“Several” LoL Worlds 2022 players fall ill as Play-In Stage starts

Ahead of LoL Worlds 2022, several players have fallen ill and will be playing from remote environments. We’re yet unsure how many players have been affected in Play-Ins.

Before LoL Worlds 2022 kicked off, Fnatic had some issues based around Upset and Hylissang falling ill ahead of travelling to Mexico to compete. Issues didn’t end there for Worlds, however, as several players have been affected by illness.

The first game of the day had 3 players missing from the stage: Javier ‘Elyoya’ Batalla and William ‘UNF0RGIVEN’ Nieminen from MAD Lions, as well as Kang ‘ADD’ Geon-mo from Isurus.

According to a statement from the LoL esports twitter account, many other players will be missing from the stage.

Missing from the LoL Worlds 2022 stage but still playing

Normally, teams would release a statement after receiving a positive test result from their players. However, in the case of the first Worlds play-ins teams, we learned this based on players not being in their chairs on-stage.

A statement was posted on the official LoL Esports twitter account addressing the situation once viewers began to notice players missing from the stage in the very first game.

However, players that are feeling well enough to compete will be playing from a separate room.

During the ensuing tech pause that resulted from creating a play environment for the missing players, MAD Lions put out a statement regarding the state of their players 15 minutes after both Elyoya and UNF0RGIVEN were missing from the stage.

While both Elyoya and UNF0RGIVEN are feeling well enough to play, they won’t be present on stage until they test negative. Additionally, three of MAD Lion’s staff members have also fallen ill.

Fnatic’s players are all playing from isolation as well, although it’s yet unclear who is and isn’t sick on Fnatic.

As if that wasn’t enough, DetonatioN FocusMe have also had three players test positive ahead of their first game at Worlds 2022.

They’ll also be playing from an isolated facility with none of their players on the main stage.

No other teams have given statements about the condition of their players, but, with the announcement saying that several teams have been affected, more cases are sure to come to light as Play-ins continue.

We’ll keep you updated as more information comes out.