Riot is no stranger to controversy. We all remember H2K’s constant letters to the community about Riot – which turned out to be unsubstantiated or outright false. Last year saw yet another League of Legends drama unfolding as players for the Australian team Tainted Minds and the owner butted heads, and Riot was forced to respond. After the community was looped in on the conflict, the issue exploded, and Riot was forced to respond in a letter in March of last year. Now, nearly a year later, Riot has opened up about the issue and how it all went so poorly.

The first thing to understand are the allegations being leveled against Tainted Minds owner.
There are several Reddit posts on the matter as well as a document submitted by head coach Inero – who currently coaches Echo Fox – which outlines the alleged abuses. To summarize, the major issues of the team break down into the following issues:

• The team house had no AC and was unbearably hot – some reports put it at 118°F
• The team house was filthy and unlivable
• Adequate food was not provided for the team
• The house was not properly wired and lacked basic electricity. Using the oven with all gaming computers would trip the circuit breaker
• The head of Riot’s Australian division, Daniel Ringland, was friends with Tainted Mind’s owner and conspired with him in the matter
• Riot intentionally delayed mediations to favor Tainted Minds owner
• Riot didn’t actually care and only fined Tainted Minds $7,000 AUD for all they did to the players
• Players were unable to get better offers because they were forced to stay under contract

Obviously, there were a lot of grievances between the players and the teams. But, as Riot points out in their recent blog post, there were some key factors left out while this dispute was happening. This is a quote from Chris Greeley, commissioner of the NA LCS, regarding Riot’s ability to interfere in player and team dispute.

What Greeley is getting at is that for Riot’s part, most – if not all – of the disputes from the players, their manager, and their coach, fell under legal arbitration. Essentially, none of the team was happy with how Tainted Minds was handling their contracts, and most of what they argued was under contract. For instance, an owner is under no legal responsibility to pay for the food of players or to pay for their cleaning. If the team wants it, it falls under legal grounds of what the contract says. In this way, Riot doesn’t really have a say. All of those disputes are legal matters that have to be handled by the Australian courts and lawyers.

Riot goes on to explain that the only time they can step in is when the contract is very explicit or when players are in danger. For instance, if the conditions of the house actually endangered players, then Riot can step in. However, the situation at the house wasn’t exactly as described by the team. Tainted Minds owners provided AC for the computer room and fans for all of the other rooms. The temperatures in the area were also fairly exaggerated. According to records of the area, temperatures rose as high as 95°F -100°F, which is certainly hot, but definitely not the conditions originally described.

As for the conditions of the house, there were some very important facts left out about that as well. First, as stated before, the house wasn’t so bad that Riot could step in. Second, Tainted Minds owner didn’t choose the house, their manager, Fasffy, did. She was also one of the primary members citing grievances against Tainted Minds – like for duties she wasn’t paid for or for costs of cleaning, etc. Tainted Minds did offer to relocate the team once complaints were filed, but because the season started soon, it was the players that chose to stay and argue for fixes to the house.

That means most of the issues were contractual arguments that Riot could not intervene in. That leaves just the accusations of Ringland’s friendship with Tainted Minds owners. Unfortunately, that one simply falls to a he-said she-said type of ground, though Riot had this to say about it.

Some cite Tainted Minds 13 player roster (at one point) as evidence of favoritism, but Riot explains that was because the players were trying to leave their contracts at the height of the argument, and this was more a kindness to the team who were uncertain who would still be on the team.

There was also the fine of $7,000 AUD. This was heavily criticized, but like the other issues, Riot states there wasn’t much, on their end, that could be fined. They fined Tainted Minds on two grounds – late payments to players and lack of computers provided for coach and managers.

The verdict? If the team had negotiated their contracts better, most of this wouldn’t have been an issue, but it probably stemmed from assumptions. Most of us would imagine a nice house with big money being spent for these premier players. What players got was a barely functioning house and an owner who didn’t want to pamper them. It sucks, but it’s less a tale of corruption and more a tale of realizing complaints don’t amount to much legally – not unless the contract supports you.