Just one day into the MSI, a match-fixing incident occurred! A Korean mid laner sold his Mejai's and activated Zhonya's while walking.

Hello to all LPL viewers and League of Legends summoners, this is Tianxia Game Hub.

The MSI Mid-Season Invitational kicked off today, with the play-in stage beginning first. T1's first opponent was TL from North America, whom they easily defeated 3-0.

Controversy once again emerged during the matches, as TL mid laner Quid's ridiculous plays raised viewers' suspicions.

Doran was solo-killed by his lane opponent, and T1 started making sloppy mistakes.

There was undoubtedly a massive gap in skill between the two teams, but T1's performance was far from flawless. After an easy first-game win, they started messing up in games two and three, committing numerous errors. Regular T1 viewers know this team doesn't always maintain peak focus and competitive form.

Once T1 easily took game one and sized up their opponent as weak, they began fooling around, playing less strictly and giving the enemy openings to make the match appear more competitive.

In this series, Doran and Oner's outrageous play in game two still left viewers in disbelief.

Doran, playing Ambessa for which he owns a championship skin, was solo-killed by Rumble in lane, while Oner's Vi repeatedly charged in and gave away kills.

In this game, TL's Korean mid laner Quid gave away two early deaths, then the tide suddenly turned. TL crushed T1's invading squad in a jungle teamfight, with Taliyah grabbing a triple kill and instantly buying Mejai's. Soon after, T1's repeated counterattacks failed, and the gold deficit ballooned to around 6,000.

TL's match-fixing-tier plays: selling Mejai's and activating Zhonya's while walking.

Everyone thought TL would win this game, but then Quid started his antics. He bought a Seeker's Armguard and suddenly pulled back, recreating a legendary moment by popping Zhonya's while walking. If it were just that one play, people might not have suspected anything, but his subsequent moves were inexplicable.

With 22 stacks on Mejai's, Quid was caught and killed by T1's top laner. He then immediately sold Mejai's and bought Zhonya's. After this move, the chat exploded with question marks, and some even typed "real match-fixing."

Keep in mind his Mejai's still had 12 stacks—dying once hardly justified selling it. Moreover, he had enough gold to buy Zhonya's without selling Mejai's. This one decision completely wrecked his economy, and the logic behind rushing Zhonya's was baffling.

Later in the game, T1 successfully sneaked Baron. TL had a Senna bot-lane composition, relying on mid and top for damage. But both mid and top built Zhonya's, causing them to fail to kill Peyz in critical teamfights, allowing T1 to stage a comeback.

Viewers called for a thorough investigation, but Riot has historically taken no action.

Considering his performances in games one and three, Quid's issues are severe. He seems unfit for top-tier professional play, with excessive mistakes and deaths. Just based on that second-game move of selling Mejai's and stopping the fight, I personally think its absurdity rivals that of TES' Cream.

Editor

If measured by LPL's self-investigation standards, an inquiry should be launched. However, viewers are generally pessimistic about Riot's investigation track record, given that even more egregious cases occurred during last year's World Championship.

That incident also involved a T1 match against 100T. 100T's Korean jungler River, playing Wukong, refused to engage in numerous mid-to-late-game teamfights, selling out his teammates. After that match, River immediately retired. This sparked widespread global debate, but Riot never investigated.

A major factor is that Western and wildcard teams are generally weaker, and absurd mistakes are common in their regular games. Viewers there have higher tolerance compared to the Chinese and Korean regions, so the outcry in the West was not as loud.