Dan “Aux” Harrison, exceL Esports League of Legends support player, has been involved in some Twitter beef over win-trading.
Aux was approached by UK streamer TheMinzCon, who messaged him with an offer to throw a League of Legends ranked match in exchange for money.
Aux declined the offer and instead shared the DM on Twitter:
Some people have no shame ? pic.twitter.com/nt7d8sfXNA
— Dan (@xL_Aux) November 6, 2017
TheMinzCon, playing as Twisted Fate under the in-game name Freakin0ut, ended up winning said match after going 5/2/8 and was promoted to Master tier.
Aux, who won the ESL Premiership with exceL on the weekend, went 3/5/3 as Morgana after his top-laner and mid-laner went 2/9/2 and 1/6/7. You can see the full match stats here:
TheMinzCon later admitted he made the win trade offer to Aux, before berating him for going on a brief loss streak.
For those asking yes i offered enemy support to wintrade for £££ but he refused and got beat anyway, kind a win win for me in the end i think :- D
— Minz (@TheMinzCon) November 6, 2017
I’d be upset if this was my match history for last day of season too don’t worry x pic.twitter.com/cIagwBMfN7
— Minz (@TheMinzCon) November 6, 2017
TheMinzCon told Esports News UK that he never usually win trades, but wanted this win badly with one day left until the season ended.
“I was 2/2 master promos with 19 hours left of the season or whatever it was, so obviously I really needed the win,” he said. “I saw he was like D2 70lp so the loss wouldn’t really matter to him much, so I offered to pay him to throw it.
“He lost either way so U did it fairly but I can see why people wouldn’t like it.
“I actually don’t win trade – I just saw this opportunity and just really needed the win.”
TheMinzCon
“I actually don’t win trade – I just saw this opportunity and just really needed the win. So I’ve spent £0 on it.
“Also I lost a game that I’m 75% sure I would have won a few games before it due to a DC, our ADC disconnected for 10-11 mins when we were really ahead on gold/pressure. As you can imagine that is so frustrating, I wasn’t going to send him the message but then thought about that loss and just thought f*ck it.”
Aux retaliated with this before the pair engaged in some Twitter beef:
AHAHAH tweet about me several times and call me the angry one, seems you’re butthurt about getting exposed. At least @ me @TheMinzCon
— Dan (@xL_Aux) November 6, 2017
A few others chimed in and Aux looped in Riot Support:
What an idiot. Should have taken the money elo isn’t worth shit but for money you can buy chocolate
— Angelica (@AngelicaEU_) November 6, 2017
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Is win-trading a problem or just a part of LoL we should accept?
Comment by Esports News UK editor Dom Sacco
Now, I know what some of you may be thinking: “I thought you moved on from covering Twitter drama Dom?”
I’d like to think we’ve toned down on some of the drama here at Esports News UK, but we’ll still cover something if we feel it’s worth covering, or highlights something interesting and reflects the scene.
In this case, it highlights the act of win trading – something that becomes more prevalent at this time of year as the League of Legends ranked season comes to a close (see some of the tweets below):
Any Master-player wants to wintrade? Price is negotiable.
Just dm me homies— Ерик (@rexxxv1) November 7, 2017
It’s sooooo fun playing end of season actually pic.twitter.com/oTusTC2oC5
— Kallon (kerb) (@kerberos_lol) November 7, 2017
During my time in the murky depths of silver elo, I have seen win-trading first hand. I’m not 100% sure, but almost certain there was some of it going on in this sh*tshow of a game, for example.
Is win-trading just part of LoL now, especially at this time of year? Is it like paid-for elo boosting services, a generally accepted part of the game? Or something that ruins the ranked experience and should be stamped out?
I’m leaning more towards the latter, but what can you really do about this aside from a ban? Win-traders will just come back with a new account.
As long as climbing elo remains a huge time sink, players will find ways to get around this, even if it means paying money to get a virtual icon and play in a higher league.
Further reading: Elo boosting: How much do boosters make and what effect is it having? (long-form article)
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
