After weeks of investigation, two competitive League of Legends teams have found themselves at the mercy of Riot Games. Renegades and TDK, both competing in the LCS and NACS respectively, have reportedly violated a number of competitive rules, preventing them both from competing in future official League of Legends tournaments.

A number of violations has forced Renegades to disband in the next week.

Renegades

In 2015, previous team owner, Chris Badawi, was accused of persuading a player to switch teams whilst still under contract. The act, commonly referred to as "poaching," has since been banned by Riot Games. After numerous investigations into the matter, Riot decided to remove Badawi as the team owner and ban him from participating in the LCS for one year. New reports caught the current team owner, Christopher Mykles, giving Badawi a 50% stake in the team, violating Badawi's one year ban from the league.

Evidence has also been discovered that proves Badawi engaged in confrontational conduct with management and players. Despite being banned from having any association or affiliation with teams, reports say he has been in close contact with team members. 

Punishment

For violating LCS rules, Renegades is no longer allowed to participate in any future Riot-sanctioned league. The team is expected to disband by May 18 and sell all of their rights and legal claims to its official LCS berth.

Additionally, due to his existing problematic history, Badawi is permanently banned from having any association with a team competing in a Riot-sanctioned league. Current owner Mykles is also banned from holding any ownership or coaching position until the start of the 2017 Summer Split.

TDK has not submitted truthful documents regarding their recent player trade.

TDK

LCS rules require that all teams be truthful and forthcoming about all trade agreements between teams. TDK has been accused of providing incomplete and inaccurate documents regarding their most recent trade. According to LCS rules, deliberately hiding a relationship or additional information that exceeds acceptable limits is forbidden from the league.

Punishment

For violating its team agreement by being untruthful regarding trade requests, TDK will not be allowed to compete in the Championship Series Summer Split. TDK will have until May 18 to sell its current spot. 

And given previous issues with team ownership, current owners Chris Shim and Sean Shim have been permanently banned from holding any association or affiliation with any competing League of Legends team.

Since last year, Riot has taken a hard stance against toxicity and rule violations.

Both teams are expecting to sell all their rights and legal claims by May 18. Current players will be given a grace period to find a new team.

This is proof that Riot Games continues to stand by its strict stance on competitive rulings. Perhaps this, and future punishments, will continue to dissuade other teams from engaging in similar behaviors.

Riot Games made some pretty huge announcements the other day, and it seems that 2016 is going to be an ambitious season for the company behind League of Legends. 

Even the preseason changes are going to be sweeping. Drastic changes to the entire role of ranged carries and the items those characters will buy, revamped masteries, a new enemy in the jungle; this and so much more, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. 

We're going to see a new champion select system, changes to ranked, a totally new way of unlocking champions and cosmetics, new social features, and, lastly, a client update.

Wait, what was that last one?

Oh, no. Oh, God no.

Alas, it's true:

For many, this is going to seem like a cause for celebration. League of Legends has been in dire need of an overhaul of its ancient client for some time now.

However, this bold transition is worrying.

Why, you ask?

Well, let's flash back to June 2015, when a similar, sweeping change was announced by Valve for DotA 2. In June, Valve announced DotA 2 Reborn. There were promises of a streamlined, overhauled system that would feature all the bells and whistles players had been asking for. From a featured section for custom maps to an easy-to-use client for rounding up a party and just playing the game, Reborn was an ambitious project.

Then, suddenly, it was released in September, no longer Reborn Beta, but simply DotA 2. 

The results? Not so pretty.

Random crashes. Crippling lag where there had been none. Some players were simply unable to boot up the game. Two months later, things are a little quieter, but one thing is certain: DotA 2 should not have been "reborn," at least, not until all of the kinks were worked out.

The once-optional beta for Reborn seems, albeit unintentionally, to have shifted to the global DotA 2 community. In a way, this makes sense, after all, the number of players in the beta test would never be enough of a stress test for the client compared to every single player. 

But now that it's out, players have been expressing discontent day after day, and it's generally agreed upon that the Reborn client was simply not ready for release.

Now, this says nothing of whether or not Riot will manage a miracle.

Maybe it's unfair to assume that the company's client will be just as buggy, and that making the move onto something different will cause a number of unnecessary problems. In fact, if Riot is able to do what Valve couldn't, it would be another mark in their favor in the longstanding rivalry between their own game and Valve's.

However, League is a huge game with an absolutely massive community. Of the countless hordes of people who play it, the odds of them coming up against unanticipated problems goes up and up and up, and so while League's current client might seem stuck in the stone ages, expect the inevitable upgrade, well after this announced alpha, to be fraught with quirks, bugs, and frustrations you never would have expected.

But, here's to the best for the ambitious next step being made by Riot Games.