Self-professed League of Legends “alpha male” Tyler ‘Tyler1’ Steinkamp was left red-faced recently, as an old clip of him roasting players who grind ranked with meta-picks emerged — after he spent last season doing exactly that.
Tyler1 has become infamous in the League of Legends and streaming communities for wanting to be the most “alpha” player in the game, regularly playing the manliest and tallest characters and taking on an aggressive and abrasive persona.
Recently, the NA streamer has changed his champion pool slightly, picking up a handful of powerful characters to continue his grind into the upper echelons of the server’s ranked ladder, including mage Heimerdinger, and aerialist Quinn.
The Twitch star was left red-faced, however, when his changed champion pool came under fire from the most unlikely of sources — himself, ranting about “never” playing short champs like Heimerdinger, and stating he’d rather “stay hard stuck.”
Tyler1 could only laugh, seemingly slightly embarrassed, as he watched himself from a year ago accidentally put 2019 Tyler straight into the firing line for his ranked choices, while hundreds of fans in his chat exploded into laughter.
“I’ll stay Diamond 3 before I do that sh*t, are you kidding?” 2018 Tyler raged, replying to someone who had asked him why he didn’t play meta.
“F*ck off. I’d rather stay hard-stuck then play Heimderdinger bot lane. How crazy does that sound? Heimerdinger bot lane is overpowered. Really? You want Tyler1, alpha male swag giant muscle man to play Heimerdinger?”
“Ah, suck my d*ck, I’ll stay in this ELO dude. I don’t care, I won’t do that bullsh*t. He’s good now? I don’t give a flying f*ck. I don’t play short champions.”
Needless to say, 2019 Tyler was left laughing, and maybe a little embarrassed.
It’s possible the times really are a-changin’, however, after Tyler1 laid out a simple argument for why he’s taken up Heimerdinger, and other powerful meta picks, in his quest to hit Challenger in North America.
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“Hey, times change, times change man, I don’t care,” he stated, before laughing off the fact that he’d just been called out in front of more than 20,000 fans… by himself. “Yeah well, you know, that was a year ago! I meant for that season.”
And, in the end, Tyler’s current self had the last laugh, as he showed fans that Heimerdinger now appears under bot lane in LoL’s champion select, before locking in the tiny mage with a sly smile and a quick glance to his Twitch chat.
Funnily enough, perhaps short champions may not be the way for Tyler1 to go as he plays into the game’s new preseason, and into Season 10, with his win rates on many of the characters he previously swore off quite average.
The Twitch star struggled to find his footing on short champs like Teemo (22% winrate), Amumu (40%), and Veigar (40%) while playing on his main ranked account S8 IS SO FUN. He also struggled when playing games out of the bot lane, especially with jungle picks Lee Sin (29%) and Ivern (14%).
Where the abrasive streamer shone, however, was on his strongest AD carry options like Tristana and Vayne, while he clocked up an impressive 55% win rate on his trademark Draven pick across a whopping 415 ranked games.
Only his Heimerdinger — for which he’s now come under fire from himself — even came close in games played with 132 matches. Ironically, the little mage was by far his strongest pick, netting him a 59% winrate.
Putting those pieces of the puzzle together, it’s clear why Steinkamp laughed off his rant from 2018 as “a year ago,” considering he’s bagging so many wins with one of the smallest characters in League of Legends.
So far, he’s already undefeated on Heimerdinger and Quinn, as well as Draven, in the preseason, so if fans were hoping that bringing back the 2018 rant clip from the depths of the internet would change his tune, they may be sorely mistaken.