The owner of a League of Legends organization competing in the EMEA Masters 2024 Spring subbed himself in on April 20, and it went as bad as you might imagine.
Zero Tenacity, a League team from Polish Ultraliga, were 0-5 down in their group at EMEA Masters. With no chance of advancing, the org’s owner Dimitrije “Hebihime” Malesevic made the call to sub himself in the mid lane. With the 26-year-old in the position, Z10 lost the final game against Los Heretics and went 0-6 in their group.
Following the “gumba stomped” loss, Hebihime shared his thoughts on X (formerly Twitter) and responded to comments from fans. He outlined the decision had nothing to do with mid laner Emre “Kofte” Akça’s performance. “I’m a mid laner, I had to sub mid. I hate jungle(rs), bot lane is too hard. Melonik is melonik. Me stepping in, isn’t and has nothing to do with Kofte,” he wrote.
Hebihime added he doesn’t “think for a second I feel embarrassed for stepping in and trying to make a desperate change.” One fan responded, calling him “a joke not a mid laner.”
Adrian “hatchy” Widera, THE chief operating officer and sports director for Zero Tenacity, addressed the situation on X. “At some point, Hebi told us that if we go 0-5, he would like to play the sixth game… I told him that I’m against it for many reasons, and we shouldn’t do it. Eventually, it was his call to make, but I wanted to underline it didn’t come from us [the team],” he wrote.
League fans called this a bizarre and awful decision from the org’s owner. “That’s disgusting behavior wtf. Honestly absurd he is allowed to just bench the guy that has played the entire split + playoff, put in all the work to reach EMEA Masters and just decides to go ‘fuck this dude let me play,’” a fan on Reddit wrote.
But the show must go on. The quarterfinals of EMEA Masters 2024 Spring kicks on on Monday, April 22.
