No matter how good you are at League of Legends, you have to follow the rules of the game. One of the best players in the world was permanently banned at the age of 18, and his great career would have almost never started. But he received a second chance from Riot and made the most of it.
Who is Jensen? Nicolaj Jensen is a veteran of the League of Legends professional scene. But before his career could really start, the then 18-year-old was banned for life in 2013. This meant that every other account of his would be deleted if Riot noticed.
A tough punishment for him at the time, considering he had dropped out of school to focus on a career in the rising eSports of the game. Due to the ban, he was also not allowed to participate in tournaments.
The probably most famous eSports player in League of Legends is Faker:
Even pros have to follow rules
What did Jensen do? Such a ban does not come without reason. Back then, Jensen went by Veigodx, and besides insults, negative attitude, and abusive behavior, he was primarily accused of participating in DDOS attacks on other players.
The latter justified what was probably Riot’s harshest penalty in League of Legends at the time.
This was a hard blow for a player with a potentially bright future. Instead of giving up, however, he took advantage of a loophole in the tournament rules at the time. In 2014 he joined SK Gaming as a coach. Back then, coaches were not an official part of the league, so he was allowed to participate backstage.
The team qualified for the Worlds that same year, and many saw Jensen’s influence on the whole thing. After the 2014 Worlds, Riot announced that they would recognize coaches as an official part of the league. For Jensen, this posed a problem, as Riot subsequently prohibited banned players from participating as coaches.
This meant he left SK Gaming as a coach due to the regulation later that year. But a glimmer of hope came in the form of a Riot announcement at the end of 2014. Riot changed certain guidelines and wanted to re-examine and review permanent bans.
Riot gave Jensen a second chance
What happened after his coaching stint? At the end of 2014, Riot stated they were reviewing the situation surrounding Jensen. While they confirmed the penalty again due to the alleged involvement in a DDOS attack, they also praised Jensen for his exemplary behavior as a coach for SK Gaming.
On April 1, 2015, he was finally unbanned after Riot’s review and joined Cloud 9 under his coach name Incarnati0n a month later. Due to the timing, he was able to register for the LCS Summer Season and also managed to participate in the Worlds that same year. By the end of that year, he renamed himself to Jensen. The name most know him by today.
His career took off from there:
- He participated in the World Championship a total of 8 times between 2015 and 2022
- Thus, he played at the Worlds in every one of his seasons
- 3 times he won the NA Regional Finals with his team
As of now, he plays for Team Dignitas in the main roster. Whether he and his team can qualify for the Worlds this year is still uncertain.
Currently, many EU pros are strongly dissatisfied with a change:
LoL: EU pros say a harsh change leads to burnout, drug use, and depression
