Preface: As the S15 season draws to a close, the majority of players are paying close attention to this World Championship. The LPL region has failed to break through again; only TES managed to reach the semifinals. With the finals approaching, fans’ interest is growing. Unexpectedly, a statement from the KPL official commentator has sparked dissatisfaction among many LPL fans. Everyone knows the relationship between these two esports leagues is delicate—one is a world-class top-tier competition, and the other is relatively popular domestically. After the KPL Bird's Nest event ended, their official commentator directly took a jab at LPL, claiming they are the first Chinese team to win at the Bird’s Nest, effectively denying IG’s DOTA championship there. So far, there has been no sign of apology.

KPL commentator openly mocks LPL's lack of championship

Most players are quite familiar with the LPL region. Once a top-tier league, LPL’s overall performance in recent years has been acceptable, but it still lags behind the LCK in global competition. This time, despite competing on home turf, none of the four LPL teams made it to the final, while LCK’s T1 and KT faced off in Chengdu. This alone disappointed LPL fans greatly, but the KPL official commentator went further to provoke, trying to mock LPL’s winless record at the Bird’s Nest—only to be contradicted by historical data.

Recently, clashes between KPL and LPL have been rare, mostly peaceful coexistence as each grows in its own domain. The KPL annual finals have gained decent attention, and AG team’s championship was a moment to celebrate—until the official commentator’s remark spoiled it, sparking a fierce exchange between LPL and KPL fans. At the moment of victory, the commentator publicly claimed on stream that this was the first Chinese team to win at the Bird’s Nest. This statement quickly angered LPL fans, who felt it was a jab at the S7 Bird’s Nest competition, which featured SKT and Gen.G.

Many LPL fans joked that no matter who won, it was still a Chinese team, right? If KPL had a foreign team, this might be understandable, but since all teams are Chinese, emphasizing this point seems like stirring trouble. Such a statement from a domestic league is likely intended as a dig. Moreover, many netizens found data showing that as early as 2016, IG won the DOTA championship at the Bird’s Nest, which was a true world championship and global contest. That day also featured a CS:GO event where Tyloo was one of the earliest Chinese esports teams to win at the Bird’s Nest.

KPL is fundamentally a normal domestic tournament with no need to claim the title of the first Chinese team to win at the Bird’s Nest. This kind of commentary was probably meant to tease the S7 Bird’s Nest LCK internal battle but backfired, showing ignorance of other esports like DOTA and CS:GO. Also, KPL’s popularity is quite low; on foreign streaming platforms, it only had 94 viewers. By comparison, CS:GO, LoL, and DOTA usually attract much larger audiences.

Farewell thoughts

The KPL official commentator tried to be clever, since from a global perspective, League of Legends is more popular and wanted to use the Bird’s Nest championship to taunt LPL. However, the attempt backfired and made him the target of criticism. Both LoL fans and KPL players think his remarks were unnecessary. So far, he has not apologized and likely will not respond.

What do you, dear viewers, think about this situation?