In the German scene of League of Legends, there is still bad blood: Even two months after an incident in the Prime League cup final at LoL, a player from the streamer team NNO is still struggling with a decision made by the Prime League. The conflict is flaring up again on December 17, 2024.
Why is there trouble? Apparently, there have been difficulties between the Prime League in Germany and the NNO team, which consists of 5 of the biggest Twitch streamers in LoL in Germany, for a while.
A bug incident in October was the last straw:
- The team “NNO Prime”, organized and financially supported by the streamers, played in the final of the Prime League cup against the Unicorns of Love.
- A bug occurred in the Sion ultimate, which the Unicorns of Love complained about. This complaint led to the interruption and annulment of a match in which NNO Prime was well ahead. Due to the decision to abort the match and restart it, the streamers felt disadvantaged and treated unfairly. Ultimately, NNO Prime lost the encounter.
- Actually, the match should not have been aborted but continued from the point where the bug occurred. However, resuming the match was not possible because the league could not reach a Riot employee who could initiate a restart, a so-called “Chronobreak”.
NoWay is the leading streamer for LoL in Germany and the midlaner for NNO:
NNO wants to leave the league after referee decision dispute
These were the consequences of the incident: The NNO streamers caused quite a stir with their massive reach and expressed their outrage live on stream over the league’s decision. The mood was heated that evening, and many ugly words were reportedly thrown by the supporters of the streamers, especially in the chats of the league’s own livestreams and in the streams of their opponents, the Unicorns of Love.
The next day, however, the situation calmed down when the streamer NoWay backed down and urged his community not to react aggressively and to exercise restraint. NoWay even announced that he would punish his own fans if they had become abusive.
However, NNO toyed with the idea of leaving the Prime League after the incident, bringing in two Scandinavians or Brits to the team and then competing in the Scandinavian-British league. This was apparently a direct reaction to the referee’s decision.
Instead of a contemplative Christmas, there is bad blood in LoL
This was the current state: NNO has since dissolved in its old form. But the issue is far from settled:
- Jungler Agurin wants to continue playing in the Prime League with a new team
- ADC Broeki will remain in the Prime League as a player, albeit with Eintracht Spandau
- However, NoWay (Mid), Tolkin (Top), and Karni (Supporter) still seem to want to leave the Prime League towards the North
Employee of the Prime League calls on Karni to apologize for the witch hunt
This has escalated the incident again: The supporter Karni has now written a conciliatory post on Twitch for the end of the year. However, a leading employee of the Prime League reacted to it, urging Karni, while he was in such a reconciliatory mood, to also apologize for his “witch hunt” against an official of the Prime League, which the supporter from NNO had conducted back in October.
But Karni had no intention of taking a festive and conciliatory approach; instead, he escalated the conflict from October again: The person deserved to be denounced back then, writes Karni.
He says that the Prime League wanted NNO to “lick its boots to stay in the league.” He regrets none of his tweets.
Here is the reaction: Karni’s statement, particularly the phrasing about “licking boots”, and the Prime League employee’s comments are being discussed critically on Twitch:
- His own bot lane partner and supporter, Broeki, publicly calls Karni to order: One should be grateful to the Prime League, which has allowed the scene to profile itself through the Twitch streamers.
- Kevin Westphal from Eintracht Spandau also says that the tweets are unnecessary.
- Overall, the phrasing is seen as problematic.
This has polarized strongly. Some believe that Karni is justifiably frustrated. He doesn’t have to forgive anything here – the league must be held accountable for its mistakes. Their conduct is “embarrassing”. The Prime League employee has provoked the reaction with his offensive wording of “witch hunt”.
Others argue, however, that as a streamer one must hold back and be aware of one’s reach. Responsibility for one’s reach must be taken, otherwise thoughtless statements can lead to “hate” against individuals. Karni is also seen as ungrateful towards a league that has brought him to a position where he can now live off content creation.
The worst time for such a dispute
Why is the situation particularly unfortunate? NNO in its “old form” with 5 major streamers would actually be exactly the team that the Prime League needs to generate more attention and attract sponsors. It would be in 2025, after a rule change at Riot Games, practically possible for the team to play in this form for the first time.
But right now, they have fallen out with the league.
In the Nordic league, however, where NNO now apparently wants to switch, teams are currently being formed with prominent influencers and stars that can enhance the struggling e-sport.
What is behind this: This is an unpleasant situation. Apparently, no one was satisfied with the solution to restart the game back then, not even the league. However, making further comments months later leads to nothing.
But publicly demanding an apology could only end in escalation.
The situation between NNO and the Prime League seems to be so tense also because a member of NNO, the caster Tolkin, has replaced the company behind the Prime League as the main caster for LoL in Germany, even though Tolkin himself once worked for that company. If the “NNO” figurehead leaves the league now, it cannot be good for the German scene: LoL: Summoner’s Inn closes after a former employee outperformed them on Twitch
