League of Legends: Allegations of Cheating Erupt in LPL Split 1, Involving a TOP Esports Player

The LPL Split 1 tournament is heading towards the decisive matches to determine the remaining First Stand 2026 spot alongside BLG, but what's currently capturing the fans' attention isn't the Lower Bracket Finals.

Drama erupts with a "guess the answer" challenge from TOP Esports' jungler.

LPL Split 1  will officially enter the Lower Bracket Finals this afternoon between Weibo Gaming and JD Gaming. The winner of this match will become the remaining LPL representative at First Stand 2026. For Weibo, this is an opportunity to once again prove their mettle and determination. Meanwhile, JD Gaming, under the guidance of Tabe, is also aiming for a spot in Sao Paulo, especially with JunJia and HongQ undoubtedly eager to return to the First Stand arena.

However, a recent incident has drawn everyone's attention to TOP Esports, as the team's management has officially announced that jungler Yang " naiyou " Zi-Jian seriously violated professional ethics in the decisive match against Weibo Gaming. It is known that in the decisive game 5, WBG used a "One Marksman, Four Slaves" lineup with two main physical damage dealers,  Yorick  and  Jinx . Their only source of magic damage came from  Xiaohu's Galio  , but he didn't build many magic damage items.

However, naiyou,  playing Skarner  , decided to go all-in with Spirit Visage and add Shadow Cloak, even though he already used Mercury's Treads to gain a certain amount of magic resistance. Furthermore, Spirit Visage was the second most important item this player built after Heart of the Undead, instead of Deathcap or at least Thornmail to counter Jinx's damage  . 

Throughout Game 5, naiyou also made many movement mistakes leading to being caught and killed, lacked control of the jungle, used his dash ability quite. illogically, and had situations where he could have completely escaped but seemed to "intentionally" linger and let the opponent get the kill.

It seems TES is not only suspicious of Naiyou.

Reportedly, after naiyou's poor performance, captain 369 spoke up in defense of his junior, asserting that he was ready to take full responsibility. However, this action only added fuel to the fire, as the fan community pointed out that 369 had not defended his two long-time teammates, JackeyLove and Creme, but instead defended a young player with a series of suspicious actions. Finally, after TOP Esports reported the matter to Riot, 369 had to reluctantly admit that he was a fool for placing his trust in the wrong person.

Notably, some sources indicate that the team's marksman, JiaQi, was the first to request an investigation into naiyou by the management, even stating that he would report directly to Tencent if the management did not take concrete action. A few days later, Creme also reported his suspicions to the management, and the team's management managed to bring both naiyou and support player Fengyue to headquarters, claiming the team needed to take photos for the next season. This suggests that two names were on TES's list of suspects.

Currently,  naiyou  is still under investigation by TES management and potentially by Riot in the near future. Meanwhile, it is unclear whether Support Fangyue is involved in these suspicions. Notably, the manager of the LNG team also stated that it wasn't just Game 5 between TES and WBG that showed signs of "guessing." If what this person revealed is true, the LPL will likely experience an extremely turbulent period after the First Stand 2026 ends, seriously impacting their chances of participating in other international tournaments in 2026.