After the incident with Mlxg a few days ago, people quickly drew parallels to the case of the legendary ADC Uzi. Specifically, he has also been tied to a “slave” contract with RNG and until now, aside from streaming, he cannot participate in any other teams. The reason is due to the strict binding terms and the hefty contract release fee.
However, if you regularly follow Uzi’s streams, you will notice a reason that may be just as crucial as the contract-related issues: Uzi is no longer the same player he was during his prime in the LPL.
During his streams, Uzi spends a lot of time on League of Legends. He regularly climbs ranks but does not achieve good results. It is worth emphasizing that Uzi still frequently ranks in Korea and has a decent LP score. Theoretically, if everything goes smoothly, by the end of Season 11, Uzi could qualify to return to the professional arena in the LPL. Not to mention, his contract with RNG is nearing its end. However, for online communities, Uzi has “run out of chances” to return to professional play.
The reason is that currently, the meta and most teams no longer rely heavily on ADCs. For some teams like Beyond Gaming, EDward Gaming, or those with strong ADCs, their playstyle still funnels resources to the ADC, but that number is very minimal. Top teams like FunPlus Phoenix or DWG KIA, including LNG Esports or Hanwha Life Esports, do not focus on the ADC (LNG focuses on Ale while HLE revolves around Chovy).
The lack of resource allocation, combined with the fact that ADCs can no longer carry the team with just one or two items, and Uzi’s performance has declined due to being away from the competitive scene for too long, means that for fans, Uzi has run out of chances to return to professional play, even though he may soon end his nightmare contract with RNG. This may be the biggest regret for Uzi and those who have admired his ADC playstyle.