T1 continues to take controversial actions while the drama with Gumayusi is still hot
It seems that not only Gumayusi but also fans of T1 and the 2002-born AD Carry are experiencing a “dark” time right now. No one can imagine a player who just won two consecutive World Championship titles ending up in such a situation. However, it seems that T1 wants things to get worse with two new moves in the same day: While one T1 coach liked comments criticizing or mocking Gumayusi, the team’s media cut the image of this AD Carry out of a clip discussing the championship of EWC 2024.
Accordingly, the coach who liked negative comments directed at Gumayusi is GBM – the coach of T1 Challengers and a former mentor of Smash.
If the coach’s actions can be attributed to various reasons, such as negligence or unintentional, then cutting Gumayusi’s image out of T1’s EWC 2024 clip has truly left the LoL community confused and outraged. After all, Gumayusi was the standout player of T1 in that tournament, and he was also the player with the most champion pool in the tournament: 10 champions in 10 different games.
In fact, during the opening match at EWC 2024 against Bilibili Gaming, if it weren’t for Gumayusi’s precise skills and his smooth performance with Jhin alongside Keria’s Bard, T1 might have lost to the LPL representative and had to pack their bags after just one match.
And surely, all media clips are approved by the upper management before being published on various platforms. Therefore, it cannot be said that T1’s upper management was unaware of the fact that Gumayusi’s image was cut out like this.
The LoL Community is Both Confused and Outraged
Clearly, not only in Esports but even in mainstream sports, when a team wants to take such “neglectful” actions, it is often because the “hero” must have truly exhibited unprofessional behavior, or even openly show defiance. But clearly, with Gumayusi, none of these things are evident.
The 2002-born player continues to demonstrate a professional attitude and tries his best. He has not instigated or complained to fans on his streaming channels. In fact, he has always shown unwavering support for the team. Therefore, even T1’s anti-fans or neutral viewers cannot accept the very confusing actions of T1 at present.
At this point, perhaps even if T1 speaks out to exclude Smash and affirm Gumayusi as the only one or explains anything else, fans have lost all trust. And when the situation has reached this level, perhaps the “liberation” for Gumayusi is what the LoL community is waiting for.