Every year when Worlds is over we have the offseason - the time of the year new rosters are formed for the next season. Like many years before there is a lot to be excited about: TL and VIT both forming a super team with Bwipo in NA and Perkz coming back home to EU. Fnatic look strong and LS becoming the new coach for Cloud9 is pretty hype. While this all interesting I would have to go through all the story lines of many people which might be a little confusing to the non esport fans here.

So instead I will focus on the drama that hit the offseason. With rosters changing many players use this opportunity to wash some dirty laundry. First off we got the best American ADC Doublelift flaming his former Boss Andy "Reginald" Dhin, the owner of Team Solo Mid. The whole thing get's even more spicy when you consider Doublelift's girlfriend is TSM Leena, manager of Team Solo Mid and ex-girlfriend of TSM Reginald. "You claim to be a player but I f***ed your wife"-vibes, anyone?

Doublelift vs Reginald

I really like that this conflict is out in the open right now. I started watching League in 2015 where CLG Doublelift won his first trophy against their arch-nemesis TSM. Despite winning the NA LCS the team got disbanded though and Doublelift joined TSM in 2016. Interestingly this was also because of personal drama between Doublelift and the Team Owner HotShotgg.

However TSM Reginald and his bully attitude was widely known at that time and I thought it would not take long before him and the very confident Doublelift bump heads. I waited 5 years...

I think it is good that people are once again reminded that Reginald is a delusional asshole. There are a lot of clips showing how Reginald undermines team morality and coaching staff by coming in right before the playoffs start and taking matters into his own hands as some sort of last resort coach. His drill sergeant attitude often get's justified by the fans because "it is necessary to get these lazy gamers to perform". On the other hand many analysts speculated that Reginald and his actions might be the reason TSM always underperforms at Worlds.

I personally always disliked how there is such a big discussion about toxicity and a lot of (failed) attempts by Riot to make the playerbase less toxic, but the CEO of what has been the biggest western company in e-sports remained untouched despite him being one big blob of toxicity.

Upset vs Adam

The second big drama concerns a fellow German, Elias "Upset" Lipp. He and his partner in the bot lane Hylissang were said to be the best western bot lane in 2021. Upset also never went to Worlds before, despite often being quite close to qualifying and being outspoken about his ambition to win the World Championship.

Fnatic - the team of Upset - struggled in Summer but have beaten their arch rival G2 in the playoffs qualifying for Worlds. Short before the event started there were some earth-shattering news: Upset will not play for Fnatic at Worlds 2021 due to family issues. This was a huge blow to the team and all western fans because many had high hopes for the team, that were virtually unachievable with a substitute ADC.

There were a lot of rumors about why Upset decided to not play at Worlds, since he was quite vague about the reasons and did not want to reveal any details. He is newly wed so most theories are more or less about his new wife. With Worlds coming to an end, it seemed like the speculations about Upset also died down, but then came Adam...

Adam was the Toplaner for Fnatic in Summer 2021. He is a Rookie who had never played on the big stage before and while he was certainly the weakest member on the team, he played OK for a Rookie. But with Fnatic kicking him of the team this offseason he went and wrote a Twitlonger venting about how Upset destroyed the team moral just "because his girlfriend was lonely" and that they tried to replace Adam behind his back.

Upsets response to this was stating that he told details of his family issues to key members of the team (coach and management) and that he does not intend to make those public. Also trying to get better teammates in the offseason is just business as usual.

I think there is an important basic question to ask: "How much privacy is a player (famous internet person) allowed to have?" and in my opinion the answer is pretty clear: "As much as they deem necessary." We all heard enough stories about stalkers and other obsessive behavior, especially in a scene as immature as the League of Legends e-sports scene.

Personally I could not help but speculate on my own and I have quite the solid theory, but I won't share it because I do not want to fuel the fire. Let's just say there are a bunch of personal reasons I could think of, that you don't want to share publicly.

There is also another aspect to this, the French. People who know me might know that I am not very fond of the French people, ofc there are always exceptions to the rule (looking at you @jeanpi1908), but especially in League I hate the French community. How do I get to this topic? Adam is French and the French community stands behind him harassing Upset and his wife via Twitter.

To all the French League players (except jp): I hope Hans Sama gets replaced by Doublelift for the Summer 2022 LCS.