League of Legends team disqualified over automatic emote

An incident at a League of Legends tournament in the Philippines is now making the rounds on the internet as one of the teams was disqualified for using an emote which was against the rules of the tournament. The team in talk here is West Point Esports.

As per reports, the tournament was a local event for tier 2/3 teams in the SEA region and the organizer added custom rules to the tournament including one saying the tournament marshalls were required to disable all badges and emotes including the automatic ones, or it may result in disqualification.

This measure was taken to prevent toxic behaviour during the matches. During the match, when West Point Esports got the first kill, the automatic emote for first blood started playing, prompting a disqualification.

Community outrage over the incident

The disqualification sparked a huge controversy among the fans on social media, with many calling the rule simple and how tier-one tournaments do not have bans on emotes. Furthermore, many pointed out that the job to prevent this was for tournament marshalls so why was the team punished for an automatic emote?

Responding to the controversy, West Point Esports said, “While we are disappointed with the decision to disqualify our academy team due to an unintentional emote by one of our players, Devoured, we respect that rules are rules.”

The team also said that the emote was not a form of toxic behaviour and there were also other cases where their opponents also had automatic emotes activated, but they chose not to report. We may have different opinions on how we win, but we will respect yours. “We have always, and will always choose the honorable path in winning, and that is by playing the game itself,” the team added.

What’s even more hilarious was that the organizers asked the other team if they wanted to continue playing or take the win. Instead, the fans believe the match should have continued as it was their own fault for leaving the emotes on.