Former World Champion Achieves Embarrassing Record
At this moment, the LPL Split 1 has reached the crucial Playoffs stage, and fans have witnessed many surprises, particularly from Ninjas in Pyjamas, the former World Champion – Doinb. This team had 3 consecutive wins in the group stage and was highly regarded ahead of the playoffs. In fact, many fans were hoping Doinb would return to the international stage after nearly 2 years away. However, recently, NIP officially exited the tournament after just 2 playoff matches.
For Doinb personally, this defeat is even more painful as he just received the MVP title of the LPL 2025 Split 1 group stage. In fact, the 2019 World Champion has become the first player in LPL history to win the group stage MVP title 3 times but failed in his very first playoff match. Previously, Doinb faced a similar situation in the LPL Spring 2017 and LPL Spring 2019 while playing for QG and FPX.
However, for many LPL fans, Doinb’s defeat can be seen as him facing… “karma.” On the day he returned to the professional scene, the former World Champion made a controversial statement: “Bow down.” This was sparked by the lack of faith placed in NIP in Doinb’s debut match (only 3% compared to 97% for the opponent).
Recently, after the group stage concluded, Doinb also stirred controversy when he stated, “NIP’s skill level shouldn’t be that high.” At that time, his comment was seen as “disrespecting the teams that lost to NIP in the group stage.” However, a segment of the audience recognized that after 2 playoff matches, Doinb’s assessment might have some validity.
– He got what he deserved
– But watching NIP play, Doinb’s comments seem accurate
– I really don’t know what the purpose of the MVP award is when the opponents are all different. What if NIP faced teams like BLG, TES, or JDG in the group stage?
– There shouldn’t be any awards for the first round since the opponents are all different.
The Former World Champion Struggles to Regain Past Glory
Setting aside the peripheral factors, from a technical standpoint, the NIP roster is indeed not strong. Doinb is a rare bright spot while teams like TES, LNG, JDG, WBG, IG, BLG… clearly have many players who are even better than Doinb at this time.
Therefore, moments like when NIP dominated the group stage while Doinb was chosen as MVP may only be temporary. And the day the former World Champion returns to international competitions may still be far away.