Riot suspends League of Legends commentator

Martin ‘Deficio’ Lynge has been suspended by Riot after an investigation into his relationship with League of Legends team Copenhagen Wolves.

Lynge, a broadcaster for the League of Legends Championship Series, was found guilty of tampering” following his receipt of a management job from the Danish team. This in itself is not a breach, but the fact that this was not declared – coupled with subsequent conversations had with other players about possible future partnerships – was enough to earn him his punishments.

It was also alleged that he had fed the team information about opponents, although this was never substantiated.

The match in question, which was suspended pending investigation, was an encounter between the Wolves and SK Gaming on May 28th.

As punishment Lynge cannot coach for four weeks and is not allowed to accept any Approved Team member posts through to the end of the 2016 season. Wolves boss Karl ‘Dentist’ Krey, who admitted to lying about receiving information from Lynge as he felt it made him look good, has been suspended for four weeks.

Despite evidence that Dentist had verbally claimed to Copenhagen Wolves players he was receiving information from Deficio on in-game strategy, our investigation uncovered no evidence to support this claim,” Riot said. However, during the course of this investigation, we were made aware that Copenhagen Wolves had offered Deficio a management position to join the organization at the conclusion of the 2015 season, and that the two parties had had ongoing conversations for the past six weeks.

Although it’s not unusual for Rioters to be approached with offers from LCS organizations, it’s important that the organization and Rioter let us know as soon as an offer is made to raise awareness around potential conflicts of interest. In this case, we believe that Deficio showed poor judgment in navigating this conflict of interest.

Over the course of our investigation we found evidence indicating that Deficio had begun speaking with several active LCS players – contracted and free agents – about their future and the possibility of working with them on the Copenhagen Wolves. These conversations influenced – or had the potential to influence – player decisions on where they chose to play, and affected the competitive integrity of the LCS.”

Lynge himself apologised for the fiasco on Facebook.

I have made some poor decisions and not respected the seriousness of the matter. I should have informed Riot about my offer the moment I received it and not discussed the situation with any active LCS players,” he said.

Throughout my career as pro player and shoutcaster, I have always been close with a lot of players and I value these relationships very highly. This will not change but I have had to learn the difference between talking to a player as friends and talking as a Rioter. It is 100% NOT okay to give opinions on career choices and to share your own potential future plans as a Rioter, as it can impact a players decision making. While I never intended any harm, I definitely didn’t act in the professional manner that I expect from myself and as Riot expects from me.

I want to first and foremost apologize to the fans that support me, to Riot, our broadcast team here in Europe and everyone watching the LCS. I can say that this will never happen again.”