Famous KOLs in League of Legends Rally to Defend Gumayusi
As known, in the match between T1 and OKSavingsBank BRION, this team presented a special pick for Gumayusi with the champion Ezreal. This could be considered a bold choice since the AD carry born in 2002 had long ceased to use this champion. And the reality proved that T1 could not operate this champion because Ezreal is simply the complete opposite of T1’s playstyle. As we saw later, Gumayusi also became a target of criticism.
However, this time, the T1 player received countless defenses, even from figures who rarely express support for T1 players. Right after the match ended, Kuro – former star of ROX Tigers and now a Riot streamer, scrolled through a series of posts criticizing Gumayusi and concluded: “Look at these (the negative comments directed at Gumayusi), Ezreal did nothing wrong in this match. But we all know these would come.”
Gumayusi’s two seniors at T1, Bang and Wolf, also fully supported the younger player. While Bang praised Gumayusi’s performance, Wolf used himself and his former teammate MaRin as an example: “Many people say Gumayusi can’t play Ezreal, Kai’Sa… But does that matter? He plays well with other champions, right? Like me back in the day, I couldn’t play Thresh or Bard. And MaRin totally abandoned Kassadin in the Top lane even though it was a meta champion back then.”
In VCS, commentator Hoang Luân also stated: “Sometimes just looking at the win rate, or checking picks and bans through the results can’t tell you everything. As you can see, Guma didn’t play badly in this match. It was T1 that couldn’t operate him.”
T1’s pick and ban may inadvertently “clear Gumayusi’s name”
T1’s picks may not have been effective, as T1 still lost that match. But perhaps this was a necessary move to “clear Gumayusi’s name” and dispel the baseless criticisms directed at him over time.