“As a result of this player’s history DDoS activity, abusive behavior and poor sportsmanship, the player behavior team has issued a lifetime ban on Jensen. His account has been perma banned and all future accounts will be permabanned on sight. Jensen has consistently disregarded the letter and spirit of the Summoner’s Code. His disrespect for the rules of the game is unacceptable for any player, especially a high-profile eSports competitor who has a regular opportunity to lead the community by example.” – Riot Games
Nikolaj Jensen has become of the West’s strongest Mid laners, and players for one of the league’s most iconic teams. But unlike some of his contemporaries, the journey he took to get there was anything but standard. Jensen: “But unfortunately we got disqualified as a team and a few members of the team, including me got banned due to toxic behavior”
The former World of Warcraft arena enthusiast used the alias of “Veigodx” in his early League of Legends days.
Jensen became known for his solo queue play in Season 2, especially his 1v1 out plays. And helped found a roster called Team Solo Mebdi, which included players such as Nukeduck, YamatoCannon, and Rayt3ch. The team was set to compete in the qualifiers for the Season 3 European Championship Series.
It was the first split of the LCS in Europe and qualification was a big deal.
Joe Miller: “To earn a spot in the qualifying rounds the teams have had to battle their way through the online qualifiers all placed highly in those major tournaments throughout the preseason”
Though competition had existed for European teams before Season 3, it was never like this. This was a major opportunity. Unfortunately for Jensen it wasn’t an opportunity he would get. A competitive ruling from Riot Games banned him from competitive play indefinitely, and Team Solo Mebdi was disqualified from the competition.
Riot said that Jensen had publicly and unapologetically admitted to engaging in a series of DDoS attacks against high elo players. Jensen admitted to having threatened DDoS in an interview shortly afterwards. But said he never actually did it.
Jensen: “After that I felt really down. I definitely learned a lot about myself as a person”
Not only was his “Veigodx” account banned, but all future accounts belonging to Jensen would be banned on site as well. It was a lifetime ban in all senses of the term. This was a big departure from previous Riot bans where players like IWillDominate had been allowed a new start under a different alias, which Jensen was denied. Jensen’s future as a competitive player seemed done.
Left without any real options, Jensen found another way to leave his mark on the competitive scene.
Though the exact date is unclear, Jensen became the coach of SK gaming. A fact that was discovered by fans of the competitive scene, though it was not formally announced at the time.
The initial ruling against Jensen had stated that he was ineligible to compete in the LCS and in any Riot affiliated League of Legends tournaments indefinitely. This suspension shall commence immediately. Whether coaching qualified as competition was unclear.
In Korea however, where worlds was to be held that year, coaching was already recognized and according to Riot, that meant that Jensen was banned from being officially recognized as a coach despite the fact that he had already been part of SK staff if informally up to that point. Their explanation he had been granted access to the EU LCS studio during Season 4 as a team guest. Also, team guests would not be allowed for Worlds.
But according to an AMA he did in October 2014, he had previously reached an agreement with Riot that allowed him to play the game without the ban on site provision. While he wasn’t allowed to compete, his new accounts would no longer be targeted as long as he maintained his behavior.
Riot Games banned policy underwent a big change in late November 2014. Instead of permanently banning players from competitive play and issuing ban on sight orders, Riot instead changed those bans to indefinite bans meaning that they would be reviewable at a later date if players’ conduct on their new accounts was acceptable.
Jensen was finally allowed to stream, and his ban came up for review under the new policy, but according to Riot he did not yet meet the criteria to be unbanned. Still riot said his case would be reviewable 5 weeks before the beginning of the LCS Summer Split.
The team he would eventually join, Cloud 9 had a rollercoaster Spring Split in 2015. Hai, the team’s midlaner had long acted as the primary shot-caller. C9 managed a second-place finish in the Spring Playoffs. But Hai then step down from the active roster citing a wrist injury. The roster that had played together since April 2013 had made its first major move and Jensen was set to become the first of a second generation of Cloud 9 players.
Jensen: “After I got unbanned I was lucky enough to get picked up by Cloud 9. I want the best for C9 and I’ll do everything I can to help support them get to where we’re supposed to be”
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Although statistically Jensen had an above-average season, it became clear that Hai had been more than just the team’s mid laner. He was a key part of their shot calling and strategy, the team sometimes seemed lost without him. Relegation became a real possibility and the team needed Hai back, but it wasn’t Jensen who would step aside, it was the jungler Meteos.
Sneaky: “I don’t think, I don’t know if Meteos, is like out. But I think we’re trying this”
The change didn’t instantly turn Cloud 9 around but putting Hai in at the jungler position gave the team enough momentum to avoid the promotion tournaments.
Jensen: “Meteos is still a great jungler. They have a bit of a different style where Hai is much more supportive I would say. But the major thing was like the shotcalling, but also Hai used to be a mid laner so he understands what I need, and he can like help me much more and it’s easier for him to understand when you have to help me as well”
After winning a tiebreaker against Team 8 they placed seventh in the regular season, not playoff bound, but not facing down relegation. However, C9 had earned enough championship points to make it to the North American Regional Gauntlet and there the team would finally find their stride.
Jensen was a key part of the team’s efforts as they reverse swept both Gravity Gaming and Team Impulse before winning 3-1 against Team Liquid.
Jensen: “Man I’m super happy right now, like I don’t even realize it myself I think, but I don’t know I’m just so happy right now”
Against all odds Cloud 9 had made it to worlds. Jensen’s first season with the team despite rocky team dynamics, showed flashes of brilliance.
Hai: “And I’m actually pretty surprised at how Jensen took the games, he was 0 – 2, like aight dudes we’re going in now, we’re gonna win. I was like I can appreciate that so everyone had a very good mentality for the 0 – 2”
Think about that for a moment, in Jensen’s past he had grappled with controlling his emotions. By his own admission he had been a toxic player.
Jensen: “But I think I have a lot to improve on still so I think the main goal is to be good at good for Worlds so we’ll see”
But during his rookie split one game away from elimination he chose a different path.
Jensen: “We might start out a bit slow, but I think by the end of the season we will be one of the best if not the best team in NA”
He chose to cheer on his teammates, and it had worked. Jensen had become the first permanently banned player to be redeemed.
Hai: “I think in the beginning of the season Jensen was a little nervous to play had a lot of big shoes to fill up basically and I don’t know how his team was there to help him up that much”
At Worlds Cloud9 got off to a hot start in Group B with three straight wins. The next week they followed that up with three losses and then were eliminated in the tiebreaker by AHQ e-sports club. The Gauntlet and Worlds may have been a Cinderella run for the team, but Spring 2016 broke up much of the original Cloud 9 roster. Hai and Balls were moved to Cloud 9 Challenger. Meteos returned as jungler and Impact was added to the roster as the new top laner.
2016 saw Jensen settle into his role as C9 starting mid laner and changed his alias from Incarnation. He earned all pro team honors in the Spring Split and the team 5th – 6th in Spring Playoffs and second in Summer, earning another trip to the Gauntlet and yet another trip to Worlds. He also set a new record for kills in a single game.
While Jensen’s behavior had been reformed his signature cockiness remains.
Jensen: “Yeah I would say I would say I’m pretty cocky when it comes to the game, yeah”
Thorin: “And what is that based on then, just knowing you’re better? Thinking you’re better?”
Jensen: Yeah I would say I would say it’s a mix of both.”
Going into Worlds 2016 Jensen expressed his intention to defeat Faker in lane on Twitter. A now notorious comment especially given the outcome.
Jensen: “If you want to prove yourself you have to beat Faker and that’s like one opportunity I get so that’s what I’m going to do.”
The team ultimately went out in Quarterfinals that year, and while Jensen didn’t clap Faker he has shown continued improvement over his time in the NA LCS. He was neck and neck with Bjergsen in the Spring Split, and statistically the best NA LCS Mid laner in Summer.
Ultimately Jensen showed us that redemption is possible. Even for those who receive some of the harshest punishments that Riot Games has ever issued. Not only that, but his route to that success showed us that he may even have become a better player and teammate in the process.
