Foreword: The S16 season has officially begun, and I believe the vast majority of players are paying attention to the recent matches. The MSI tournament has been quite intense, with TES experiencing severe team coordination issues. In the first round of the knockout stage, they were directly reversed by G2 in a 2-3 fashion, falling into the losers' bracket. What’s worst is not the gameplay itself, but their fifth game’s lineup and bans (BP). They tried a clever rotation but ended up outplaying themselves. After the match, top laner Shanji publicly revealed that xiaocream exploded in the break room, openly complaining to him, saying many discouraging words, and his mentality has collapsed.

Exposed: TES xiaocream exploded in the break room, complaining after the match

I believe most players are quite familiar with TES. As a top-tier team in the LPL, their overall popularity and viewership have remained relatively stable over the past few years. This season, TES has experienced great ups and downs. In the first stage, they nearly became a bottom-tier team, but in the second stage, after rotating players, their performance surged, and they even secured the LPL’s second seed to participate in the MSI. Before this, many sources revealed that TES’s scrim results were very stable, and they had defeated many strong teams. However, in the first round of the knockout stage, they encountered problems.

The first two games were relatively easy, with TES dominating G2 in a one-sided match. It seemed like the two teams were on completely different levels. When everyone thought TES would easily advance to the next round, the next three games shocked all viewers. G2 perfectly demonstrated what resilience is with a pentakill, completing the first reverse sweep in MSI history. It’s no surprise that they, as a team that eliminated BFX and GEN in the Global Finals, also performed at a top level in this tournament. By comparison, TES isn’t too unfortunate—both LCK teams were eliminated dominantly, while TES was close to winning.

In a live stream, top laner Shanji publicly revealed the news of xiaocream’s mental breakdown. He said, “Well, xiaocream told me, but it was just angry words, probably just angry words. Is it that painful? It really is painful. I can’t expose it, I definitely can’t say it. He said a lot of discouraging words, very discouraging, nothing can be done. xiaocream did his best. Everyone can vent verbally, but no one would really think xiaocream is the problem.”

It seems xiaocream had a mental breakdown, complaining about teammates or the coach. It feels like TES’s internal conflicts are about to rise again. Honestly, is it really good for Shanji to do this? Putting all the pressure on xiaocream, how will he face the coaching staff and teammates now?

The most unfortunate part is TES’s fifth game BP. They tried to be clever by swapping the support and jungle’s heroes at the last moment, but were stopped by the officials. According to LPL rules, swapping heroes within the last 20 seconds is allowed, but the team will be fined (the amount determined by the LPL). In previous playoff matches, TES had used this trick, but in the World Championship, Riot Games didn’t give them a chance to be clever. However, even if they had swapped positions, the fifth game’s BP still seemed quite abstract.

Goodbye’s opinion:

As a veteran player who has been playing for so long, xiaocream’s mentality remains unstable. In this match against G2, he indeed gave his all. Although it’s time to blame the coaching staff, it must be admitted that their fifth game BP was unviewable—once the picks were made, it felt like the match was already over. I hope they quickly adjust their rhythm and avoid repeating the tragic scene of the last Global Finals.

How do you, the audience, view this matter?