As players from various regions arrive in Europe for Worlds 2021, one of the most discussed topics in the League of Legends community is their ranked performance. Unsurprisingly, many “funny yet sad” stories about the ranked experiences of ShowMaker, Doinb, or Faker have been fervently shared online.
However, not all stories are humorous or memorable; sometimes, players engage in behaviors that violate Riot’s rules during ranked play or negatively affect the gaming experience of others. The latest case to draw the League of Legends community’s ire is Cryin, the mid-laner for Royal Never Give Up.
Specifically, in a recent ranked match, Cryin played Sylas in the mid lane while his team was leading the opponent by nearly 3k gold and more than 1 turret. The game was looking solid until his jungler, a player named Madzzz on Gragas, came in to steal Cryin’s Blue Buff. Immediately after, RNG’s mid-laner rushed to mid and fed continuously. In the end, Cryin’s team lost the match, and he finished with a KDA of 10/15/3.
The League of Legends community exploded with discussions about this issue. Some netizens, primarily from China, criticized the player who stole Cryin’s Blue Buff, especially since he was playing Sylas—a champion that heavily relies on energy to cast spells. Moreover, Cryin was almost finished with the Blue Buff when the player arrived to use Smite, essentially indicating an intentional act of sabotage.
– Waiting for someone to almost finish the Blue Buff before using Smite, what kind of teammate is that?
– Cryin’s Sylas was the main carry!
– Clearly, that jungler deliberately affected Cryin; he stole the Blue Buff, that’s disgusting.
However, international League of Legends fans are also not in favor of the way RNG’s mid-laner handled the situation. Besides lacking professionalism during ranked play—after all, Cryin is a top-tier player who previously experienced EU ranked during MSI 2021—he also impacted the experience of innocent teammates who were expecting what seemed like a guaranteed victory until that point.
– Shouldn’t he get a ban?
– This isn’t the first time; he did this during MSI and didn’t face any punishment.
– People often say “it’s fine, just troll, we’re going to lose anyway,” but what about in this case? They were ahead by nearly 3k gold, and Cryin kept running to mid to feed continuously because…?
RNG’s mid-laner already has a history of being punished for sabotaging games in ranked. Remember back in August of this year, RNG unexpectedly announced a punishment and public warning for their mid-laner due to repeated negative behaviors in solo queue. He continuously went AFK, trolled games, and left matches during play… to the point where the team could no longer tolerate it.
While the reasoning may be that Cryin is under pressure for not performing at his best, as a professional player, his actions are incredibly distasteful. A punishment from RNG seems insufficient, and if he doesn’t promptly correct his attitude and behavior, Cryin could face harsher penalties, directly from Riot, especially since this publisher has repeatedly declared war on game sabotage, trolling, and AFK play in League of Legends.