Earlier this morning, LGD’s League of Legends jungler Xiang “Condi” Ren-Jie made a post on his personal blog. In it, he explained he had violated rules in the NEST tournament regarding match-fixing. Condi reportedly bet on LDG, his own team, to win a game at the NEST tournament. While this might not seem like match-fixing, it could have implications to it and is strictly forbidden. Furthermore, Condi admitted his mistake and explained he did nothing to intentionally lose the game. A few hours later, the LPL released a competitive ruling, suspending Condi for 18 competitive matches. Shortly after, LGD came out with the immediate termination of Condi’s contract.
Condi went into more detail on how the whole situation happened in his post. He explained that an organization (who has later been confirmed as LGD) discovered what he did. According to Condi, they threatened to report him if he didn’t help them fix matches. He refused to help them and instead reported himself to the LPL officials. Based on the ruling, Condi provided information and assisted other people in improper actions.
This ban will last for 18 competitive matches, which means until December 12, 2020. However, the length might not even matter, as his reputation has been ruined and teams will most likely avoid him in the future.
Condi saw his most successful year as a League of Legends professional player in 2017 with Team WE. They managed to reach the semifinals at 2017 Worlds but got knocked out by Samsung Galaxy. His time with LGD wasn’t very promising, to say the least. They failed to win the controversial NEST tournament and finished eleventh at the end of 2019 LPL Spring.
Additional sanctions to other LGD members
It seems like the rabbit hole goes even deeper. In the investigation conducted by the LPL, they found even more members of LGD guilty of participating in improper actions. What’s more, the person who threatened Condi was none other than the manager of LGD, Song “Hesitate” Zi-Yang. The LPL issued him a lifetime ban from League of Legends-related esports events. Additionally, their academy player Fu “Fdy” Ding-Yuan and former-player-turned-coach Tang “1ntruder” Sheng also participated in illegal actions. Both Fdy and 1ntruder received a 10-month competitive ban, which will last until April 18, 2020.
This is a huge blow to LGD, the League of Legends competitive scene, and esports in general. LGD hasn’t been a contender in China for a few years now, but things looked good at the beginning of this split. However, especially after Condi’s ban, the team will have trouble even reaching the playoffs.
This is also, unfortunately, the second match-fixing scandal in League of Legends esports this year. We previously reported on Dragon Gate Team’s match-fixing in the LMS. It had even worse consequences, as the league ended up banning the entire organization. With so many scandals coming out now, it’s only a matter of time before more are found. It is truly a worrying trend for League of Legends esports and its competitive integrity.
Do you think the Condi deserves the ban? Let us know in the comments below!
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