The LEC is starting strong as the KOI and KCorp rivalry ignites on social media thanks to Ibai Llanos stoking the flames.
The first week of the LEC Winter split ends on January 15 after each team finishes up its final match. The European League of Legends competition is already off to a hot start as Fnatic rolls to a positive record and Team Vitality fails to win a match.
However, the first week of the split will end with two of the more passionate fanbases rooting for their teams as Karmin Corp takes on MAD Lions KOI.
Both teams have a strong sense of national pride, thanks to their content creator owners and their co-streams. Ahead of the big matchup, KOI’s Ibai took to social media to go after the head coach of KCorp’s roster.
Ibai slams KCorp League head coach
The conversation started online with former LEC caster Marc ‘Caedrel’ Lamont saying that the start of the LEC season “is the best I’ve ever seen it.” He specifically pointed to KCorp and MAD Lions KOI fans and said they are bringing in some “spice and beef.”
The head coach for Karmine Corp responded to the post, saying he thought KOI was in the LEC last year. The organization merged with Rogue and joined the league last year, and then KOI exited that partnership and merged with MAD Lions and Movistar Riders in 2024.
Sí, estábamos en la LEC. Nuestro costream tenía habitualmente más de 100k viewers de media. Me imagino que te diste cuente en algún momento, siempre estábamos en el top 1 de Twitch. O quizá estabas demasiado ocupado intentando engañar a otro equipo para te ficharan?
— Ibai (@IbaiLlanos) January 15, 2024
Ibai took the rely as an insult and clapped back at the coach.
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“Yes, we were in the LEC. Our co-stream usually had more than 100k viewers on average. I imagine you realized at some point, we were always in the top 1 on Twitch. Or maybe you were too busy trying to trick another team into signing you?” The content creator and organization owner said via a machine translation.
Jakob ‘YamatoCannon’ Mebdi is one of the most tenured coaches in Europe, having coached for Splyce, Fnatic, Vitality, and now KCorp. The coach does not have the best record at international tournaments, and Ibai seems to be implying in his post that Yamato has been hustling teams to get them to sign him.
Ibai’s response has started a stir in the community, with some of the game’s biggest creators talking about his team and KCorp.
So we’re going to pretend that this is okay because we have to be scared of Spanish fans and because Ibai is the biggest streamer on earth. Nah fuck that, this is a ridiculously disrespectful response. Koi has accomplished nothing in their time in LEC to be talking down to… https://t.co/fzsGfny0jb
— Christian Rivera (@IWDominate) January 15, 2024
“Koi has accomplished nothing in their time in LEC to be talking down to one of the more successful coaches in EU history,” Christian “IWD” Rivera said on social media.
Fans will have to wait and see how KCorp and MAD Lions KOI’s match shakes out to see who won the rivalry this time around.