SofM’s Suning Gaming suffered a rather weak defeat against Invictus Gaming in the past week’s matches, and one of the names that left the biggest disappointment was SofM – who had performed very well in the previous three games.
In the second game of the Bo3 series against IG, SofM made a critical error when using Smite on Baron but mistakenly targeted TheShy’s Renekton as he teleported down to the Baron pit and approached this objective.
This can be considered quite a rare mistake, and SofM is somewhat to blame for using Smite too late. However, Baron skirmishes are always a matter of chance and mental calculation, and in reality, players cannot always anticipate every possible scenario.
However, in the eyes of some LPL fans, this situation is truly blameworthy, alongside the fact that SofM’s overall performance in both games was not convincing, leading to a wave of criticism directed at this player on Chinese social media:
– Either he really made a mistake, or this is a way of ‘playing economically.’
– IG SofM.
– Ning really just played his role in this match, it was SofM’s performance that elevated Ning to become the jungler carrying the team.
– IG winning with 6 members is obviously to be expected.
– I thought TheShy’s performance was the most disappointing, but who knew SofM was even worse.
– Lose one game, win the whole life.
– This Smite is just the clearest example, SofM played as if he was throwing the game in both matches, the two MVPs of this match should be awarded to him.
– Just a wrong Smite on TheShy’s Renekton standing right next to Baron.
– Hey guys, put yourselves in that situation, Renekton Teleports straight to the Baron pit and then charges in next to this boss, in that position, not picking the right target to Smite is quite normal.
Recently, after Wei from eStar had a game where he forgot to bring the Smite summoner spell, the LPL fan community even created a topic titled “The Most Ridiculous Performances in LPL History,” and both junglers Wei and SofM were mentioned.
However, SofM is likely already too familiar with the high standards of LPL fans. In reality, except for Uzi and to some extent Rookie, there are not many players in China who can fully win the affection of the fan community.
Even TheShy or even Doinb – the heroes who brought home two World Championship titles for LPL, are frequently criticized whenever they have poor performance. It can be seen that TheShy has recently been mocked for his poor form, while Doinb often faces complaints about being “out of ideas,” leading the mid-laner of FPX to explode and respond on stream.
This is not the first time SofM has made a mistake, but perhaps because this mistake was somewhat “unforgivable,” he became the target of heavy criticism. However, the road ahead is still long, and as long as he performs well in the upcoming matches, reclaiming the trust of fans is entirely possible for SofM.