The operators of League of Legends, Riot Games, maintain a luxurious partner program for LoL. But they are now cleaning house. They are removing Ashkan “TF Blade” Homayouni from the program, who was the No. 2 on Twitch for LoL last year. But he has a problem with his temper. The biggest LoL streamer, Tyler1, had already lost his partner status back in June.
This is TF Blade: Although TF Blade only has “only” one million followers on Twitch, he is one of the most diligent streamers ever with 2218 hours in LoL. He streams an average of 6 hours a day.
Last year, 21,728,579 hours of League of Legends were watched on his channel – only the top LoL bully Tyler1 has had more (via sullygnome).
TF Blade is known for pursuing a crazy world record: He regularly moves to another country, settles there for a while, and wants to be number one in the local solo queue of LoL. Since TF Blade is an outstanding player in the top lane, he has succeeded in this several times.
However, he tends to get terribly upset and then flames wildly. He has already been banned by Twitch for this. He referred to Turkish LoL players as dogs.
This is the luxury program: Riot Games has the “League Partner Program” (LPP) for content creators. Those in it enjoy some privileges:
- “League Unlocked” gives players all LoL champs, many skins, and bonuses on LP and XP
- Access to the partner Discord provides a direct line to the developers
- Additional support on all Riot Games accounts: If problems arise, a partner has better contact with customer service
- The right to broadcast games from the US professional league LCS and the Academy Games
However, LoL wants content creators in the program to also behave reasonably and civilly. This seems to be impossible for some Twitch streamers.
Twitch streamer was on probation and not behaving well enough
In response to an inquiry, Riot explained that there is not one specific moment for which he is being removed from the program, but they evaluate TF Blade’s overall behavior over several months.
This is ironic: TF Blade visibly wants to express his anger about the removal in the Twitch clip. He seems to be on the verge of exploding.
But he can’t: Because if he gets upset about being removed, he would surely become toxic again and thus justify the removal indefinitely.
Therefore, we see a Twitch streamer who is boiling inside but is trying to remain painfully calm. An interesting spectacle.
TF Blade is in good bad company – LoL is cleaning up
This is what it’s about: Riot Games is currently cleaning up its partner program. It has not only affected TF Blade, but also the similarly toxic Twitch streamer IWillDominate. This was a particularly hard blow for him: He had tailored his channel to broadcast professional games. He is no longer allowed to do that.
Even the far biggest and most successful LoL streamer, Tyler1, lost his access to the partner program in June 2020. However, he didn’t take it too hard. He knows, how successful he is and that LoL needs him.
Apparently, League of Legends is conducting a cleanup operation to improve its image and at least not to have the known toxic streamers standing in front of it as figureheads while also supporting them with privileges.
However, whether this will change the culture of LoL and the image of the game in the long term remains doubtful. League of Legends is generally regarded as a toxic game, is aware of it itself, and addresses it repeatedly.
There is even a really good YouTube video from Riot Games about how “tilt” turns normal LoL players into toxic lunatics.
Why do so many people watch TF Blade on Twitch, even though he sometimes can’t control his nerves? He is a really strong toplaner, and LoL players learn something from him. We reported on a special play by TF Blade:
LoL: Twitch streamer decides match with brilliant suicide play
The cover image comes from TF Blade’s Instagram account.
This is why TF Blade is getting removed: As indicated in a Twitch clip, TF Blade was already on thin ice and on probation. Riot Games found his behavior generally unworthy of a partner and had given him until the end of July to improve.
Although Riot told him a month ago that TF Blade needed to approach the standards, they are not seeing any progress and hence are removing him from the partner program, according to an email TF Blade shows. He can reapply in June 2021.
In response to an inquiry, Riot explained that there is not one specific moment for which he is being removed from the program, but they evaluate TF Blade’s overall behavior over several months.
This is ironic: TF Blade visibly wants to express his anger about the removal in the Twitch clip. He seems to be on the verge of exploding.
But he can’t: Because if he gets upset about being removed, he would surely become toxic again and thus justify the removal indefinitely.
Therefore, we see a Twitch streamer who is boiling inside but is trying to remain painfully calm. An interesting spectacle.
TF Blade is in good bad company – LoL is cleaning up
This is what it’s about: Riot Games is currently cleaning up its partner program. It has not only affected TF Blade, but also the similarly toxic Twitch streamer IWillDominate. This was a particularly hard blow for him: He had tailored his channel to broadcast professional games. He is no longer allowed to do that.
Even the far biggest and most successful LoL streamer, Tyler1, lost his access to the partner program in June 2020. However, he didn’t take it too hard. He knows, how successful he is and that LoL needs him.
Apparently, League of Legends is conducting a cleanup operation to improve its image and at least not to have the known toxic streamers standing in front of it as figureheads while also supporting them with privileges.
However, whether this will change the culture of LoL and the image of the game in the long term remains doubtful. League of Legends is generally regarded as a toxic game, is aware of it itself, and addresses it repeatedly.
There is even a really good YouTube video from Riot Games about how “tilt” turns normal LoL players into toxic lunatics.
Why do so many people watch TF Blade on Twitch, even though he sometimes can’t control his nerves? He is a really strong toplaner, and LoL players learn something from him. We reported on a special play by TF Blade:
LoL: Twitch streamer decides match with brilliant suicide play
The cover image comes from TF Blade’s Instagram account.
