Two LCK players in hot water: KT has serious internal conflict, Oner uses foul language in chat, reputation takes another hit

Hello everyone, LPL viewers and League of Legends summoners. This is the Global Game Arena.

Recently, various leagues have been holding matches. After the MSI and EWC, the top teams in each region are quite exhausted, with fluctuating form. In the midst of this, two LCK players have encountered off-field issues.

The first is KT's AD carry Aiming, and the other is T1's jungler Oner.

KT's internal conflict escalates, bot lane replaced

First, let's talk about KT. The team officially announced a roster change, bringing up FenRir from the second team. In the announcement, they directly stated the reason for promoting the new player: due to internal conflicts that had a negative impact on team synergy. Based on management's assessment, they decided to make adjustments in the bot lane.

Shortly after, detailed reports from Korean sources revealed the specifics of the conflict. During a review session, AD carry Aiming had a disagreement with the mid and jungle players. The discussion became heated, and Aiming reportedly made personal attacks against his teammates, reaching a serious level. Even when others tried to mediate, he continued to berate his teammates, leading management to make the substitution.

It was also reported that KT had already planned to replace him last Friday, deliberately omitting Aiming from social media posts and interviews.

This incident is quite rare in the LCK, especially since the players involved are all veterans. It seems they failed to control their emotions. Aiming's skill level is adequate, but he did insult his teammates. The relationship likely broke down beyond repair, prompting the roster change. From a performance standpoint, this has had a negative impact on KT.

Oner's chat with foul language, reputation takes another hit

The other incident involves a chat between Oner and Delight. In the client, Oner criticized Delight for buying Keria's skin instead of Oner's Xin Zhao skin. Oner then used gender-insulting inappropriate language, essentially swearing at Delight as if he were a female.

If this were just a normal conversation between friends, it might not be a big deal. However, the chat log was captured and leaked, which will inevitably lead to backlash from fans against Oner.

As we know, Oner's reputation within T1 has been poor. When Gumayusi was still on the team and T1 lost, fans would mostly blame Gumayusi, with Oner as the second target. Now that Gumayusi has left, Oner has become the main scapegoat. Whenever T1 loses, Oner is the one most criticized.

Editor

Now, with this off-field incident, Oner's image among fans is further declining. T1's recent form has not been great either, and fans are in need of a vent. We'll see if management will handle the situation with some PR, such as having Oner apologize. We can follow up on the developments.

An unusual season: many odd events in the LPL and LCK

Do you also feel that the S16 season has been turbulent in both the LPL and LCK? There have been many strange off-field incidents. In terms of team strength, I believe both regions have faced some issues. Not only the LPL, but the LCK also seems less stable than before.

In the LPL, we have Cream's match-fixing scandal, Rookie's off-field controversy, and Bin's "little backpack" incident. In the LCK, there's Deft's absence from a fan meeting leading to demotion and departure, Ruler's tax evasion issues, and now Oner and Aiming's problems.

Overall, in the 16th season, it seems players across regions are becoming more restless, with various issues arising. This is quite rare in past seasons.

This might also explain why Western teams have been able to defeat Chinese and Korean teams this year—the gap appears to be narrowing. From the perspective of LPL viewers, it's clear that the LPL has regressed, but the LCK has also regressed somewhat. In this environment, who will ultimately come out on top will be the biggest highlight of the year.