After FunPlus Phoenix suffered a shocking defeat to JD Gaming in the LPL Spring 2020 semifinals, one of the reasons for the failure of the 2019 World Champion has been revealed to be an internal conflict between Tian and Doinb.
In a livestream before that match, Doinb made sarcastic remarks about Tian, recounting that the jungle player declared: “I could take down Kanavi (the jungler for JD Gaming – FPX’s opponent in the semifinals) with just my feet; he’s just the MVP of the LPL group stage, while I’m the MVP of Worlds.”
Doinb reacted quite fiercely to Tian’s somewhat arrogant statements, even going so far as to use harsh words to criticize his teammate:
“How can I be proud of a teammate like this? Did anyone hear what he said? It’s all rubbish…”
Subsequently, rumors spread within the Chinese online community that Doinb and Tian had engaged in a heated argument due to Doinb sharing Tian’s comments with critical implications during his stream.
The reason for Doinb’s anger was that not only did Tian show contempt for their opponents, but he also seemed to believe that FPX’s success was solely due to his own outstanding performance, which displeased Doinb as he felt that the titles earned were due to the collective effort of the entire team.
No one knows how heated this argument became, but the outcome on the battlefield clearly reflected that issue: FPX was swept 0-3 by JD Gaming, in a match where Tian was completely outmatched by Kanavi.
The aforementioned rumors began circulating after FPX officially secured third place in the LPL Spring 2020, and Doinb himself recently confirmed the incident, stating that he and Tian had reconciled:
“Yes, we did argue, but that’s part of team life, you know. We’re just like everyone else; you have to express what you want to convey. Sometimes arguments can actually be good. Why did we achieve success last year? Because LWX was really open and listened to suggestions, addressing his weaknesses.
He improved his Kai’Sa play with each game, which led us to the quarterfinals, semifinals, finals, and ultimately to victory.
Everyone wants to maintain a good relationship with their teammates. But sometimes that mindset makes us hold back and not dare to speak the ‘uncomfortable truths’. That’s the worst thing. It’s better to speak out and solve things together than to hide small issues and let them accumulate into bigger problems.
To be fair, hiding personal thoughts is a challenge I’ve never won against.”
In their championship triumph at the LPL Summer 2019 and Worlds 2019, Doinb and Tian were the most impressive duo that helped FunPlus Phoenix, and of course, fans of the Phoenix will be uneasy seeing the two biggest stars of the team at odds. Fortunately, it seems that everything has been resolved amicably, as Doinb took the initiative to reconcile with his younger teammate, and FPX has regained their impressive form in their 3-0 victory over Invictus Gaming in the third-place match of LPL Spring 2020.