C9 mid laner Jang ‘EMENES’ Min-soo has been called out for the comments he made in solo queue, resulting in him getting reported by other players. This is the rundown of everything, and how that might affect him and C9 ahead of Worlds.

Image Credits | Riot Games

C9 EMENES lashed out at an OTP player

It has been a rather hectic season for EMENES. After joining the starting roster midway through the Spring Split, he was regarded as one of the best mid laners in NA. That being said, he and C9 couldn’t repeat those results in Summer, which led to their 2nd-place finish, losing to NRG in the finals.

Despite that, C9 still has great potential and they are known to deliver better results once they move to the international stages. EMENES, who will be having the chance to play in his home country, should be one of NA fans’ biggest hopes, as he would clash with other world-class talents.

Unfortunately, EMENES playing on C9 at Worlds is no longer a certainty. In the past few days, the Korean mid laner has been caught making offensive comments on other solo queue players, one of them being Spear_shot, a Pantheon OTP who streams regularly.

Spear_shot publicly called EMENES out, posting on Twitter the chat logs that show EMENES and his negative behavior in a Korean solo queue game. In the chats, EMENES called Spear_shot “disgusting eu streamer” and the Cloud9 mid laner also told him to “go your country plz,” hinting at the “xenophobic comments” towards others.

Many streamers and content creators have reacted to the situation, including former C9 coach LS who said that EMENES’ comments were contradictory since he has been playing for years abroad. Prior to joining C9, the mid laner used to play for XL Esports. When playing on that team, he was also caught in a similar situation which led to the team benching him in the middle of the Summer Split.

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EMENES replies

The mid lane player tried to explain himself after being called out by LS:

“I love and respect LCS and LEC with players, but you know, most of the time this one trick streamers flaming whole teams with huge griefing and if someone say bad things player get punish[ed] instantly? That game I was trying really hard to win, but this guy doesn’t want [to win].”

While he later apologized for his comments and breaking the limit, he didn’t show the intention of apologizing to the streamer.

“I’m not criticizing all streamers, but no matter what server you play on, some ‘broadcasters’ ignore the normal rules of the game and constantly ruin the game when things don’t go their way, and the average player thinks that if they say something to them, they’ll throw it again next time. I am patient. However, I endured the excessive play until the end of the game. Do you know how many athletes are disadvantaged for just saying something and then immediately taking advantage of the criticism they received? I am sorry to my fans for my over-the-top remarks. However, I cannot apologize to people, including that streamer, who maliciously break basic rules for viewer interest.”

Cloud9 taking notes

After the entire situation broke out on social media, C9 have also taken action to sout the situation: “We are aware of the current situation regarding our player’s behavior in-game and are addressing the matter internally,” was what Cloud9 had to say about the situation.”

The issue now, however, is the potential repercussions that EMENES will have on C9 and their run at Worlds. Streamer and caster Caedrel explained on stream that EMENES has technically broken the rules, so Riot Games might step in and forbid the player from playing. If that were the case, then C9 would have to go to Worlds without a player, or potentially with its substitute.

But given that C9 disbanded its Challengers team, they would have no sub ready to play, which means they would need to pick up a free agent to add as an emergency sub, just like Wunder did for FNC. But what kind of free agents are good enough to play as the starting mid for C9, especially when they will be facing other world-class teams at Worlds?

There are still a lot of uncertainties and things to be assessed, so make sure to come back to be updated on the C9 and the player’s situation.

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