The LPL winter transfer window is almost over. NIP recently declared that all five starters have departed, and the coaching staff has also dissolved. It looks like NIP is set to underperform next season. Of the five players, Solokill is said to be moving to IG, jungler Naiyou has officially joined Top Esports, mid laner Doinb is retiring, bot laner Leave is back at EDG, and support Niket is currently unemployed with no team interested.

With RNG and FPX exiting the league, many players have been released. In such a competitive environment, average players will find it hard to get signed this year. However, top-tier players like Gege and Liu Qingsong have chosen to sit out the first split, which might open some opportunities for second- and third-tier players. But for someone like Niket, finding a team is still tough because his skill level is quite poor.

Shadou reportedly joins CFO.

During this transfer window, BLG not only signed Viper but also brought back Xun, making next year their most promising season yet. With Xun’s return, Beichuan and Shadou likely won’t get much playtime. There were rumors that LNG showed interest in Beichuan, but they couldn’t agree on a price, so both junglers renewed with BLG to facilitate future transfers. Recently, there are reports that Shadou might be moving to LCP.

Fans revealed on Shadou’s super topic that CFO offered a big contract with strong sincerity, hoping everything goes well for him there. CFO’s mid and jungle have transferred to JDG, so they really need a jungler. Shadou moving there seems like a good fit since he has little chance to play at BLG, and other strong LPL teams have already locked in their junglers. Besides joining a weaker team, he has no other option. Going to CFO could give him a shot at the World Championship.

T1 academy top laner reaches Korean solo queue rank 1.

Smash, who transferred from T1 to DK, recently topped the Korean solo queue but lost the spot after a few days. Recently, T1 academy player Guardian overtook SmaShi to claim first place with a high score of 2039. This young player has a broad champion pool, playing tanks, fighters, and mages. However, he’s not as young as expected—born in 2004, he’s already 21 years old and no longer considered a prodigy.

Currently, the entire top ten in Korean solo queue is dominated by LCK players. Our LPL players, after their break, have been indulging in Hexakill mode. Regarding academy talent, there’s a significant gap between LPL and LCK. The neighboring region produces impressive rookies every year, while in our league, the last true prodigy appeared several splits ago. In recent years, there have been no standout domestic newcomers.

Hanyi lashes out at LPL viewers.

More than ten top-tier LPL players have chosen to sit out this split, a much larger scale than before. Recently, Zhukai revealed on stream that the main reason for not competing is lower pay. It seems the previous LPL salaries were too generous, and a slight cut caused players to give up. The competition format also affects this, as the first split’s points are too few and have little impact on Worlds qualification.

Besides that, during a voice chat with Zhukai, Hanyi angrily accused LPL fans of holding the league hostage: “Have you spent money watching the matches? You’re worthless. The money you contribute to the league’s ecosystem doesn’t even reach the league itself. Yet you keep holding the league hostage daily. Who asked you to watch the games? You neither spend money nor consume anything. Good grief, LPL is almost dead, and this person is still blaming the fans. It’s really hard to tolerate.”

Conclusion:

Honestly, LPL fans’ spending power is quite average because most only watch the streams. But even without attending offline events or buying team merchandise, fans still bring huge popularity to LPL. Hanyi’s direct criticism of fans looks like he wants the league to fail quickly. If not spending means you don’t deserve to watch, then the league would have collapsed long ago.

So, what do you think about Shadou joining CFO?

Feel free to leave your comments and discuss!