In recent days, the global League of Legends (LoL) community, particularly in the populous nation of China, has been shaken. At the second-tier LoL tournament in this region – the LDL, another significant match-fixing scandal has been uncovered, involving dozens of names.
It can be said that the issue of match-fixing has long been a thorny problem within the LoL community in the LPL region, especially in the LDL – a tournament considered a training ground for young players to hone their skills and competitive mindset… before being promoted to the first team. Notably, according to some investigations, not only young players but even former pro players who competed in the LPL such as JingYi, Why… are also involved.
A total of 28 players, staff, and 2 teams have been penalized. Among them, players including JingYi, Why, Severe, and Asura have been banned from competition indefinitely. Some teams like FunPlus Phoenix Blaze (the second team of FunPlus Phoenix) have also confirmed that they will cooperate with Riot and the LPL organizers to conduct investigations into names that have yet to be revealed. Notably, among these is Asura, who was briefly a teammate of SofM at LNG Esports.
The LDL has long been seen as a tournament where violations of cheating and match-fixing are quite prevalent among players. Sometimes, these incidents are so sophisticated that if the players do not confess, they may never be discovered. A prime example is the case of player Bo from FunPlus Phoenix. He confessed to cheating while competing in the LDL, which ultimately ended his professional LoL career in the vast nation.
This strong action may not completely cleanse the professional LoL environment in the lower-tier tournaments in the LPL region. However, it can be said that the community has reason to be concerned when the very young players – the future of LoL here, are the ones getting involved and subsequently ruining their promising careers.