Why are Korean League of Legends pros getting banned?

Recently, Weibo Gaming top laner TheShy received a permaban from the League of Legends Korean server while playing solo queue on stream. While the reason why the player was banned is still unconfirmed, Riot Games Korea announced earlier this month that “accounts rented to foreign pros have been suspended.”

This comes as a surprise because TheShy is a Korean player, so he shouldn’t fall into that category. That said, the ban still arrived. What might be the reasons why Korean players like him are having their accounts banned? Here are some of the possible causes.

Why TheShy got banned in League of Legends

While this doesn’t target Korean players directly, Riot Games Korea mentioned in a press release that all rental accounts will be suspended starting from Dec. 1, 2022. The suspensions will continue during the “first quarter” of the year.

It’s likely that TheShy was using one of these rental accounts without authorization. If this was the case, then the player might be able to use it when the account rentals will be reinstated during Korean bootcamps.

TheShy has competed for a long time outside of Korea

Despite being a Korean player and having made a name himself on the solo queue ladder, TheShy has been playing in the LPL for many years, having also won the World Championship with Invictus Gaming in 2018.

TheShy renewed his contract with Weibo Gaming last month, meaning that he’s set to stay in the LPL at least for one year. Considering that the top laner has never played as a domestic player, Riot Games Korea might have given him the “foreign pro” treatment and therefore, the suspension of the account. Similar to TheShy, former world champion and Korean mid laner Doinb had his accounts banned as well.

Riot Games Korea explained the accounts suspensions with the goal of improving the “competitive environment.” Last year many Korean solo queue players complained about some Chinese players in their games trolling and inting intentionally. To settle the complaints, Riot Korea had to implement these restrictions.

Having said that, if the main goal was to improve the competitive environment, players like TheShy should be allowed to play, regardless of which region they are playing in. With a player like him gone, it’s unclear if these restrictions will actually improve the Korean solo queue.