Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
It has already been an interesting year for League of Legends at the professional level, and the most recent news could cause significant damage to the league. A recent UltraLiga match was seen by thousands of viewers, and it didn’t take long for spectators to notice that something wasn’t quite right.
Immediately after the match, spectators were quick to point out that it looked like some members of the IronWolves were blatantly throwing the match. Proving that a game has been thrown is tough to do in any sport, but some of the things that happened in this matchup were too hard to ignore.
The IronWolves were taking on Team ESCA in a match, and it appeared to some that “win trading” was taking place. As soon as the match was over, spectators were demanding that Riot Games look into the allegations as they seemed blatant.
Not the First Time
Win trading is not some new term that was just made up, and it’s been something that has been seen in the League of Legends before. This is not something that the league ever wants to have to deal with, but a precedence has been set.
Most of these issues have come from the Chinese part of the LCL, and there are a number of players that have been banned for life. In 2022, there were members of the Turkish League suspended for win trading, and it seems as if that problem is now growing.
The outrage from this most recent match comes from the actions of kylin and Odin on the Iron Wolves team as it seemed as if neither player was trying to win. There were several instances where they let members of Team ESCA pass without doing any damage, making it clear to fans that they were throwing the match.
Since League of Legends is one of the most popular games when it comes to esports, there are some major organizations that follow along with the action. ExpressLoL and GRP Esports are two groups that wasted little time in clipping highlights from the game to show the issues.
Some instances of win trading are hard to spot, but the blatant mistakes by the Iron Wolves team was impossible to ignore for observant fans. It was clear that Riot Games would have to make a ruling in a hurry, and that is exactly what took place.
Suspensions Handed Down
This investigation could have gone a few different ways, but the results of the investigation didn’t take long. The two players that were suspended were Wen “kylin” Zheng and Shuai “Odin” Wang, and those were the two players that seemed to be the most obvious.
Ultraliga announced that it was working with Riot Games and Sportsradar to look into the allegations more, but it had to take action. These two players were given two game suspensions for their actions, and the Iron Wolves were forced to forfeit their next game.
That is the harshest punishment that Ultraliga can hand down, but there could be more sanctions moving forward. Because betting on Ultraliga is available, these actions have a significant impact on money and the odds.
The winner of UltraLiga will be awarded a spot in the European Masters Tournament, and forfeiting a game is going to hurt the IronWolves team. While it is impossible to prove why these players took this action, the rulebook states that players must always be doing their best to win.
IronWolves issued a statement after the suspension was handed down, promising to do everything in their power to prevent this from happening again.