OWL team Chengdu Hunters bench player for reading manga during practice

Overwatch League features some of the world’s most immense players, but they all need to let off steam. For Chengdu Hunters’ Yveltal, reading manga between practice sessions ultimately led to his dismissal from the starting roster. 

Competing in Overwatch League, like any professional circuit, requires hours of dedication. From fine-tuning setups to finessing tactics, teams like Chengdu Hunters know these pressures first hand. Naturally, all players need a break to recharge their batteries.

For professional player Yveltal, their actions during practice led to some complications.

Yveltal dropped from Chengdu Hunters

Fans of Chengdu Hunters were confused when one of their key players – Li ‘Yveltal’ Xianyao – became noticeably absent from the team’s roster. Coach Rui (_Ruiwx) offered an explanation, with an unexpected revelation: “Many times he was reading mangas or watching streams during scrims.”

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The post, translated by Reddit user Lumos309, dives into Yveltal’s gradual decline as the team fought hard to be on top of their game.

The drop in performance happened shortly after the Countdown Cup finals, with Yveltal’s attitude described to be in a “conceited and mentally absent manner.” Unfortunately, this led to the player’s scrim performance dropping in quality too.

Because of Yveltal’s lack of commitment, Ruiwx explained that “in such a critical period, I could not tolerate such attitude and behavior in the workplace.”

Despite the controversy, Yveltal has issued a formal apology to his teammates and mentor, Coach Rui, following his move to the bench: “I am indeed not a qualified professional player, but I still hope that the coach and teammates can give me a chance to make corrections.”

While Yveltal has promised to “work hard” going forward, it remains to be seen whether Coach Rui will select him for upcoming matches.