League of Legends LJL: tol2 and DFM drama explained

The League of Legends Japanese League (LJL) is one of the five wildcard regions in the LoL esports circuit. DetonatioN FocusMe are the most succesful team ever in the LJL. On July 6, DFM's top laner Haruki "tol2" Shibata tweeted major allegations against the coaching staff and executives of the team, citing months of verbal abuse.

The future for DFM and tol2 remains unknown as the team is currently playing the Summer Split of the LJL. This major controversy will be a huge setback and the decisions that DFM will take in the future remain to be seen.

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DFM's League of Legends player tol2 accuses coaching staff of verbal abuse and threats, leaves DFM's gaming house

A couple of hours ago on July 6, DFM's top laner tol2 tweeted four seperate tweets listing the negative experiences that he has faced since joining the team. tol2 is a rookie player who is in his first ever League of Legends LJL season. He filled in the big shoes of franchise player, Shunsuke "Evi" Murase, who left the roster to join Team Heretics.

tol2's initial tweet mentioned that he was verbally threatened by the head coach, Kazuta "Kazu" Suzuki. He also stated that this was a regular occurence and the coaching staff used to threaten him quite often. This led to him eventually leaving the gaming house, after which he also explained his motives for doing so:

"I felt my life was in danger. I wanted to play in tomorrow's game, but I don't know what they will do when I return to the gaming house."

In further tweets, tol2 mentioned that veteran AD Carry Yuta "Yutapon" Sugiura often helped him calm down despite facing harsh treatment. The rookie was also diagnosed with Adjustment disorder soon after the League of Legends LJL Spring Split concluded.

tol2 had consulted a senior in the League of Legends Esports industry and discussed power harassment, which was soon found out by the CEO of DFM, Nobuyuki Umezaki. For this action, he was fined and was also instructed to not submit any of the allegations discussed to the LJL executives.

The verbal abuse tol2 faced continued even after winning the Spring Split. He mentione

"Since spring, Coach Ceros has been verbally abusive. When I saw a dog walking, I was told 'Hey, you're a dog too, so come join us.'"

The top laner claimed that he begged for this workplace harassment to stop but it was futile. This left him in tears during the League of Legends MSI 2023, which probably explains his poor performance in his debut international event.

DFM's substitute AD Carry Ryo "Milan" Nakamoto helped him to stay relaxed for a while during the event. However, the previous day proved to be too much for tol2 as he had went on a big rant.

This rant ultimately culminated in tol2 leaving the gaming space for the foreseeable future to safeguard himself.

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Implications for DFM's roster and future games

With tol2's abrupt departure, DFM are left in a puzzled scenario. The team is currently undefeated in the Summer Split, but this sudden exit will definitely disrupt their environment. Riot Games may also be forced to intervene in this situation if it escalates.

One of the few options DFM have in the immediate future is to temporarily field in academy player Koga "Kaarage" Kanno. Their upcoming match against Crest Gaming Act will be on July 7, 2023.

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So far, the League of Legends esports world only knows the story from the side of tol2. DFM have not yet responded to these allegations with an official statement.

The situation, however, is guaranteed to develop in the near future and fans can expect an official response from the team soon, explaining their side of the story.