auntie truly is impressive—despite years of criticism, his mentality remains intact. Compared to Zeus, who is also frequently criticized, Auntie is the true stress-resilient king of the LCK.

No matter how much the fans protest, it won’t affect T1’s starting lineup. This roster has been used for two splits. When AD rotations happened before, T1 mostly lost. Stabilizing Auntie as the starter brought their form back. Now that they’ve made it to Worlds, questioning Little Lu Bu’s ability seems like a fanbase issue—probably from those who don’t even have the League client installed.

Conclusion:

Both being two-time world champions from T1, Bang is hailed as the greatest AD in history, but Auntie can’t even match up to a rookie. This is truly hard to accept. Besides Viper and Ruler, is there really an AD stronger than Auntie in the LCK? Even in poor form, he remains a consistent top-three player in the league.

So, do you think Little Lu Bu offended the Riot staff?

Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments!