Late on September 3rd and into the early hours of September 4th, Zeros stirred up the Vietnamese League of Legends community once again. Specifically, according to viewers of Zeros’s stream late on September 3rd, he made some remarks about the final days of the VCS Spring 2021, especially regarding Coach Tinikun’s involvement in supporting SE in their efforts to reach the playoffs.
According to Zeros, Coach Tinikun joined SE but was completely out of the meta, lacked expertise, and primarily aimed to market his business. However, Zeros also acknowledged that Tinikun’s arrival significantly improved discipline within SE. Shortly after, this stream segment was removed, but the incident was quickly shared across forums, igniting a massive wave of debate.
Additionally, on the afternoon of September 4th, Coach Tinikun also posted an ambiguous status. He didn’t imply anyone specifically, but the timing of the post led many to suspect that it was related to what Zeros had said about him on the stream.
Some fans even went directly to the personal page of SE’s manager, Mr. Cao Le Tuan Tu, to question him about this, forcing him to immediately post a status explaining the background of inviting Tinikun to SE during the Spring season.
The incident has drawn significant attention from the Vietnamese League of Legends community. Countless conflicting opinions have emerged regarding the situation. Most believe that Zeros is being “ungrateful” since Coach Tinikun was someone who always believed in his talent, and even compared Zeros’s skills to being “greater than Khan’s”. Notably, Tinikun was the first to speak up for Zeros during the prolonged “salary debt” controversy from 2020 through the end of Spring 2021.
Many disagree with SBTC’s management’s claim that Zeros’s slip of the tongue was due to viewer and fan provocation. The player is now 21 years old, and at this age, having been in the professional League of Legends environment for a long time, he should be more careful with his words. Moreover, Zeros was the first in the entire League of Legends community to receive a “global ban” from Riot.
However, there are some comments supporting Zeros, acknowledging that since parting ways with professional League of Legends to focus on business, Tinikun has indeed become out of meta and not contributed much in terms of expertise for SE, primarily participating in the disciplinary aspects.
However, by the end of the stream on September 4th, Zeros continued the conversation by addressing Tinikun’s status, asserting that people still do not fully understand what the former GAM coach has done for him. It seems that Zeros’s previous jabs at Tinikun were not merely playful banter but genuinely carried a mocking tone towards his former mentor.
It appears that the relationship between Tinikun and Zeros has truly deteriorated since the coach accused the former SBTC player of indiscipline, star syndrome, and damaging SBTC’s reputation by consistently being late to practice sessions with other teams. At the time Tinikun spoke out, Zeros faced numerous criticisms from SE fans, and although he publicly apologized, some reports suggest he still showed resentment at being “exposed” by his former coach.
