Not only did T1 suffer a defeat in the group stage of the Mid-Season Cup 2020, but they also unexpectedly faced backlash when their player Canna was criticized by a community forum of Chinese League of Legends fans.
The issue arose during the match against TOP Esports when Canna made a gesture by picking the champion Twitch in the first draft. What seemed like a trivial action turned problematic because, in the Korean version, Twitch’s nickname is “The Plague Rat,” while in the Chinese version, he has a much harsher nickname meaning “The Source of Evil.”
Somehow, a section of Chinese League of Legends fans deduced that Canna was implying “China is the source of the plague.” It’s unclear whether this is related to China being the origin of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has caused some places in the world to harbor anti-Chinese sentiments. Perhaps that’s why the gaming community is a bit sensitive when it comes to terms related to “plague.”
After learning about the criticism from the Chinese community, a representative from T1 stated that Canna was extremely confused. The young player continuously messaged others to explain that he had no idea about Twitch’s meaning in the Chinese version.
“I really had no idea Twitch had such an unpleasant meaning in China. The name Twitch means nothing in Korea.
Please don’t misunderstand me!
I simply clicked on a champion randomly because the team hadn’t decided which champion to pick yet…”
Canna being misunderstood is one thing, but even Faker got dragged into this story, simply because he… smiled after Canna picked Twitch and then switched to Trundle afterward. Somehow, the Chinese community concluded that Faker was endorsing Canna’s “cynical joke.”
On Score.gg, Chinese fans erupted in a heated debate, with many arguing that Faker is just a “hypocrite,” citing that he “always looks down on LPL and considers himself the best, claiming losses are due to his teammates’ poor performance, never admitting his own shortcomings. Every interview he gives is scripted, and only T1 has built Faker into a pristine image.”
Of course, Faker has a massive fan base in China, and not everyone agrees with the criticisms mentioned above. The true nature of Faker’s character is likely known only by his close teammates at T1.
If Faker were indeed arrogant and hypocritical, he wouldn’t have garnered admiration from so many other players. Moreover, dragging Faker into this incident is truly unreasonable; he simply smiled during the ban/pick phase—an action that couldn’t be more normal. Yet, some extreme fans have inferred that Faker is mocking the Chinese region, which can be considered quite a baseless assumption.