At the LoL Worlds 2020 on Saturday, the European team Fnatic was eliminated. They were already leading 2-0 before losing 2-3 and getting knocked out of the World Championship of League of Legends. According to some fans, Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere (33) was to blame. They held a monologue after their “2-0” lead, which backfired minutes later.
This is how the match went: The Europeans from Fnatic entered the competition on Saturday as underdogs against the Chinese superpower Top Esports, but managed to win the first 2 games. In Match 1, the draft surprised the Chinese, who struggled to cope with Singed in the top lane. In Match 2, Fnatic was able to fully assert their game and dominate through the bot lane.
However, by Game 3, the Chinese had adjusted to Fnatic and were able to execute their own game: The jungler Karsa, an exceptional player, took over the matches, and Fnatic lost 2-3.
For fans of the team, it was a rough ride on the emotional rollercoaster: first on top of the world, then heartbroken.
We reported on the LoL match on MeinMMO on Sunday.
Host praises Fnatic: Demons can be slain
What’s up with the caster? The Belgian Eefje “Sjokz” Depoortere is a passionate supporter of the European league LEC. The caster has also appeared in advertisements for the league.
When Fnatic was leading 2-0, the caster stood up from her seat and gave a small speech about “success” (via youtube).
Success is only about growing. You must overcome your demons. Success is getting back up after being knocked down. No one embodies this better than Martin Larsen.
Sjokz
Sjokz then elaborated on how much Martin “Rekkles” Larsen deserved to be in the spotlight. After the tragic finals loss in 2018, it seemed that Europe had missed a big opportunity that would never come back.
Everyone praised China and their league LPL: it was an unbeatable monster. But now in 2020, it suddenly seemed possible again; the chance was back.
“In 2020, the expectations for Fnatic were lower than ever when facing Top Esports, the number one team from the LPL. That LPL that has repeatedly crushed Europe. JackeyLove stood proudly, ready to become a world champion for the second time – but so far, we have not seen any dominance from the LPL. We have not seen any highlight reel of JackeyLove. We have experienced Rekkles’ and Hylissang’s lane kingdom.
Now everything depends on the next game. Demons can be slain, expectations can be defied, and Rekkles can now cement his reputation as the player he always wanted to be.”
Sjokz
After Sjokz’s speech, Fnatic couldn’t get a hit in.
This was the reaction: During the clip on Twitch, people in the chat shouted “Stop jinxing”, which means: “Don’t jinx it. Stop, you are cursing it.”
The fans were following a superstition: when things are going well, you should never mention it, otherwise fate will strike back bitterly.
As Sjokz herself said, she received a lot of criticism through direct messages for her speech afterward. On one hand, people said it was disrespectful to Top Esports. They had buried them before they were dead. The speech “did not go down well.”
On the other hand, many wrote to her that “they had cast a curse over Fnatic” with the speech. She had cursed the team.
Some fans say that at the moment they heard the speech, they were sure Fnatic would lose. Sjokz should have definitely waited until after the victory for the speech. There were comments like:
- “You could see how the speech cast THE CURSE”
- “The ultimate caster curse”
- “I had no hope left after the speech and spent the next 3 hours watching Fnatic fall apart”
On reddit, the speech is also criticized from a different direction: It is not understood how one could say something like that in that moment. These “speeches” are so bad and clearly biased, they say. It is completely disrespectful to the other team. Europe behaves as if it is the center of the world (via reddit).
This is an age-old discussion in every sport: How neutral and objective should casters be? Can they support the “home team”, or do we want someone who only evaluates the sporting aspect.
Proud of “creative risk” – even if it didn’t pay off
This is what the moderation says: Sjokz says she wrote the speech in the moment, 5 minutes into Game 1, because she was so inspired. She and the production team then decided to go through with the speech to create “emotional context” for a possible victory of the underdogs.
She also made it clear that nothing was won yet. In hindsight, she is still proud of having done it and taken that creative risk, even if it does not always pay off.
She appreciates the feedback but finds it unfortunate that she as a person and her entire “Worlds” performance are attacked. On a positive note, she says: The whole “You cursed it” memes are quite funny too.
The casters in LoL play an important role for the league. They explain the matches, provide background information, and offer emotional context. In July, the casters even took on the main roles for a moment. The casters of the European league suddenly spoke critically against their employer to prevent a deal:
