The streaming service Twitch runs its own tournament format with “Twitch Rivals”. It got a little strange when the official stream showed the raging LoL player Tyler “Tyler1” Steinkampf. Because the star of the League of Legends just had one of his moments.
What is Twitch Rivals? It is a tournament series officially operated by Twitch. One would think that there would be rules and it would be “civilized” there.
In the tournaments of Twitch Rivals, not necessarily the best players of a game are invited, but “prominent streamers” or former professionals.
Currently, a highly publicized tournament from Twitch Rivals is running in LoL. Here, 8 well-known LoL streamers and ex-professionals of League of Legends could assemble their teams as captains. The team captains are streamers like TFBlade, Yassuo or imaqtpie.
One team captain is Tyler1:
- he was banned from LoL by Riot Games for years because he was too toxic.
- Meanwhile, he is regarded as “Reformed” and is allowed to play again, but he is not completely reformed.
- Actually, Tyler1 only returned to LoL after a designer wished him dead.
As one can see: It is complicated.
Twitch shows Tyler1 in all his glory
This was the scene: The official Twitch stream switched to Tyler1 as his team had just won the decisive fight in the match. For the first few seconds, Tyler1 is still relatively calm, but then he gets into the groove.
The two casters are currently analyzing what’s happening in the match: “It’s over, it’s over”, then the Tyler1 show begins.
“Kick their damn asses,” the streamer yells. “Sit your ass down!” (SKIT THE UFCK PWDOWN), he types in the chat.
Tyler1 named his team “Shadowdogs”, hence he yells “Shadowdogs motherfuckers!” and plays “Who let the dogs out?” while he swirls, bounces and celebrates in his chair.
In the end, he calls on his teammates to thank him, as he clearly carried them.
The Twitch casters laugh and enjoy the show. One says: “This all makes sense” and “Can I have this moment on a T-shirt?”
The clip of the incident has now over 270,000 views. People love this scene where the casters switch to an “official match” and experience the eruption of the volcano “Tyler1” (via reddit).
From Underdog to Icon of LoL on Twitch
What’s behind it: The remarkable thing here is that someone like Tyler1 is now “so big” that he can do whatever he wants and it’s still okay.
Twitch seeks to be close to him – while he was avoided by Riot Games for years.
Tyler1 is now “The Icon” of LoL on Twitch. Normally, companies shy away from collaborating with someone who behaves so recklessly: He is considered “not brand safe”, as a risk for a company.
But Tyler1 seems to float above these things now. After the first day of the tournament, Tyler1’s team stands with a record of 3-0 as the top of Group A.
Update 27.11.: Tyler1 has now won Twitch Rivals with his team and behaved a little improperly during the victory.
