“There was also that flash initiation—Brother William really is a reckless guy. This Riven build is totally his unbeatable top lane style, everything can be penetrated. I can understand building like this, but I just can’t get why you’d flash in and follow up with Q.”

“And look at this teleport from Brother William. If you’re going to split push, just do it properly. What’s the point of teleporting down there? Is he just racking up WeChat steps in the Rift?”

“Oh, sorry, my mistake. Just now it was the mid lane AD clearing minions who didn’t click Thresh’s lantern and got caught. My bad. But honestly, Brother William’s teleport here was really unnecessary. From the moment the AD got caught, it was already doomed that they couldn’t win this team fight.”

“……”

Brian’s voice was very distinctive, and his commentary was full of teasing and mockery—a style of its own in the streaming world. Countless viewers in the stream burst out laughing as they listened.

In front of the computer screen, William Thompson couldn’t laugh at all.

This Worlds was a huge hurdle in his career, and William Thompson failed to overcome it.

But looking back, William Thompson’s professional career had never been smooth. He spent years in the LSPL playing top lane, gaining fame with his fierce “lethality build” top lane playstyle.

William Thompson’s ID was Phoenix.

Of course, now everyone called him “William the Great”.

Back then, some people described him as “the unbeatable top laner, everything can be penetrated.”

Yes, that’s right—even Garen and Maokai could be “penetrated.”

After catching the attention of LPL powerhouse club BMG, William Thompson successfully transferred to his dream LPL team after the S6 Spring Split, proudly becoming a substitute for BMG. And then began his long “water dispenser” career.

During the Summer Split regular season, William Thompson only played twice—once because the starting top laner had a fever, and the second time because the starter had to take leave. He was rarely involved in scrims.

To put it bluntly, BMG kept winning throughout the regular season, and every starter had a huge fanbase. There was simply no way they’d swap in a substitute like him.

After that, William Thompson was brought along as the “mascot” to S6.

Maybe it was similar to a certain parallel world’s LPL—here, the struggle against Korea existed too.

This S6 was also the year LPL had the most hope.

As the number one seed from the LPL Summer Split, BMG carried the expectations of countless fans.

But under all that expectation, they stopped at the quarterfinals.

In the quarterfinals, BMG’s opponent was a team from the LCS, J2—a team that had lost every match in groups.

When they drew this team, William Thompson remembered everyone at BMG laughing.

He laughed too.

Unfortunately, reality was cruel.

BMG started with their main lineup, but suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of J2. What was supposed to be an easy 3:0 win turned into a series of underperformances and constant mistakes.

Fans online were already dumbfounded, and the stream was filled with furious criticism!

After stumbling to two wins and two losses, all five BMG players were mentally shattered.

In game five, BMG swapped their top laner.

The eternal substitute, the “water dispenser” player William Thompson, with a heart full of excitement and trembling hands, finally stepped onto the world stage he had dreamed of!

He remembered the coach giving him a complicated look as he went on stage.

William Thompson didn’t understand it then.

Now, he did.

……

“There’s no need to keep watching. Brother William’s play completely fell apart from this point on.”

In his headphones, Brian’s voice still drifted.

“Objectively speaking, the other BMG players all made fatal mistakes in this match—their mentality was clearly shot. But there’s no way around it, Brother William’s last play at Baron was the most disastrous.”

Hearing Brian’s words, William Thompson looked a bit dazed, and in his headphones he seemed to faintly hear a heated argument.

“There’s a chance here, do we go for Baron?”

“Don’t go!”

“How do we win if we don’t?”

“Hold on, stall and see.”

“You want me to stall, but how? Their Kog’Maw is already online. If our top goes in, he just dies—one touch and he’s gone. Did we pick Riven to be a super minion?”

“……”

Then, the most classic “four sell one” moment of Worlds S6 arrived.

William Thompson signaled to teleport to Baron pit, but the other four BMG members all retreated, leaving him to die. J2 took Baron and, unexpectedly, pushed straight through mid, breaking the inhibitor, then forced a 3-for-4 fight at the Nexus turrets, wiping out BMG.

The remaining two finished off the Nexus and claimed victory!

It had to be said, even though everyone was mentally prepared after the first four games, this loss still hit BMG like a sledgehammer.

It also stunned countless LPL viewers!

At the time, the other four players all had huge fanbases, and the commentators—perhaps out of concern—deliberately or not, shifted the blame toward William Thompson in their summaries.

Plus, William Thompson did have a tendency to get carried away.

So, he successfully “covered up” the other players’ mistakes, and his infamy soared, becoming the main target for countless LPL fans’ anger. During that time, there were posts flaming him everywhere on Weibo and forums.

After S6, combined with the club’s attitude, a disheartened William Thompson announced his retirement.

I didn’t retire—I just wasn’t wanted anymore.

That’s what he thought at the time.

……

“To be honest, it’s a bit of a shame that Brother William retired.”