Every match in the professional League of Legends scene is incredibly intense, especially in major tournaments like MSI or Worlds, where players from highly anticipated teams are expected to achieve victory. Even players who are accustomed to pressure can experience psychological issues during critical moments, as seen with the star-studded roster of T1, who always feel the weight of expectations on their shoulders whenever they compete. For many League of Legends fans, if T1 does not win the championship, it is considered a failure.
Therefore, players from the top teams often have to endure heavy psychological moments due to the expectations of the audience. This can lead to serious consequences during gameplay. Specifically, many have revisited a highly sensitive “pause game” situation during the match between T1 and Bilibili Gaming, discovering that it was BLG who paused the game because one of their players was not well.
Specifically, in game 4 of the match, while T1 was attacking BLG’s bottom lane turret, Elk could not handle the stress and vomited live on stage, forcing the referee to pause the match to allow Elk to stabilize mentally. Notably, Elk is not a rookie or someone who has never faced pressure before. However, perhaps even he could not control himself when facing T1 and BLG in the context of game 4, which was on the verge of defeat. Elk’s act of vomiting is a completely understandable reaction. There have been numerous cases where players have had to go to the hospital after such reactions.
This may also explain why in game 5, BLG focused significant resources on another player capable of “carrying the team,” Bin, to relieve the pressure on Elk. However, from Elk’s expressions, it is evident that even players competing in their home arena against opponents they have previously defeated can still experience psychological crises. Moreover, this is just one of countless indications that the professional League of Legends scene is becoming increasingly harsh, with the development of Esports culture and social media significantly heightening the pressure on players.