No matter how good you are at League of Legends, you must abide by the in-game rules. One of the best players in the world was banned for life at 18 and his great career almost never took off. But he got a second chance from Riot and took it.
Who is Jensen? Nicolaj Jensen is a veteran of the League of Legends professional scene. But before his career could really take off, the then 18-year-old was banned for life in 2013. That means any of his other accounts would also be deleted if Riot noticed.
A harsh sentence for him at the time, considering he dropped out of school to focus on a career in the game’s burgeoning esports. Due to the ban he was also not allowed to take part in tournaments.
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Even professionals have to follow the rules
What did Jensen do? Of course, such a ban does not come about by chance. At that time Jensen was still called Veigodx and in addition to insults, negative attitudes and abusive behavior, he was mainly accused of involvement in DDOS attacks on other players.
The latter justifies what was probably the harshest punishment at the time from the point of view of Riot in League of Legends.
This was a tough blow for a player with a potentially great future. Instead of giving up, however, he took advantage of a loophole in the tournament rules at the time. In 2014 he joined SK Gaming as a coach. Back then, coaches weren’t an official part of the league, so he was allowed to play backstage.
The team qualified for Worlds that same year, and many saw Jensen’s influence on it all. After Worlds 2014, Riot announced that it would recognize the coaches as an official part of the league. This was a problem for Jensen, as Riot banned banned players from being coaches.
He then left SK Gaming as a coach in the same year due to the regulation. But a glimmer of light in the form of a riot announcement at the end of 2014 gave hope for Jensen. Riot changed certain policies and wanted to revisit and review permanent bans.
At the start of this year’s LCS, a coach even had to use a mouse and keyboard for his team due to a lack of players.
Riot gave Jensen a second chance
What happened after he became a coach? At the end of 2014, Riot said they were looking into the situation around Jensen. Although they again confirmed the penalty due to the alleged involvement in a DDOS attack, they also praised Jensen for his exemplary behavior as SK Gaming coach.
On April 1, 2015, he was finally unbanned after being tested by Riot and a month later joined Cloud 9 using his coach name Incarnati0n. Due to the timing, he was able to register for the LCS Summer Season and also managed to take part in the Worlds in the same year. At the end of the year he changed his name to Jensen. The name most people know today.
His career really took off from there:
He currently plays for Team Dignitas on the main roster. Whether he and his team can qualify for the Worlds this year is currently still in question.
At the moment, many EU professionals are very dissatisfied with one change:
LoL: EU pros say hard change leads to burnout, drug use and depression