TF Blade has long been famous in the streaming community as a player who specializes in reaching the top 1 Challenger rank across various servers. He even set a challenge to replicate this achievement on all servers worldwide. However, as the saying goes, “life is not as rumored,” TF Blade was recently banned from South Korea for toxic behavior and insults in ranked solo queue. He frequently provokes professional players, making him rather unpopular among Korean gosus.
After being banned, TF Blade returned to his hometown in Canada and continued streaming as usual. He seemed to be completely unbothered by the account ban and happily shared his experiences on the Korean server. In fact, when asked about comparing the Gold rank in Korea to the Gold rank in North America, TF Blade asserted, “Gold rank in Korea might actually be better than Diamond in NA.”
TF Blade: “Comparing Gold in Korea to Gold in North America? Let’s see, in terms of pure skill, Gold in Korea is equivalent to Diamond in North America. They could easily climb to Diamond if they really wanted to play seriously. I think the players’ skills in Korea are simply better, plus the ping in Korea is extremely stable, always around 9. I’m even playing with a ping of 17 and can fluctuate at any time.”
There are two things that TF Blade wants to emphasize: the skill of players in Korea is fundamentally better than in North America, and the quality of internet connectivity in Korea is far superior. The fact is that the player turnover rate in the LCK is incredibly fast, and you can easily be replaced by newcomers. There are many young and skilled players in Korea; they just need to refine their macro skills at a high level to play professionally.
Meanwhile, in the LCS North America, new names rarely appear due to the poor youth training environment. It is no coincidence that this league has to “import” talent from Europe and Korea to fill the gaps. It’s not surprising that the LCS is often referred to as the “Import League” due to the excessive number of foreign players here, and Riot Games itself is struggling with this issue.
The second issue is the internet connection. In Korea, players can enjoy ping lower than 10, which is extremely stable, and the latency in skill execution is almost non-existent. Thus, it is entirely understandable that players improve their skills quicker.
Perhaps it is the high quality of ranked matches in Korea and the enjoyable gaming experience that has left TF Blade, a player known for his toxic behavior, seemingly unbothered despite being banned from his account.