Before the LPL semi-final BO5 between AL and IG kicks off, the official broadcaster has revoked co-streaming permissions for five casters. According to Yuefu, the guild leader of Xuanshen, who recently shared the news on stream: for the IG vs AL game, only Xuanshen, Wayward, Ning, Guan Zeyuan, and PYL are blacklisted; everyone else can co-stream. Usually, the league operates on a whitelist, but for these high-stakes matches, it switches to a blacklist approach.

Among these five, the reason Xuanshen was banned is well-known. During previous broadcasts, he repeatedly defamed IG's top laner and mid laner. Earlier, he falsely accused Viper of bullying servers, leading BLG to report him, which resulted in a permanent loss of co-streaming privileges. Now Xuanshen cannot cast any LPL matches. After being banned, he switched to covering Honor of Kings and seems to be doing reasonably well—who knows if he'll get a chance to cast KPL in the future.

Wayward's ban came just a couple of days ago. While watching the IG vs LGD match, he repeatedly used terms like "Genghis Khan match" to question the fairness of the game. After being reported by fans of both IG and LGD, Wayward was forced to issue an apology. Although the league hasn't announced an official punishment, revoking his co-streaming rights is already a severe penalty, especially given the high viewership of the upcoming matches. Ironically, Wayward's guild is one of IG's shareholders.

Wayward signed with Yangwang, which technically makes him part of IG's extended family. He made his name through TES, so supporting them during matches is understandable. But after TES got eliminated by IG, he seemed to hold a grudge against IG, making sarcastic comments during broadcasts. That's a bit of a misjudgment of priorities. Getting banned is honestly fair. As his streaming career grew, Wayward became increasingly arrogant and even threw shade at League of Legends while hyping up CS events.

PYL's ban has been in effect for a while. Last month, while casting European league matches, he joked that the LEC director's route map looked like "drawing talismans" and then added, "Draw a talisman for Brother Jiang," directly referencing the zombie cult leader meme. IG fans immediately reported PYL. Initially, it seemed his punishment was over, but now he's still not allowed to co-stream IG games, meaning IG has indeed added PYL to their co-stream blacklist.

Guan Zeyuan's situation is already public knowledge. He used the "48" meme in a video, which led to BLG reporting him. The official broadcaster imposed a heavy penalty, revoking his casting privileges for all games. The incident happened last month, and since then, we haven't seen him on air. It's likely he won't appear during this playoff season. Whether he'll return for the World Championship remains uncertain.

Ning's ban is probably the most intriguing. As an IG legend and the first World Championship Finals MVP, he would naturally be the most-watched co-streamer for the IG vs AL match. However, during a recent stream, Ning made bold statements, publicly inviting Guan Zeyuan to cast the game. When fans reminded him that Guan wasn't suitable to appear, Ning directly challenged the officials: "It's just TJ (Tencent/League officials), if you're not happy, come kill me."

Frankly, such demands are something you'd only see in Stephen Chow movies. The officials granted Ning's wish by revoking his co-streaming rights. Wall City (Ning's nickname) is really stubborn: not only did he speak up for Guan Zeyuan, but he also dared to confront the officials directly. Now he's probably learned his lesson. Guan Zeyuan, as the top caster, got banned without hesitation—Ning's status isn't high enough to provoke the authorities like that.

Conclusion:

The condition "anyone can co-stream" still requires proper licensing—it's not an open invitation for everyone. Having five casters simultaneously lose their privileges shows that the official broadcaster is tightening its management of casters. The IG match is expected to draw even more attention than the TES series, and missing out on co-streaming this game means missing out on a significant amount of revenue.

What are your thoughts on these five casters?

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