The LPL has continued its tradition of having players who forget to take Smite. After eStar Esports fined jungler Wei last split for the same mistake, Victory Five joined in on the action today by fining jungler Peng “pzx” Zhan-Xiang for failing to take Smite in the first game of V5’s series against Suning yesterday. Suning ended up winning the series against V5 2-1.
Pzx has been fined one month’s salary for his mistake and received a warning for his behavior, according to an unofficial translation of an article posted on Weibo by the organization. This situation has repeatedly happened in the LPL recently and it’s unclear whether there will be changes to the ruleset in the future to allow for a remake if such a mistake arises again.
This win would have been V5’s first of the 2021 LPL Summer Split. The League of Legends team is in last place without a series victory at 0-13. V5 came close to taking down Suning in this series, but the Smite mistake from the first game essentially handed their opponent a free win to start the match. With the draft they had, V5 would have been able to stand a chance against the 2020 Worlds finalists if their jungler took Smite.
With three matches left against EDward Gaming, FunPlus Phoenix, and LGD Gaming, it’s unlikely that V5 will be able to pick up a series victory and end the 2021 LPL Summer Split regular season with a win.
Make sure to follow us on YouTube for more esports news and analysis.
