In League of Legends: Wild Rift the Wild Tour took place in Brazil at the beginning of May. There, the strongest teams from the region competed to qualify for the World Cup. However, during the tournament, an unpleasant incident occurred, which Riot Games responded to with a ban and fine.
What did the coach do exactly? OMEGHA ESPORTS head coach Peterson “Wonder” Castelanno reportedly made an obscene gesture towards the opposing team. Riot Games does not specify further in the official statement, but from comments on Twitter, it can be inferred that he may have shown the middle finger to the opposing team.
This unpleasant action took place during the finals of the Wild Tour on May 8th. Wonder’s team won this in a close duel 4:3 against Keyd Stars.
What is the penalty? From Riot Games’ perspective, paragraphs 14.1.2 and 14.1.3 of the tournament regulations were violated. These include the regulation of standards of conduct for players and teams.
- He has to pay a fine of 5,000 BRL (approximately 950 Euros). However, the average income in Brazil is only about 480 Euros. He will have to pay roughly 2 average monthly salaries (approximately 8,000 Euros in Germany).
- He is banned from participation for two match days – regardless of when these take place.
However, the suspension only applies to regional tournaments. He can participate as usual in the World Cup in June in Singapore, for which his team has qualified.
Wonder reacts provocatively on Twitter
How did the coach react to the suspension? On Twitter, the coach shared the tweet from Riot Games and only commented with “Oh my God” and later ironically “I have already been arrested”.
Additionally, he likes statements like “200,000 BRL earned to pay 5,000. I think that’s a good deal” or “One has to be a little emotional”.
On the pages of OMEGHA ESPORTS, however, there is no statement regarding the incident.
In 2021, a similar incident occurred in Brazil, where the Wild Rift team from TSM was penalized with similar sanctions for also showing the middle finger (via DotEsports). Back then, a final also ended narrowly with 4:3.
When do the world championships take place? Anyone wanting to follow the World Cup in Wild Rift can tune in starting June 14th. The group stage of the play-in tournament will take place then. At the end of June, there will be the regular group stage followed by a knockout phase with a big final on July 9th.
Whether Wild Rift is interesting for LoL fans, we have examined in this article:
How much League of Legends is in Wild Rift? We played the new LoL Mobile
