Invictus Gaming were locked in a tense game three against Suning this morning when something unexpected flashed across their screens. ADC Yu “Jackeylove” Wen-bo was calling for a forfeit.
You never see forfeit votes in pro matches anymore. The stakes are too high and the players are too good. Seeing it in a game in which IG still had a chance was a surprise. And then, even more shockingly, top laner Kang “TheShy” Seung-lok voted “yes.” What was going on?
After the match—an IG win—JackeyLove clarified on Chinese social media site Weibo. He was trying to adjust his settings and accidentally hit “/ff.” We’re not sure how you fat finger that, but apparently he did. As for TheShy, he was 100 percent trolling.
The ironic thing is, when IG announced that star mid laner Song “Rookie” Eui-jin was heading home to Korea to deal with a family emergency, some fans may have hit /ff on their games without him. Rookie is, after all, a legitimate contender for the title of the best player in the world. Losing him before key matches against EDG and Top Esports sounded like a death blow.
Instead, the team has carried on without him, getting key performances from JackeyLove and support Wang “Baolan” Liu-Yi, who’s back in the lineup after getting benched earlier this split.
But in today’s deciding match against Suning, substitute mid laner Deng “Forge” Jie stole the show. Playing Jayce, he took an ultra-aggressive approach into the game and carried IG to victory against Suning’s mid lane star, Huang “Maple” Yi-tang. It was a—dare we say it—Rookie-like performance.
Immediately after the game, social media lit up with speculation on who this mysterious young Chinese player is. A video titled “I love Forge” made it to the front page of the League subreddit.
Forge is pretty good—these wins speak for themselves. He’s no Rookie, but the team has been impressive with him in the lineup. It seems that IG, the defending world champions, are the rich getting richer.
