For long-time viewers of LPL, Rookie has left a profound impression. He, along with the IG roster in 2018, was considered the hero of LPL when they brought home the first World Championship title for the region. Even after parting ways with IG to join V5, TES, or NIP, Rookie has always been regarded as a shining star of the LPL tournament.
However, as he steps into the group stage of LPL Summer 2024, Rookie has shown a rapid decline in performance. No longer displaying his usual solidity, Rookie now exhibits weak positioning in team fights and makes perplexing decisions. Even after the latest loss against LGD, Rookie and the entire NIP team faced harsh criticism from LPL commentators.
“To be honest, LeYan has created some bright spots for NIP, but they frequently make serious mistakes mid-game. They play as if they’re just ranking. When at a disadvantage, instead of finding ways to minimize losses, they dive into reckless team fights and only end up losing even more.
Theoretically, Rookie should be the star of NIP and carry this team. But he is playing terribly now and has no synergy with the jungler at all. When LGD faced difficulties, they still found ways to organize fights and look for opportunities. Meanwhile, NIP completely collapsed with no connection at all,” said LPL commentators MacT and Zhao Yunri on the official broadcast channel of the tournament.
Fairly speaking, Rookie did have some bright spots in the match against LGD, notably the solo kill on Haichao in the laning phase of the first game. However, that was not enough to cover up the fact that Rookie frequently made perplexing decisions that led to NIP losing all advantages. In fact, he even had a careless use of Lucian’s dash at the end of Game 1, which directly led to NIP’s defeat.
With this loss, NIP concluded the group stage of LPL Summer 2024 with a dismal record of zero wins. In the history of LPL, only two other teams have had a similar record: Team WE (LPL Summer 2022) and V5 (LPL Spring 2020 and LPL Summer 2021). In fact, compared to the “lower-tier” teams in the Nivarna group, no team has lost all matches like NIP.
In reality, Rookie’s decline in performance is somewhat understandable. The player has turned 27, making it difficult to perform at the same level as he did 5 or 6 years ago. Therefore, it’s hard to expect Rookie to play well and win titles. However, if he continues to play poorly as he did against LGD, the final chapter of his career may be filled with unfortunate lows.