The Swiss stage of the League of Legends S15 World Championship ended several days ago. Since the knockout rounds began, discussions about LPL's top seed BLG have remained intense. On short video platforms, numerous BLG-related "hits" keep emerging. Previously, it was Taobo who supported the Chinese music scene, but this time, it's BLG—the top seed knocked out in the round of 16—embarrassingly inspiring fans to write songs, and BLG can only endure it.

It's normal for fans to joke about BLG, but unexpectedly, BLG’s sponsor recently went all out as well. After missing the knockout stage, the sponsor released a video where they say "BLG has failed" to everyone they meet. At the end of the video, the five BLG players are taped up and "recycled" by the sponsor. After this video was posted, players couldn’t hold back, shouting: "Recycle the unused, but don’t recycle the useless."

Convincing the players to shoot such a video shows the sponsor put in a lot of effort. The most surreal part is that even after being taped up, the players are still reciting lines. Commentators like Miller, when watching it, thought it was AI-generated. The funniest detail in the video is a scene where someone is walking four small dogs, but one dog seems invisible — who it is, we won’t say more.

Although being stopped at the round of 16 is embarrassing, BLG has indeed brought a lot of entertainment to LPL fans recently. However, next year, this BLG roster will most likely not be seen again. After all, with nearly a small target’s worth of investment, not facing any LCK team in the Swiss stage and ending at the round of 16 is a result management cannot accept. Besides, most of BLG’s players’ contracts are about to expire.

During last winter’s transfer window, when BLG renewed contracts with players, they announced the specific contract lengths. Top laner Bin and AD carry ELK both signed two-year deals, expiring at the end of 2026, while mid laner LeftHand and support ON only signed one-year contracts, ending after this year's World Championship. Shadou and Beichuan were temporary emergency signings, typically only contracted through the World Championship.

Therefore, this transfer window, Knight, ON, Beichuan, and Shadow will all enter the free agent market. It is said that the LPL has reformed transfer rules, changing from mutual selection between players and clubs to one-sided bidding. Teams with better league results have a higher chance of signing top players. Since BLG performed decently this year, even if LeftHand becomes a free agent, BLG should still have a chance to keep him.

However, last year Wei also signed with BLG until 2026 but left before his contract ended. So Bin and ELK might not necessarily stay with BLG; a mutual termination is possible. But the current top-tier player pool in LPL is quite limited. If more players retire next year, options will be even fewer. If BLG lets these players go, they will definitely be snapped up by others.

LeftHand might not stay with BLG because there are very few top domestic mid laners, and many teams want Knight. Bin and ELK are likely to remain unless BLG decides to tank or bring in foreign players, abandoning the all-Chinese lineup. Otherwise, there’s no reason to give up these two top players. Of course, these are just personal guesses; the exact transfer situation will only be clear after the World Championship ends and the transfer window opens.

Conclusion:

Last year’s World Championship runners-up, this year only reaching the round of 16 with just a jungle change, BLG’s performance has dropped drastically. It seems as Jiejie said, Xun was truly the best fit for BLG. But blaming the jungle alone in this Swiss stage is unfair because Bin and ELK were both in poor form, and ON occasionally made mistakes. Overall, the team didn’t play well.

So, what do you think? Will BLG rebuild?

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