One of the top League of Legends teams in North America just took a huge hit to their playoff hopes—one of their star players is being suspended for ELO boosting.
Team Impulse mid laner Yu “XiaoWeiXiao” Xian has been involved in an ELO boosting operation that allegedly involved team manager Alex Gu, the Daily Dot has learned. Riot Games confirms the player was involved in “misconduct.”
“We have spoken with XiaoWeiXiao regarding ELO boosting allegations,” Hunter Leigh, esports manager at Riot Games, told the Daily Dot. “He has confirmed misconduct and is suspended pending investigation.”
On July 14-16, Yu allegedly engaged in conversation via Chinese mobile text and voice messaging app WeChat with a League of Legends player who was interested in receiving elo boosting.
For the price of $1300 USD, Yu played on the user’s account to boost it to a higher ranking—a practice which is commonly known as “elo boosting.” When asked for the email for the money to be sent to via Paypal, Yu gave him an email address. That email is linked to a Skype username of the same name—the same one used by Team Impulse manager Alex Gu.
The translated transcript of the conversation between the two parties follows:
Account Holder (3:13:24): PAYPAL
TIP XiaoWeiXiao (3:13:47): *****@*****.com
Account Holder (3:16:01): Can pay 1400?
Account Holder (3:16:15): Masters 100 LP, then 1400, for customer safety?
TIP XiaoWeiXiao (3:16:24): Masters
TIP XiaoWeiXiao (3:16:31): Then the other half
Account Holder (3:16:39): Will do
Account Holder (3:16:44): Anyway is fine, as long as honesty is there
Account Holder (4:07:51): How much did you get?
TIP XiaoWeiXiao (4:08:26): Total of 980.
TIP XiaoWeiXiao (4:08:33): Together with the 410 from before
TIP XiaoWeiXiao (4:08:36): 1300
Account Holder (4:08:46): Satisfied.
Account Holder (4:08:48): Now?
Account Holder (4:08:52): The payment I asked
TIP XiaoWeiXiao (4:08:56): Sure
TIP XiaoWeiXiao (4:09:02): After I withdraw the money
TIP XiaoWeiXiao (9:35:56): You’re really annoying
TIP XiaoWeiXiao (9:36:04): If you don’t believe it, don’t come to me
TIP XiaoWeiXiao (9:36:08): I told you, as soon as the money arrives, I’ll do it
Account Holder (9:36:42): Okay, no rush. Just within these five days, I won’t rush you
2015-07-15
TIP XiaoWeiXiao (9:11:14): The money is here
TIP XiaoWeiXiao (9:11:20): I’ve already started
2015-07-16
Account Holder (0:06:45): Okay
The account in question, “WeChat DaiLanOP,” shares similar item builds and key bindings to Yu’s own account “XiaoWeiXiao” during the time frame in question. Champions shared between the two include Twisted Fate, Ezreal, Yasuo, and Lee Sin—all of which share item builds and summoner spells between the two accounts. Additionally, the boosted account duo-queued with another North American account by the name of “Prayyyy.” This account matches one Team Impulse jungler Lee “Rush” Yoon-jae used to play while streaming.
Only Yu has admitted wrongdoing. Alex Gu and Team Impulse will release a statement about the situation at a later time.
Elo boosting is against Riot Games’ Terms of Use. The game developer has recently banned several professional players for similar behavior. Shern “Shernfire” Tai, for instance, was suspended from competitive play till January due to elo boosting in Oceania.
The punishment for XiaoWeiXiao’s admitted misconduct is pending investigation, but it’s safe to say that Team Impulse’s hopes of reaching the Riot World Championship have taken a huge blow.
Translation by Chia “Reazony” Yu
Image via Riot Games/Flickr
