Preface: With the end of the LPL off-season, the third split has officially kicked off. Thanks to targeted reinforcements during the transfer window, LGD and TES swept EDG and WE 2-0 respectively on the opening day, securing a season-starting victory. Although the third split has already begun, the transfer drama among LPL teams is far from over. After the LPL's transfer reform, most players now sign short-term contracts on a "one split per contract" basis. Even if a player has been officially announced by a team, they can still negotiate a free transfer later.

LGD and TES had very successful transfers. According to LGD's AD carry Shaoye in a post-match interview, the team's in-game shotcalling and post-match reviews are now handled by Liu Qingsong, and Shaoye even praised him as the strongest support he has ever met in his career. Although Shaoye meant to compliment Liu Qingsong, many LPL viewers criticized his remarks for lacking emotional intelligence. Some even felt sorry for LGD's former support Ycx, who had fought alongside LGD all the way from the Nirvana Group to the top, only to be ruthlessly dismissed by LGD management and now publicly stabbed in the back by his former AD partner's interview comments.

As an all-Chinese team in LPL, TES also made reinforcements during the transfer period. After "cutting" support Feng Yue and bringing in support Zhuo, TES's performance on the first day of the third split drew a lot of jokes and complaints from viewers—because TES was simply too strong in the league, treating WE like bots and crushing them. In particular, TES racked up over 40 kills in the second game within 30 minutes. Many viewers remarked that TES might once again advance to the S16 World Championship and create new history.

The four absurd LPL transfer rumors are nearly all coming true.

Although the third split has started, transfer rumors about LPL continue to surface. Due to the LPL format reform, many players can now make free transfers during the third split. As a result, many absurd rumors emerged during the transfer period, and these rumors have been gradually realized one by one—including TheShy and Rookie returning to IG in the third split, BLG top laner Bin being benched, and Liu Qingsong joining LGD, among others.

Among these transfer rumors, "Flandre leaving AL to join BLG" has frequently appeared on hot searches. Especially after AL officially released the starting lineup for its match against JDG, many viewers accepted this rumor. In AL's starting lineup, Breathe replaced Flandre as the starting top laner. Considering that Breathe's performance in the second split was not outstanding, and he even followed the team all the way down to the Nirvana Group, it's surprising that AL now lets him take Flandre's spot. Hence, some fans speculated that"Aixiao brought in Breathe to prepare for Flandre's departure."

Recently, the former manager of RA leaked his chat history with Aixiao, which shows that AL management is also very supportive of Flandre leaving to pursue better results. After all, Aixiao himself said that AL would not block any player's contract. Once news broke that Flandre might join BLG, many industry insiders expressed sympathy for the BLG manager, who likely has to work on "four threads" simultaneously: taking care of "world's best top laner Bin's little emotions," managing the rookie Wenbo's starting mentality, and finally negotiating Hoya's transfer and AL's Flandre's loan.

Conclusion

To be honest, the top lane position at BLG is truly "fiercely competitive." Given BLG's current league points, as long as they make the playoffs, they are guaranteed a spot at Worlds. So any free agent top laner or famous top laner in LPL would come to try. And considering the high standards BLG fans have for their top laner, Flandre joining BLG is really a good choice—he can hold his own in lane and make his teammates "very comfortable."