The first round robin of the LCK third split group stage is almost over. NS, which began with two consecutive wins, had a surprising defeat against BRO. Scout played well across all three games, but his teammates underperformed. Kingen, in the decisive match, single-handedly lost the game. The last time we saw a top laner ruin a match like this was during BLG's Mid-Season Invitational and MSI. It's truly shocking for a 2-0 team to lose to a 0-2 team, whichever way you view it.

However, BRO has always been known as a giant killer. Even when GEN and T1 were at their peak, BRO managed to defeat them in upsets. So it's not unusual for NS to lose once. But this BO3 series was odd—NS gave the impression they didn't want to win. During team fights, they played individually, as if they were solo queue. That wasn't the case in their previous two wins when they executed team fights perfectly.

HLE suffers three consecutive losses in the new split

On the same day, another match was GEN vs. HLE. Both teams started the new split with an 0-2 record, showing somewhat sluggish form. Comparatively, HLE seemed slightly better than GEN, but GEN won this BO3. Apart from top laner Zeus, who gave a decent effort, the rest of HLE's players were underwhelming. In the previous two games, Ruler, who had been consistently broken through, won the series MVP against Gumayusi.

In the final game, Zeus even picked Mundo, but still couldn't secure the win. Kanavi's experimental Shyvana and Gumayusi's poor performance on an unfamiliar champion (Ahri) directly dragged Zeus down. In the last team fight, after all his teammates died, Zeus stood still, instantly reminding people of 369's dancing Renekton moment. With only one game left in the first round, HLE is now 0-3 and struggling to get their first win.

IG team fully supports Meiko

After winning two consecutive games in the Relegation Group, IG faced several waves of controversy. The most serious was Meiko being subjected to online harassment. Starting from the match against Weibo, people kept stirring up drama, calling for IG to replace their support. Forced into a corner, IG had to disable comments, but the negativity didn't stop. Organized and large-scale harassment continued, so IG finally had their players publicly support Meiko.

TheShy, Wei, Rookie, and Ahscen successively posted: "Meiko is an outstanding player and a very important teammate. Please keep supporting us." This wave of controversy around Meiko has indeed escalated. IG's official social media and video channels were all flooded. Even after disabling comments, the live chat was still full of "replace the support." It's unclear whose fans are behind this, but many accounts appear to be bots.

PYL fined and suspended by the official

Another controversy surrounding IG and TheShy recently reached a conclusion. Official caster PYL, during a co-stream, said, "Draw a talisman for Brother Jiang too," which angered TheShy's fans. He was reported to the club and the official. Recently, a former RA manager revealed that PYL was fined and suspended. The official punishment is a two-week suspension from the main stream, and PYL temporarily loses his qualification for casting matches.

PYL is truly reckless. As an official caster, he should know the current environment of the LPL. TheShy's return has brought huge traffic to the region, and PYL, who makes a living from casting, dared to make sarcastic remarks about a player during his stream. A two-week suspension from the main stage is already lenient. Moreover, the LPL plans to lay off some casters by the end of the year, and those who like to stir up drama might be let go.

Conclusion:

After winning the MSI championship, HLE went on a losing streak: they lost at EWC and K-Cup (two consecutive losses), and now have three consecutive losses in the group stage, totaling five losses in a row. It's increasingly absurd to think that BLG lost to such a weak team in the finals. Bin is truly a war criminal—if he had been more team-oriented in the finals, the MSI title would have been BLG's. But there are no ifs.

So, who do you think is attacking Meiko?

Feel free to leave a comment and discuss!