It's well established that Riot does its utmost to choke out League of Legends toxicity, and prominent YouTuber Dunkey learned that the hard way when he was banned for toxic behavior. It's not appropriate to reprint his words here (they're in the embedded video), but they involve lots of swear words and suggestions on how to die. 

Dunkey posted a video defending himself against the ban (as spotted by Kotaku), and since it was published at the weekend it has racked up over a million views. Dunkey's position is stubborn: he thinks League of Legends would be boring without trash talking, and adds that Riot should have acknowledged his services to the game after all, he's been actively promoting it via his videos for years now.

Someone at Riot must acknowledge Dunkey's influence, because a spokesperson for the company has  deigned to respond to the YouTuber's video. On Ask.FM, lead game designer of social systems Jeffrey Lin addressed the outrage.

"It's really unfortunate. Many Rioters love Dunkey's content, and I've unloaded my share of 'not even close babyyyyy' jokes around the office," Lin wrote.

"However, we really can't show favoritism to someone just because they are a pro or a known content creator. This isn't really a debate about whether trashtalking is OK or not OK in games; we've talked a lot in the past about how we're OK with players bantering with their friends but you should be careful when interacting with strangers who may not understand your intentions especially if you're using hate speech or slurs. We have a zero tolerance policy against hate speech, racism, homophobia, and sexism and that policy stands whether you're a random player, a pro player, or a Youtube celebrity."

It's worth reading Lin's full response over here, but the situation drives one point home: it doesn't matter who you are, toxicity will get you banned in League of Legends.

The good news for Team Dignitas is that its European Union League of Legends team recently qualified to compete in the League Championship Series. The bad news is that its North American team has been in the LCS since early 2013, and Riot's rules very clearly state that pro gaming organizations may field only one LCS team. That means Dignitas must now sell one of its LoL teams, which brings us back into good news territory: Offers have already been made for whichever team that owner Michael O'Dell decides to dispose of are in excess of $500,000.

O'Dell told the Daily Dot last week that he's taking offers for both the North American and EU teams, but will sell only one of them. The EU team (pictured) might seem the obvious choice to cut, but the Dignitas organization is based in the UK, which would presumably make the operation of a European team considerably more convenient. The final decision about which team to sell, and to whom it will go, will depend on more than just money, he said, noting that the "quality" of the offer, and "whether he can trust the people behind them to operate a successful team," will also be factors.

Which isn't to suggest that money won't be a consideration. O'Dell said in a separate interview with PCGamesN that he has a number of offers on the table, including from the Middle East, and bids have already surpassed half a million dollars. "Which is good," he said. "It's a nice problem to have."

O'Dell said he will continue taking bids on the Dignitas LCS teams until the end of September.

The tale of a pale man with dark hair and a lonely soul that appeared today on the League of Legends Facebook page is teasing the arrival of a new Champion. It is brief, and it is ominous. "They are coming. Listen to their tale."

Lamb: There was once a pale man with dark hair who was very lonely.Wolf: Why was it lonely?Lamb: All things must meet this man. So, they shunned him.Wolf: Did he chase them all?Lamb: He took an axe and split himself in two.Wolf: So he would always have a friend?Lamb: So he would always have a friend.

Surrender At 20 (via Rock, Paper, Shotgun) has a bit more about what's going on, dug up from files found on LoL's Public Beta Environment. The files in question include images of the masks that appear in the teaser and references to "Lamb and Wolf," as well as death—or perhaps, based on the description of the "pale man" who everyone shuns, and everyone meets, that should be Death. 

That the tale (and all the rest of it) signals the coming of a new Champion was confirmed last week by Champion designer RiotWrekz, who tweeted, "They are coming = new champ teaser. Confirmed."

So that's what it is. But what does it mean?

Often, the expected news is good news. Taiwan, as widely anticipated, has taken up the two World Championship seeds from Southeast Asia, as according to the recently announced details about the upcoming League of Legends World Championship. The LoL Master Series' inaugural year's already done much to prove the shortened Taiwan/Hong Kong/Macau circuit more worthy of the slots—not just in the rest of their former Garena Premier League's total defeat at IEM Taipei, though their comparative performances then told a very convincing story indeed.

At the time, ahq E-Sports Club's Shu-Wei "Westdoor" Liu had not yet claimed the title of LMS's top mid laner—yet he was glassing the Vietnamese, Thai and Australian teams just as casually as the rest of his peers. That alone might not have proved that the LMS was worthy of recognition as a premier circuit, as Taiwan's already spent years battering Southeast Asian teams around without much to show for it internationally.

Then Westdoor and ahq showed up at Tallahassee and made Team Solomid look like first-time players, stalled the progression of an increasingly admirable Fnatic, and gave Faker a scare. Not bad for a region that people were arguing should be relegated to wildcard status, just the month prior.

But, strangely, though the World Championship circuit is unchanged from last year, and the only real difference is Taiwan's confirmation in place of SEA's, it's feeling a little crowded in here. This might, and even should, be the last year with the current seed allotments.

Across the world

The five premier circuits are North America LCS, Europe LCS, China's LPL, Korea's LCK and Taiwan's LMS. But the biggest developments to League of Legends may have occurred unnoticed outside of them. Turkey's Besiktas sports club added esports to their portfolio back in January, quickly becoming the dominant team of their home circuit. Over at Brazil, CBLoL's churning in ever-increasing ferocity—they were actually among the first to recruit Korean players, and INTZ was largely considered the strongest team outside of the world of the five premier regions.

Elsewhere, newer circuits were being established. Japan entered the fray with the LJL, enthusiastically adopting MOBAs despite the double-barriers of not having a strong local PC gaming culture, and stuck using North American servers instead of a closer region (South Korea requires national IDs; ping to China and Taiwan isn't superior to NA). Latin America and the Commonwealth of Independent States were also gearing up their own local circuits. And over in Australia, the OPL was kicking into full swing, with the Chiefs appropriately leading the region's development.

In terms of comparison, there were now over seven minor circuits... but competing for a mere two slots at Worlds.

Granted, the wildcard regions have demonstrated weaknesses. Southeast Asia's second-best team, the Bangkok Titans, demonstrated at the International Wild Card Invitational that a former premier region still has a leg up over most of the rest of the wildcards. They swatted aside everybody but Turkey and Brazil in their pursuit for a slot at the Mid-Season Invitational. And in most years, the wildcard representatives at the World Championship have been no-shows, losing every last game they show up to.

...except for one famous exception, just last October. Alliance, the great European hope spearheaded by Henrik "Froggen" Hansen, successfully played a rare perfect game against Korea's NaJin Shield. Yet it was Brazil's Kabum that beat them in turn, the next day, playing a major role in Alliance's failure to advance.

It was a fluke, many would argue (and I am inclined to agree). It wouldn't have worked if the group stages weren't best-of-one sets. And that's fair. But in previous years and tournaments, the gap between Wildcard and Premier teams wasn't just a matter of preparation and strategy—Team Solomid was able to beat aside GamingGear in 2013 with an insultingly arrogant Teemo pick and still swept through off stronger player mechanics.

The worst you can say about them is that they're where LCS teams were at mid-2013, getting used to the more rigorous and consistent competitive schedule. But if so, then calling them "wildcards" feels amost like shortchanging them.

The case for inclusion

It isn't just a matter of wildcards playing better. It's not as if they're serious contenders for the Worlds title (yet)—if there's still a gap between them and LCS representatives, there's a wider chasm yet between them and the top Chinese and Koreans. But there's a moral case to be made—given their infrastructural investments and dedication to growth, it seems only fair that they be treated with the same prestige as the more senior circuits they've successfully emulated. It seems only fair that Brazilian, Turkish, Vietnamese fans among others are given the same level of recognition and respect as any other player. They, too, are a part of the international esports ecosystem, even if they don't have nearly as many resources to tap.

But there's a side benefit to seeding them: bringing those resources to them in the first place. When discussing why the World Championship had wildcard seeds at all, Riot's stated their desire to support newer and less well-off regions. The Championship should, after all, be a celebration for all those that play and enjoy League of Legends. And arguments can be made that a weakened or eliminated wildcard presence is liable to kill interests in the minor markets. Instead, the hope of Worlds glory has kindled greater and greater investments, both emotional and otherwise.

But as the Championship is, that token show of respect has effectively reached its limit. Seven wildcard regions, all practicing and competing week in and week out, and they need a year's-end outlet to make that effort worth it. If Season 3's North America was as worthy of Worlds representation as the already-entrenched Korean circuit, then surely Brazil and Turkey's overdue for the same.

As the LMS has demonstrated, the chase for Worlds can turn a slacking circuit into a competitive powerhouse. The difference between being recognized as a "real" circuit and a wildcard is the difference between ahq E-Sports Club and the numerous Insidious Gaming teams in Singapore—the teams you can practice against, the sponsors you can call upon, and the overall seriousness with which you're treated.

The 2015 Worlds setup looks great. But for 2016 and beyond, it's time for Riot Games to share the honors with the rest of the world.

The stage is set: 16 teams and 80 players (96 if including their mandatory substitutes). With the Chinese and Korean regionals as well as the second International Wild Card Qualifiers concluded, we know the general shape and form of the upcoming League of Legends 2015 World Championship.

It may actually be the most competitive season yet—at least since 2012. What used to be a foregone conclusion, that the top Korean team is all but guaranteed to come out with the title, is now heavily in dispute. Chinese teams LGD and Edward Gaming hotly contest the seemingly traditional esports dominance of their northern neighbors, and have a lot to back their opinion up. A lot, that is, in terms of raw funding: finally, after a year and an entire competitive season, the shadowy billionaires behind China's mass 2014 shopping spree of Korean powerhouse talents seek to reap the fruits of their harvest.

Skill check

The most alarming thing at Worlds this year: the best team might not actually have a #1 groups seed China's Edward Gaming has been a ruthless force all year, holding sway over the LoL Pro League circuit and winning the Mid-Season Invitational over reigning Korean champions SKT T1. Yet, despite their accomplishments, they stumbled at the finish line: China's #1 Groups seed fell into LGD's lap instead.

While LGD's good (their carries in GODV—formerly Weiless—and Imp are the near-undisputed best of their respective roles) they weren't nearly as dominant as EDG through most of the year. There's plenty of factors relevant to LGD's surprise ascendancy, of course: patch changes, multi-week preparations specifically tailored against EDG, among others. But it was no surprise to anybody that EDG swiftly recovered and grabbed the #2 seed in the regional gauntlet soon after.

That means disaster for some other region's top team—a potential upset before the group stage's even halfway complete. With China's de jure top team holding a "safe" seed, their de facto best is lurking in the shadows like a bomb waiting to go off. If placed in SKT T1's group, for example, it is not outside the realm of possibility that Faker and company actually fail to reach playoffs, sniped out of the starting gates by a combination of EDG's terrifying might and just one unlucky addition to their group. After all, both Taiwanese teams are in EDG's seeding group as well, along with Origen from Europe—and the group stage games are the most volatile by far.

Of course, the odds of that are (to Korea's relief) under 25%. Both EDG needs to land in SKT T1's doorsteps, along with either or both ahq E-Sports Club and Origen. The odds are much greater that either Fnatic or Counter Logic Gaming gets to face the Chinese challenge instead—an exhausting prospect for Fnatic, whose early-game weaknesses were revealed during the EU LCS grand finals, and an almost cruel one for Counter Logic Gaming. Just when they've finally shaken off a multi-year curse.

Redemption

Not that CLG should mind if they flub out vs EDG or a similarly strong team, as just making it this far is cause for celebration among the team and its stalwart fans. And they certainly had to be stalwarts as they were disappointed for years at a time by the team's rough results and tense internal dynamics. It took a radical roster renovation, preserving only the bottom lane Rush Hour duo of Aphromoo and Doublelift, to finally break themselves free of their old bad habits. Mid and jungle are much more likely to cooperate these days, top lane's much less often a sacrificial lamb, and Doublelift actually sticks to teamfights instead of splitpushing at inconvenient moments! That's a radical departure of a general team play style that's haunted them through the other times they've overhauled their rosters—finally, it seems, the team's tired of losing.

China's Invictus Gaming, the number three seed, has been similarly cursed. Once the only team that could've stood up to World Elite in their mutual primes, both they and Team WE have suffered a bout of misfortune in recent years, struggling to maintain relevance in the face of ambitious newcomers. IG's also an unfortunate example of the limitations inherent in international recruitment, as it took a long time for KaKAO and Rookie to gel with their teammates. The fact that KaKAO was rumored for most of the year to treat his stint in China as something of a vacation or retirement certainly didn't help, with his temperamental play style seemingly less effective than it was back home in the gaming studios of Seoul.

But then Worlds neared, and KaKAO woke up. Third-favored team Qiao Gu Reapers, they of the silver and purple hair, were caught off-guard by iG's sudden resurgence in the regional gauntlet. The laughing jester of the jungle is back yet again to torment solo laners and troll the world's best carries—exactly where he belongs.

An education

Meanwhile, as usual, teams are begging and praying to be lined up with the international wild card teams—a polar contrast with the trepidation of an EDG matchup. And to be fair, though the IWCQ circuit was much livelier than in prior years (Turkey's defeat at the hands of both Australia's Chiefs and Southeast Asia's Bangkok Titans was largely unexpected), the quality of play from either of the qualifiers was lower than you'd get from most of the premier circuits.

There is little reason to expect a repeat of Alliance vs Kabum!, like in 2014. As has been addressed by former members of the team, their problems last year stemmed from a combination of poor performance, resistance to coaching, and sheer arrogance—a situation that their defeat to last year's Brazilian representatives have done plenty to alleviate, at least for everybody else that want a chance at what Alliance got last time. Community and team analysts were keeping their eyes on the wild cards this year to a greater extent than any prior—largely with skepticism, but now and again an interesting play or strong matchup managed to impress even the most cynical.

That said, they're still hoping for their own representatives to get slotted in with the Bangkok Titans. Southeast Asia's best was very literally their worst just a couple years ago—BKT was among the original Garena Premier League teams, all the way back to the prime of the Taipei Assassins, and spent two years of their existence at the very bottom of the standings. Their rise to the top is both a testament at their organization and players' tenacity in the face of overwhelming odds and criticism... and also, tragically, a testament of how much weaker the Southeast Asian circuit's gotten since the Taiwanese teams departed with all of the glory and Worlds seeds.

But BKT's revival at least led to mid laner G4 and AD carry Lloyd gaining some hard-earned international respect. And their hard fight through the immensely competitive first qualifiers earned back their beleaguered region some of that lost prestige. Even without the Taiwanese teams clogging up the top of the GPL brackets, they were still more experienced and more developed than fellow Wild Card regions.

Brazil's PaiN Gaming struggled far less in comparison, with almost no fanfare or drama to their clean and decisive dismantling of Latin America's Kaos Latin Gamers. The CBLoL competitive circuit may be one of the best-developed non-premier competitive circuits in the world, with only Turkey's and Southeast Asia's as peers, and it was aptly demonstrated in their takeover of the second qualifiers. In fact, Brazil has a proud history of unexpected competitiveness: it was at IEM Sao Paulo that Korea dropped their first-ever international game (though Incredible Miracle still won the 2012 tournament), and it was through Kabum that Europe's elites were embarrassed just last year.

Though they can't hardly hope to actually win an event against the better-developed regions, they can earnestly attempt to spoil the results. And in the process, take away a little something from the teams they face—lessons in what is possible at the razor's edge of competitive League of Legends, facing down pressures and strategies that even their best hometown rivals can't quite manage to pull off.

In doing so, a region grows. An entire country of players learn to be better, to be more dangerous. Even if China and Korea are like gods unto their meager mortals... that's only this year. That's only for now. And even Faker didn't stay on top forever.

This year's the most competitive Worlds that League of Legends has ever seen. Next year might very well leave it in the dust.

Riot Games has announced that the year-ending 2015 League of Legends All-Star Event will take place from December 10-13 at the North American LCS Studio in Los Angeles.

Fans will once again have the opportunity to vote for five players representing regional "dream teams" from the NA League Championship Series, EU LCS, LCK, LPL, and LMS, but this year the top team from the International Wild Card All-Stars event, being held in November in Australia, will join the action as well.

Each of the six teams will be assigned to either Team Fire or Team Ice based on their region's performance at the World Championship, and will do battle for "fame, fun, and player rewards for their region." The All-Star Event will also feature one-on-one matches, fan-voted competitions, "fun game modes," and other action.

All-Star voting will begin in November, with further information about how you'll actually cast your ballot to be revealed as the big day draws closer. In the meantime, could a Western team take the trophy home this year? We think it's possible! Read why here.

There was never any doubt. Before Huni and Reignover ruled the roost, before Febiven knocked Faker down at Tallahassee, Florida—drawing metaphorical blood like a shocked boxing champion with a split lip—there was sOAZ and xPeke pulling miracles out of the black-and-yellow hat. FNATIC gets to claim only half-jokingly that they fielded two teams to Worlds this year, thanks to the successes of both its 2014 and 2015 classes, further cementing them as Europe's single most successful esports organization in the modern era. And not just in League of Legends! Their Counter-Strike team is similarly legendary, and considered the single best team in the world.

Team Origen gets shorthanded to OG, and there is no doubt that the moniker fits. The paradoxically rookie veteran team didn't quite sweep through the EU LCS in their first split, but the original generation of Europe's best and brawliest put up a convincing show over the summer and the regional gauntlet. There is a lot to be said for sheer veteran strength after all, and few in the League of Legends scene has kept at it as long as they have, much less as consistently high-caliber.

Of course, if there's any critique to be leveraged, it is that they were dependent on that veteran experience in the first place. Origen's pick-ban phase was notably sloppy, especially versus ROCCAT. And versus FNATIC proper, it was made clear that their late game coordination was going to need a lot more polish.

Of course, FNATIC wasn't perfectly crisp either. A notable early-game weakness plays perfectly into Origen's solo lane advantages, though even with the roster changes the organization maintained their reputation for maverick mid-game plays and picks that turns even the most disadvantageous situations around in their favor. Not that Origen will have a chance to exploit this, of course, unless they meet up in the Worlds playoffs—something that leaves the both of them breathing a sigh of relief.

Or more than relief. The estranged brothers are reunited, and 4/5ths of the 2014 FNATIC roster can once again work together towards a common goal: European viability on League of Legend's most important stage. And they will definitely want to work it out. The competition from Korea might finally seem mortal this year, but only because China's done a bit of vampirism on them—and the resultant hybrid teams are a force to be reckoned with. FNATIC's early-game weaknesses must be accounted for, and Origen's poor pick-ban phases need to be repaired in the month left for them to do so.

But if they can do it? Then, just maybe, the World title's coming over to the western hemisphere this year.

Star-spangled banner

As for America: I can go at length to praise Cloud 9. Their performance over the North American Regionals gauntlet was nothing short of a miracle run: back-to-back reverse sweeps to yank victory out of the clenched maws of a 0-2 deficit, beating back both Gravity and Team Impulse for a chance at heavily favored Team Liquid. But maybe Liquid was too heavy in the end, unable to drag Cloud 9 back from reaching escape velocity for the heady heights of the championship stage.

To confirm, yes: this means that Team Liquid is once again in a nominal fourth place, just behind the 3-team cutoff line for the Worlds representation tickets. Fate has a cruel and unusual humor, especially when Steve's team is involved.

There's a lot to be said about Cloud 9's stumbling starts versus Gravity and Impulse alike, but it's worth noting what a tremendous accomplishment it is for any team to achieve what they have this week. It takes particular mental fortitude to come back from the cusp of defeat and shrug off that bitter tang of disappointment from getting whomped twice in a row—and to do it again the next day and the next. Cloud 9 was by no means the favored team for North America's last slot, despite their past accomplishments: they were on the cusp of relegations this year, after all, and the announced retirement of their jungle and mid lane core was a wrecking ball to the team's hopes and dreams—even importing Incarnati0n seemingly did nothing to resolve the internal strife that dragged them to the edge of the Challenger scene abyss.

Yet recover they did. And it was all on the shoulders of one player. Not Incarnati0n, who eventually proved to be the wisest player investment Jack's made for his League of Legends team, putting up consistent results even as his team fell behind (a case study in what I'd call Chawy Syndrome, given the Taipei Assassin's similar situation this year). It wasn't on Sneaky, who played a breathtakingly skillful Vayne to perforate the competition this weekend.

No, full credit goes to Hai Lam, who came out of retirement and changed roles for the specific purpose of bringing his team back to Worlds.

To be fair, Hai retired in the first place because he wasn't playing up to the increasingly rigorous mechanical standards of mid lane. But the difference between having Hai on the team and not was like night and day: a weak mid lane might spell disaster for Cloud 9's overall strategy, but it was still a strategy they knew how and when to execute. A strong mid lane, as was with Incarnati0n, did nothing to alleviate their tactical woes—mainly because, though their new European ace was highly talented, he was by no means a natural leader.

Hai's re-introduction to the team didn't immediately change their fortunes around, but it's clear now the nature of his contribution: a steadfast determination and optimism in the face of seeming impossibilities. He's now on his third trip in a row to the world stage, along with the rest of the team. And if he retired right afterward, it would be to go out in a blaze of well-deserved glory, regardless of the outcome.

Experience and wisdom

The storyline for the third-seed western teams this year is simple enough: they've gone through this wringer more times than anybody else. Excepting their new mid laner, Cloud 9 is a three-time World Championship veteran team. Origen's players, excluding AD carry Niels, have all basked in that limelight, and suffered the burdens of disappointment and defeat. They know better than anybody else in the scene the pressures and demands required of them to make it to that level... and know better than anybody else how badly they fell short of it in all prior years.

That's not unique to them. Many of their peers have joined them on that stage, and they've clamored over the bodies of those that were eager for it, but simply not yet good enough. What is unique, however, is the level of persistence they've demonstrated. Esports players peak fast and burn out faster, whether discouraged by a lack of results or forced out by the community's capricious demands.

But this is an error on their part. There is a quality superseding even talent that exists only among the stalwarts and the steadfast. Something that, unlike game mechanics, has to be cultivated rather than trained. Any team can take a 2-0 lead and turn it into a flawless victory. Any player can feel confident when they start with a lead. The true hallmark of greatness isn't demonstrated when everything is already in their favor, but in finding one's balance, dancing on that thin red line between exaltation and misery.

Now we just have to see if they can dance fast enough for China.