LPL Representative Faces Investigation After Embarrassing Exit from First Stand 2025
It can be said that the League of Legends community in China has never felt as disappointed as they do right now. In previous international tournaments, LPL representatives, regardless of their strengths and weaknesses, always showed a certain level of effort. However, Top Esports at First Stand 2025 exhibited none of that. Aside from their victory against Team Liquid 2-1, they lost all other matches without winning a single game, whether against KC, CFO, or HLE.
In fact, a famous LPL coach, KenZhu, was so outraged that he called for an urgent investigation into the TES players. He stated on his stream: “This team is probably thinking about when they can go home rather than focusing on winning. There is definitely match-fixing going on within the team. How can Riot not take action on something so obvious? Every year there are cases of match-fixing, even at the World Championship. Is Riot going to do anything about it?”.
LPL Prepares for a Challenging Phase Ahead
It can also be understood that First Stand 2025 may not hold much significance, as aside from the prize pool (around $300k USD) and an automatic spot in the group stage of MSI 2025, it does not impact the overall season. Not to mention, the strength of HLE is overwhelmingly superior. Even if it were BLG, AL, or JDG facing HLE, it would be difficult to secure a victory. Therefore, it’s understandable that TES has a mindset of giving up.
However, if the story is that TES has tried their best and can only perform to this level, it will be a serious signal for LPL. After all, TES is still a powerhouse in LPL and will continue to be a contender for all international League of Legends events in the future. If this performance does not improve, there may not be a need to wait for LCK; even teams like KC, G2, or even TALON from VCS could easily leave TES or LPL in regret.