Earlier today, Riot Games released their official rulings on the behavior of Alfonso “Mithy” Aguirre Rodriguez and Erlend “Nukeduck” Holm of Challenger team Ninjas in Pyjamas – due to their toxic tendencies and continual verbal abuse, both players have been banned from the Coke Zero Challenger League until the end of 2014.
The post from Riot states that both Nukeduck and Mithy are reported by their fellow players in a staggering 30% of their games in solo queue with the majority of these incidents being for “Offensive Language, Negative Attitude and Verbal Abuse”. In addition, Mithy ranks among the top 1% of harassment score on the EUW server while holding a reputation for going AFK or leaving games.
According to the Challenger Series rules, this sort of bad behavior within the community is a direct violation of several rulesets which demand high standards of conduct from competitive figures, and both Mithy and Nukeduck refused to change their ways even after several warnings.
Only a few hours after their bans were made official, Nukeduck and Mithy were released from NiP in a post on their Facebook page.
The post explains that the roster change “is as a direct result of the recent suspension they have both received from Riot…which bans them from competition for the rest of 2014”
Gustam M. Karto, Managing Director of NiP added a statement:
“This is a highly regrettable situation that the plays can only blame themselves for. Ninjas in Pyjamas do not condone this kind of behavior and we hope that the players take the time to learn from this incident and come back to competitive play with a refreshed attitude”
The bans come at a critical time for Ninjas in Pyjamas, who are set to face off against Gamers 2 in the EU Challeger Series in only ten days’ time. While the team looked dominant thanks to the recent additions of ex-Gambit Gaming mid-laner Aleksei “AlexIch” Ichetovkin and ex-C9E jungler Tinh “k0u” Tri Lam, NiP must now scramble to find replacements if they are to have any hope of competing against Ocelot’s crew in two weeks.
Alex also posted a statement on Facebook with regards to the situation:
“I did know the risks of playing with Nukeduck and Mithy…I guess I agree on the bans but the timing isn’t really the best one for the team…but I won’t give up, there are worse things happening in life”
Ninjas in Pyjamas Roster:
Aleksei “AlexIch” Ichetovkin (Top)
Tinh “k0u” Tri Lam (Jungle)
Ales “Freeze” Knezinek (AD)
Sources: AlexIch's Facebook, NiP Facebook, Riot Ruling
Image Sources: Leaguepedia
