The “worrying trend” meme, a crowning triumph of the League of Legends community. In the build-up to last season’s World Championship, Riot analyst and caster Joshua “Jatt” Leesman called out Cloud9’s former top laner, An “Balls” Le for being stuck in Korea’s Diamond 2 division. One year on and with both North American and European bootcamps well under way, Team SoloMid support, Vincent “Biofrost” Wang is making Diamond 2 look like an impressive feat, languishing in Platinum elo.
Early disclaimer – so please TSM fans, hold onto your pitchforks – a Korean solo queue ranking does not necessarily reflect how well a professional will perform on stage. But in Jatt’s very own words: “There’s more to life than solo Q, but this is a worrying trend.”
Huni: 375 LP Masters in 115 games
Balls: D2 84 LP in 192 games
There’s more to life than solo Q, but this is a worrying trend for C9.— Josh Leesman (@RiotJatt) 14 September 2015
It’s as spicy now as it was then, the seemingly innocuous tweet that sparked an outcry from both North American and European pros alike:
@RiotJatt why are u picking on balls ? I’m pretty sure there’s more than just him in diamond 2.
— Zach Scuderi (@C9Sneaky) 14 September 2015
@RiotJatt how does this even matter ? darien and genja never played soloq in their life. soloq is completely different than competitive
— Paul Boyer (@sOAZIZGOOD) 14 September 2015
@LolStvicious@sOAZIZGOOD@RiotJatt If soloq determined how well you did in competitive then I’d be the worst top in lcs
— Kevin (@lolHauntzer) 14 September 2015
Biofrost stole the show on countless occasions over the course of the summer split, rightfully earning himself the Rookie of the Split title. Set to experience international competition for the first time, Biofrost is similarly getting his first taste of Korean solo queue – he doesn’t seem to be enjoying it on the rift.
Biofrost is the only western pro still occupying Korea’s platinum divisions, his nearest competitor for the wooden spoon is G2 Esports’ Ki “
Here comes the over-analyzing of western players soloq rating, WOHOO.
— Søren Bjerg (@Bjergsen) 13 September 2016
Granted, Team SoloMid have been dedicating a considerable amount of their time to scrims, but that’s unlikely to stop the memes from flooding in if Biofrost doesn’t start climbing the ranks quickly.
The important distinction between C9 Balls and TSM Biofrost is that Balls had played the most games of any player bootcamping at the time, cramming over 200 games into his practice without surpassing Diamond tier. To date, Bio has played a little over 30 games – this meme will take to time to develop.
You can’t create memes after just 30 games, Biofrost has to rightfully earn his very own worrying trend.
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