League of Legends Player Suspended for ELO Boosting
One of the best League of Legends teams in North America has suffered a major setback in their playoff hopes as one of their star players has been suspended for ELO boosting.
Yu “XiaoWeiXiao” Xian, mid laner for Team Impulse, has been implicated in an ELO boosting operation with team manager Alex Gu. Riot Games has confirmed that the player was involved in misconduct.
“We have spoken with XiaoWeiXiao regarding ELO boosting allegations,” said Hunter Leigh, esports manager at Riot Games. “He has confirmed misconduct and is suspended pending investigation.”
On July 14-16, Yu was allegedly involved in a conversation on the Chinese messaging app WeChat with a League of Legends player who wanted ELO boosting. For $1300 USD, Yu played on the user’s account to boost its rank. The email address Yu provided for payment is linked to the Skype username used by Team Impulse manager Alex Gu.
The conversation between the two parties has been translated and provides evidence of their dealings.
The account in question, “WeChat DaiLanOP,” has similar item builds and key bindings to Yu’s own account “XiaoWeiXiao.” They both use champions like Twisted Fate, Ezreal, Yasuo, and Lee Sin, and share summoner spells and item builds. The boosted account also played with another North American account used by Team Impulse jungler, Lee “Rush” Yoon-jae.
While Yu has admitted to his wrongdoing, Alex Gu and Team Impulse have yet to release a statement.
ELO boosting is against Riot Games’ Terms of Use and the game developer has recently banned several professional players for similar behavior. XiaoWeiXiao’s punishment is pending investigation, but it is likely to have a significant impact on Team Impulse’s chances of reaching the Riot World Championship.
Translation by Chia “Reazony” Yu
Image via Riot Games/Flickr