After the League of Legends Global Pioneer Tournament concluded, top-tier competitions entered a roughly one-week break period. During this time, Uzi collaborated with the official organizers to launch the Uzi Cup, filling the competition gap. The Uzi Cup group stage started on the 23rd, and currently, all six participating teams have completed 4-5 matches. The Abel team, which advanced from the qualifiers, and the host team Uzi's squad are both 4-0 with full victories, temporarily tied for first place in the group.

Ning Wang's team and Ale's team have each secured 2 wins, with records of 2-2 and 2-3 respectively. Baolan, who previously won two championships in the Old Man Cup, is currently facing some awkwardness—after playing 5 matches in the group stage, he has only managed one victory. Da Huang's team is in the worst situation, having lost all 4 matches since the start without a single win. However, the group stage is only for determining rankings; even if they finish last, they won't be directly eliminated. A higher ranking provides greater advantages in the knockout stage due to the double-elimination format.

Based on current performance, Da Huang's team is undoubtedly the weakest among the six. Not only is their strength lacking, but there are also persistent issues within the team. On the previous match day, when Uzi's team and Da Huang's team were scheduled to compete, normally players should be prepared to play before the match starts. However, Da Huang's support player Mark was completely unreachable, causing the match to be delayed.

Nine players on the field, along with dozens of live-stream viewers totaling hundreds of thousands, were all waiting for Mark to arrive. During the wait, Uzi directly erupted in anger: "If you don't want to play, then get out! Someone like this, who isn't awake or doesn't show up for a match, should be blacklisted from all League of Legends events and activities from now on. Their attitude is just too poor." Since getting married, having children, and maturing, this was the first time Uzi had shown such intense fury.

A similar incident occurred during the previous Old Man Cup. Support player LPC from Zitai's team overslept and missed the match time, resulting in Zitai's team being forfeited. Mark's reason for being unreachable this time is even more outrageous than LPC's—he wasn't sleeping. Seeing that Ning Wang's team and Ale's team were playing their match, he simply went out to eat. Those two teams finished quickly, with Ning Wang's team being swept, so the match time was earlier than expected.

Normally, if a player is absent, the team should be forfeited at the scheduled time. However, Mark arrived right at the cutoff point. Whether a forfeit is applied or not doesn't significantly affect the match outcome—Da Huang's team was completely swept by Uzi's team. The most absurd part is that after arriving, Mark still didn't realize he was late; he believed the match was supposed to start at 7 and therefore he wasn't absent. Seriously, this attitude toward competition is truly outrageous—thinking it's like clocking in for work?

Missing a match due to turning off your phone and sleeping is somewhat understandable, as many people turn off their devices when sleeping. But Mark went out to eat without even bringing his phone, which is truly absurd. The most ridiculous part is that despite delaying the match, he faced no penalty whatsoever. Uzi even laughed in exasperation upon hearing the referee's decision. Although the match proceeded normally, Mark has genuinely offended Uzi this time, and he'll likely face difficulties in the future.

In normal competitions, players are required to arrive two hours early to prevent any delays. As a former professional player, if Mark doesn't understand this basic principle, then his professional career was truly wasted. After venting his anger, Uzi also reflected, thinking: "Perhaps many retired players don't want to play League anymore." This statement isn't wrong—aside from Uzi's passion for the game, others seem to have lost interest.

Conclusion:

The Abel team that emerged from the qualifiers is performing better than directly invited teams like Ning Wang and Da Huang, which is genuinely surprising. It seems only those who persistently play League can achieve results in competitions. Recently, Ning Wang and Baolan have been engrossed in DOTA and rarely play League. There is indeed a significant gap between them and teams like Uzi's and Abel's.

So, do you think Mark arriving just before 7 counts as being late?

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments!