Climbing ranks in the League of Legends community has always been a controversial issue. Toxicity, game sabotage, or intentional cheating in ranked matches remains prevalent. Not only ordinary gamers but even professional players sometimes fall victim to these incidents. In fact, like Faker’s previous encounter with rank sabotaging, professional players can also be culprits.
These acts of sabotaging games may seem trivial, but they can have severe consequences, especially for professional players. Uzi is a prime example. There have been numerous reports that during his practice in ranked matches before deciding to return to professional League of Legends, Uzi encountered many “actors” (a term referring to players who take ranked games lightly) and particularly cases of game sabotage. Moreover, Uzi has even been severely insulted by these players during live streams, despite his influence and reputation in the LPL, which arguably rivals that of Faker in the LCK.
And when Uzi struggles both in practice and ranked climbing, his performance has noticeably declined. Recently, Uzi had the opportunity to climb ranks with Doinb. However, the former “Super Marksman” of the LPL “fed terribly,” leaving Doinb frustrated: “Let me tell you, Uzi is the most pitiful person I’ve ever met while climbing ranks. I can play mid lane. Although most of the feeders usually play jungle, I still secure my lane. But Uzi, he can’t play at all. Can’t practice either.”
Indeed, Uzi has not been able to maintain the same level of performance as during his time with Royal Never Give Up. In the recent LPL Spring 2022, Uzi was not given many opportunities to compete or practice, primarily for branding purposes. Many LPL fans criticized Bilibili Gaming for wanting to exploit Uzi’s image rather than recruiting this superstar for professional reasons. Uzi even announced he would take a break before the season ended.
Although he has not announced his retirement again, the likelihood of Uzi competing in the upcoming Summer Split seems quite low. Perhaps the “Super Marksman” should consider truly “putting down the keyboard” to avoid further exploitation of his name.