Recently, EDward Gaming announced that several members of the team have been attacked by overzealous individuals through various means, including threatening messages and even stalking to physically assault.
EDG stated that the incident is being handed over to the authorities for investigation and resolution, while refusing to disclose the identity of the affected player. However, recently, the Chinese online community has circulated images of a chat exchange in the League of Legends client between SofM and Flandre, showing that EDG’s top laner is a victim in this incident.
– SofM: I heard someone hit you?
– Flandre: Yeah. Almost beaten to death.
Being “almost beaten to death” may be an exaggerated expression, but it seems that Flandre’s attack is real. Several sources on Weibo have reported that this player was attacked after continuously rejecting… dating proposals from some obsessive fans, and they retaliated.
However, there are also opinions suggesting that Flandre’s attack stemmed from EDG’s performance in the recent 2021 LPL Spring tournament. In the group stage, Flandre played exceptionally well, helping EDG hold the top spot for a long time, but during the knockout stage, his performance was poor, and EDG failed to achieve their goal of reaching the finals.
Right after EDG was eliminated, Flandre faced significant criticism from a portion of overzealous fans. Many believe that he has lost motivation to compete and lacks the ambition to help EDG strive for the championship.
According to sources from new.qq, it seems that Flandre is considering leaving EDward Gaming after just one season. This source even speculates that Flandre might retire if he leaves the team, as after 8 years of high-level competition, coupled with persistent injuries, he has shown many signs of declining performance.
Evidence of Flandre’s uncertain future is that recently, EDward Gaming promoted a young player born in 2002 – Xiaoxiang to the main roster to take on the top lane role in scrims, while Flandre has not been participating in practices.
Previously, during the knockout rounds of the 2021 LPL Spring, Flandre was reported to have had some conflicts with teammates, as in some specific games, he requested to focus resource play on the top lane but was not accommodated. Additionally, wrist injuries may also hinder Flandre’s career longevity.