The LPL Second Split playoffs are almost here, with the loser bracket final looming. On the eve of the match, IG saw a few major incidents. Their bot lane support, Meiko, took a fall at home while resting and hurt his arm—luckily just a soft tissue bruise that will recover in a while and won't impact the Third Split. Meanwhile, IG made a public statement confirming their victory in a lawsuit against Xuan Shen for defaming players and violating their reputation rights.

During his commentary last year, Xuan Shen repeatedly called TheShy "horse head" and also degraded Rookie. After over a year of litigation, IG emerged victorious, and Xuan Shen was ordered to issue a public apology and compensate for emotional distress and legal fees. This outcome is truly satisfying—a second-stream caster who constantly attacked players and stirred up drama during his live streams; it's high time this kind of behavior was reined in.

TheShy calls out to fans: See you at the arena.

After Xuan Shen's apology, the person involved, TheShy, recently appeared on Guan Zeyuan's show, where they discussed a lot about the game. During their chat, TheShy revealed that he gets nervous when playing matches. Wow—watching TheShy play, it always seemed like he was completely calm and unflappable; who would have thought he gets nervous too? At the end of the show, TheShy sent a message to his fans: "I hope to see you all at the matches."

The implication is pretty clear: if there's another chance, TheShy will return to the competitive scene. He definitely still wants to play, but he probably hasn't found a team that suits him yet. Rookie might come back next split, and if he rejoins IG, TheShy might play one more split. On a side note, his Chinese has really improved—he communicated entirely in Chinese throughout the interview.

Kanavi: Be careful, Creme, or I'll gank you.

Both HLE and TES have already qualified for the MSI main event. After securing their spot, Creme declared that he wanted to face HLE. Kanavi, who just advanced, responded to Creme in an interview: "We're close friends, but Creme took the chance of entering MSI early to make what I'd call a not-quite-provocation provocation. So I want to tell him: be careful about getting ganked. Whenever we run into each other in ranked, you die too easily."

If these two teams meet internationally, HLE would definitely have the upper hand—after all, everyone knows TES's track record in international competitions. HLE struggled a bit last split, but once Kanavi stopped tilting, the team's performance skyrocketed. A matchup between these two would be incredibly interesting. In his interview, Kanavi worried that Creme might not understand Korean, so he even repeated his message in Chinese. That's some real friendship.

ShowMaker lands in Wuhan, complains of hunger.

ShowMaker, the guest for the LPL Second Split finals, recently arrived in Wuhan and took part in a campus event with his old rival Flandre. As soon as he grabbed the mic, ShowMaker said, "It's a real pity—I haven't been in Wuhan long, and I'm extremely hungry." He mentioned he wanted to try Wuhan's crawfish and hot dry noodles. During the interview, he was also asked: "If you weren't a pro player, what would you do?"

ShowMaker replied, "I've loved gaming since I was a kid, so if I weren't a pro, I think I'd still work in a computer-related field—maybe study computer science." Before parting, he said, "Every time I come to China, everyone welcomes me warmly, and I feel really happy. I always have good memories here." Regardless of how he plays in matches, ShowMaker's personality is genuinely endearing. Despite being short, his voice is very gentle.

Conclusion:

Although TheShy said "see you at the arena," the possibility of his return is still very low. No matter how he performs in matches, someone will always criticize him—that's one of the biggest challenges for a top-tier player considering a comeback. Moreover, the most critical issue is the extreme fans; if his teammates play poorly, they'll also be relentlessly attacked. So a return seems quite difficult.

So what do you think—what are TES's chances against HLE?

Feel free to leave a comment and discuss!