Riot bans TFT player Setsuko for ‘discriminatory and denigrating language’

Riot Games officially banned competitive Teamfight Tactics player and content creator Kevin “Setsuko” Jiang on Sept. 12 for breaching Article 9.2.5 of the Americas esports Magic n’ Mayhem rulebook and Articles 3.21 and 3.8 from the global esports code of conduct.

Setsuko popped into the TFT scene as a competitive player during Set Eight Monsters Attack, finishing third during the NA Regional Finals and eighth at Set Eight Worlds. Heading into the Set 11 World Championship, following a combination of NA, BR, and LATAM into the Americas region, Setsuko was reported as having issues with Brazilian fans and other players. These actions earned Setsuko a penalty in July 2024, according to Riot, for profanity and hate speech. Despite the penalty, Setsuko displayed “little remorse” for his actions. And the actions were repeated, resulting in an official ban for the remainder of TFT Set 12, until Nov. 27.

But it wasn’t just the repeating of actions that resulted in Setsuko’s ban from TFT Set 12. Setsuko also violated confidentiality with Riot by sharing “correspondence from Riot Games on X (formerly Twitter) despite the express confidentiality notice,” Riot said. In addition to violating confidentiality, Setsuko was suspended for the “use of discriminatory and denigrating language while on stream,” according to Riot.

Setsuko responded to the ban from Riot on Sept. 12 through X (Twitter), showing no remorse for his actions.

“Got banned for a set, probably still gonna stream soloq….my bad though next time ill just blatantly wintrade in worlds and get fined instead,” Setsuko said.

The win-trading allegations Setsuko referred to in his post on Twitter/X were a hot topic following the Tacticians Crown Championship, with even k3soju weighing in on the topic of Chinese players colluding during matches to ensure team placements.

Deflection toward another situation in TFT, however, didn’t distract fans from the lack of remorse Setsuko showed in his response. “So you’re just not gonna take accountability for what you did? Are you gonna learn from your mistakes and get better as a person?” one X user said.

Another X user called the deflection in Setsuko’s statement for what it was, saying “Just because they didn’t ban them (they should have) does not make what you did any more correct.”

Riot has not responded to recent posts from Setsuko. Setsuko’s ban from competitive play will remain in effect through Nov. 27.