In 2019, the Chinese team FunPlus Phoenix won the World Championship in League of Legends against the Europeans from G2 in the final: The outstanding players of the tournament were midlaner Doinb and his brilliant jungle partner: Tian. In 2023, there seems to be really bad vibes between the legendary world champion duo.
Who are the two?
- The South Korean Doinb (26) was the star of the 2019 World Championship. He was considered a “super carry”, could play anything in the midlane, and dominated the tournament. He played unconventionally, creatively, always finding a brilliant solution to every problem. Before the tournament, only experts knew his name; after the tournament, he looked like the new mega star in LoL.
- The jungler Tian (22) is significantly younger than Doinb, he was his partner in the jungle: Depending on the situation, he either set up kills or delivered the finishing blow himself. Tian had such an outstanding Worlds, especially with Lee Sin, that he was voted MVP of the Worlds Finals.
It seemed that the two could usher in an era in LoL as a brilliant mid-jungle duo.
What happened next? It remained at that one strong year. Doinb was voted MVP in China in 2021, but they could no longer win major titles.
Both still played for FunPlus Phoenix for 2 years after the 2019 World Championship victory, but it didn’t go well:
- In 2020, they missed qualification for the Worlds
- In 2021, they were eliminated in the group stage against DWG KIA, Cloud 9, and Rogue – a disgrace
The team fell apart. Before 2022, Doinb moved to LNG Esports, while Tian went to Top Esports.
Tian unfollows Doinb on social media
What is the dispute now? Tian made headlines with a series of postings on social media on January 26:
- He posted “I need no emotions” – at that time, his girlfriend had just hidden all posts on Weibo. Fans suspected something was brewing.
- Eventually, Tian announced that he had broken up with his girlfriend after finding out that she had a relationship with a friend of Tian’s. She had kept this relationship from him, despite multiple inquiries.
- The girlfriend then admitted to having hidden the relationship from Tian, stating he could be childish at times, but was essentially a “really good and loyal person”.
In the aftermath of this action, it seems Tian decided to tidy up his relationships and “unfollowed” several people on social media, including his former teammate Doinb and his wife Umi.
Doinb compares Tian to crying mummy Amumu
How did Doinb react now? The world champion midlaner was apparently upset that he was now on Tian’s blacklist. He had nothing to do with the situation.
Doinb wrote:
It’s hard to be the friend or teammate of a man when he puts you on the blacklist for no reason.
But Doinb was not finished yet. He decided on the ultimate punishment and compared Tian to the crying mummy Amumu:
If you don’t talk to anyone, you turn into Amumu. You can’t blame anyone for that; you should look for the fault in yourself. No one from the old “FunPlus Phoenix” team is still talking to him today.
Tian is said to be a terrible loser – responsible for ending Nuguri’s career
According to Doinb, Tian is a terrible loser and would attack the families of others after defeats in practice matches.
Furthermore, Doinb stated that Tian was responsible for the retirement of top laner Nuguri. Tian must apologize for this:
- The highly talented top laner Nuguri only played one year for FunPlus Phoenix, still with Tian and Doinb.
- In November 2021, he left FunPlus Phoenix and took a break.
- In April 2022, Nuguri joined the team DWG Kia, with which he became world champion in 2020, but ended his career after 6 months at DWG KIA in November 2022.
How does Tian react? Being publicly admonished, Tian quickly backtracks. He said he had been impulsive and rude due to his personal relationship issues. He shouldn’t have disturbed anyone. That’s his din to take care of.
But he insists he had nothing to do with Nuguri’s retirement. He had never had a problem with him and had no bad conscience. He apparently doesn’t want to let that accusation stand.
Apparently, no one wants to be Amumu.
More about what Doinb and Tian had to endure back then:
LoL: 25-Year-Old shows his outrageous schedule from the time he became world champion
