Since its launch, emotes have become a feature widely used by League of Legends players. Even in the biggest tournaments like MSI and Worlds, players frequently use emotes. This is seen as a fun way for players to communicate and enhances the entertainment value of major tournaments.
However, a League of Legends team in the Philippines recently faced disqualification and expulsion from the tournament merely for using emotes. This unbelievable incident quickly caused a stir in the international League of Legends community due to its “irrationality.” A post about this incident on the League of Legends subreddit received nearly 8,000 upvotes.
The incident began in a semi-professional tournament in the Philippines between two teams, Viridus Arcus (VA) and the academy team of West Point Esports (WPE). In a situation during a skirmish in the Top Lane, Camille from WPE secured first blood, and this player’s automatic emote was activated. It would have been a non-issue if VA had not paused the match and reported this to the organizers.
Following this, WPE was disqualified by the organizers as the tournament rules prohibited the use of emotes. Notably, WPE shared that VA also used emotes during the match to provoke them. However, WPE chose to overlook this and continued to play normally.
As this incident gained attention, many players in the League of Legends community in the Philippines voiced their frustrations against the organizers. According to community feedback, this organizing body has a tradition of favoritism towards the VA team. Consequently, they have enacted many “irrational” rules to eliminate the opponents of this team. This organization has also disqualified many opponents of VA in Mobile Legends: Bang Bang tournaments using similar rules.
It is important to note that in recent years, the League of Legends scene in the Philippines has not had good results or notable players. It is likely that the lack of professionalism in organizing tournaments here has led to the region’s inability to discover significant talent. If incidents like this continue, it would not be surprising if the Philippines continues to perform poorly in the future.