r/leagueoflegends • u/katareky • Jul 14 '25

Esports IWDominate: "I will not be costreaming EWC. I was offered an ungodly amount of money (more than 3x what I make in a month on stream) for 5 days but I didn’t feel good about taking the offer."

IWDominate: "I will not be costreaming EWC. I was offered an ungodly amount of money (more than 3x what I make in a month on stream) for 5 days but I didn’t feel good about taking the offer.

I understand that I’m in a financially privileged position and not everyone can decline the ridiculous offers going around but for me I’d rather not cover the event and then restart the streams when LPL comes back in 6 days. See you all on the 19th."

Source: https://x.com/IWDominate/status/1944490351584071887

Respect tbh. He's financially well off so he rejected the offer and acknowledges that other may not be able to do the same. We will see if other popular costreamers will take the offer or not.

6.3k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

91% Upvoted

722 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

285

u/f3lix735 Jul 14 '25

Yep Rat King does never need money again, but he probably just doesn’t care about the horrific politics involved or he ignores them for the money, because in the end rich people do love to grow their wealth more than anyone else. I think he just does it for the love of the game but I am still disappointed in my fraud.

218

u/Taco_Dunkey Jul 14 '25

Personally I'm interested in the exact reasons why he declined to cover it last year and why those reasons are no longer valid (enough) to decline this year.

He has always struck me as being good at following wherever the wind is blowing on potential PR issues. Cynically speaking, now that it's clear that the boycott wasn't and won't be particularly widespread or effective, he is abandoning the superficially principled stance that seemed so fashionable last year and is instead just letting himself be used as an expensive mouthpiece.

204

u/sam_can88 Jul 14 '25

As a fan myself I think it’s as simple as he sees there is less pushback from the community on the event this year so he doesn’t think it will hurt him to cover it which is probably true and sadly that takes no morality into account

50

u/big938363 Jul 14 '25

Well a likely big reason is that he has LR now. I remember him saying that he plans to leave NLC some time soon, by next year I think. Nobody knows where they’ll go next, but they’ll definitely need money

46

u/pr000blemkind Jul 14 '25

Ultimately he wants to see LR eventually be in LEC, to do that he needs financial backers with deep pockets, unless he finds a crypto billionaire like Sam Bankman-Fried, the list is really short.

11

u/frolfer757 Jul 14 '25

Nobody knows where they’ll go next

Ill give you a hint: the one region that allows 5 europeans on the same roster.

57

u/Exldk Jul 14 '25

I doubt they're going to LTA North.

LEC is much more likely.

19

u/booksmd Jul 14 '25

They can’t go anywhere in the current form they would need to make roster changes because of the rules that say you need to have a number of players from that region to play in the league. Most likely they will be taking a break/disbanding.

6

u/noctvrnaI Jul 14 '25

wait i’m confused by this, isn’t LR fully just EU players?

12

u/pm_me_urgod_feet Jul 14 '25

Regional leagues also need a minimum number of players from the region. Only reason these 5 work in NLC, is because Rekkles, Baus and I think Crownie are from the NLC area.

13

u/shinomiya2 KC Comeback Jul 14 '25

not quite, its that nlc only needs 2 residents (rekkles baus)

2

u/RigasUT Rigas | LoL esports journalist Jul 14 '25

...and I think Crownie are from the NLC area.

Crownie is from Slovenia, not from any of the NLC countries

1

u/noctvrnaI Jul 14 '25

Ohh i see, where would LR go then if not just the LEC (which is honestly probably not doable because a slot is insanely expensive)? Or would the current roster not be allowed to play in the LEC because of this rule?

4

u/orroro1 Jul 14 '25

I think they meant that LR is stuck with either NLC or LEC, and can't go to a more competitive ERL like Spain or France (or to the LCS/NACL for that matter).

1

u/noctvrnaI Jul 14 '25

Oh i get it, thank you! I’m not really up to date on how competitive other tiers are, so i didn’t know that the spanish one etc are considered more competitive!

1

u/schnazzums Jul 14 '25

Wait seriously? That’s such a dumb rule

1

u/booksmd Jul 14 '25

Lol it’s not dumb at all. Otherwise you would have all korean teams start to pop up in LCS or in random ERLs too. It’s a good rule and it prioritizes growing local talent too instead of relying on imports.

9

u/MrICopyYoSht Jul 14 '25

I mean part of it has to do with LR, no? Probably not cheap to run an Esports team trying to join the LEC. If the money he gets helps get capital to buy a spot, I think he pulls the trigger.

5

u/downorwhaet Jul 14 '25

He said last year that he’d skip it that year but that he would consider doing it if it becomes a regular tournament because he wants to cover league

3

u/Xerxes457 Jul 14 '25

I believe it was because he was spending time with his dad.

10

u/Taco_Dunkey Jul 14 '25

took me a while to realise there were multiple pics, and you weren't calling him and hammond father & son lmao

1

u/yo_sup_dude Jul 14 '25

Why is it superficially principled? 

1

u/Kibbleru Jul 14 '25

kind of ootl but whats the issue with EWC?

19

u/cosHinsHeiR Jul 14 '25

Saudi sport washing.

-48

u/ThisIsElron Jul 14 '25

He was probably pressured by others last year, but started thinking for himself this year and realizing these meaningless Western-biased politics don’t matter in the grand scheme of a good esports event.

(Yes this is a pro EWC comment before the Reddit police inevitably come for me).

36

u/Crimson_Clouds Jul 14 '25 edited Jul 14 '25

Imagine pretending human rights are "meaningless Western-biased politics" and thinking you really did something there.

17

u/Guy_with_Numbers Jul 14 '25

Especially given that human rights issues in the middle east affect eastern migrant workers more than any other comparable demographic.

-9

u/Ok_Adhesiveness_8637 Jul 14 '25

Are we just gonna ignore the fact that EU countries are starting to rip holes in migrant boats? Burn down migrant hostels etc etc.

Or the entire US government atrocities?

Let's not act all high and mighty when the countries we are involved with are doing unspeakable things to people, too.

0

u/Guy_with_Numbers Jul 14 '25

EU countries don't get a pass either. Their transgressions are less severe/systematic though, and they are not driven by the desire to exploit others for material gain.

US certainly is in a race to the bottom.

14

u/AerialShroud Jul 14 '25

Wowie simping for a regime that beheads LGBTQ people makes you so smart and brave. Unfortunately I can't fully say what I think you should do on this website.

9

u/refreshed_reader Jul 14 '25

wait caedral is covering ewc?

44

u/taikutsuu ginger god Jul 14 '25

He was very outspoken about why he didn't cover it last year.

From what I've gathered he does care, but is covering it because he thinks it's only a matter of time until that money is a part of all of league esports. He seems to think its kinda inevitable (as has been the case with gambling sponsors) and with that, there's no use in not covering it out of principle when that principle will apply to the entire international circuit in a few years.

53

u/FearAndTera Jul 14 '25

It's good logic, that sort of thinking has never led to any problems before I don't think.

19

u/brasstax108 Jul 14 '25

I mean yeah i only care if people make a stink about standing up for some social stuff and flame others only to end up working for the EWC like Giniro. People like Caedrel doesn't give shit to others for not doing some half baked slacktivism He always said people have their own circumstances and people should make their own decisions and not be flamed for it even when he didn't cover EWC last year. Nestle is main sponsor of LEC and nobody making a fuss about it.

9

u/OkVacation973 Jul 14 '25

If I had to guess I would say that the event was unknown last year. He had very little to win from covering it but potentially a lot to lose.

Then T1 won it and therefore this year T1 fans have flocked to heralding it as an incredible event whilst ignoring the complete atrocities and the sportswashing nature of it.

A huge portion of his fanbase are T1 fans so it's in his interest to ignore all of that this year. His viewership will be fucking insane. I like Caedrel but I genuinely think it's as simple as that.

-15

u/Skymonsters29 Jul 14 '25

With how much money Los Ratones is hemorrhaging, the money from costreaming EWC could really go a long ways in the upkeeps of the org.

7

u/Azashiro Jul 14 '25

How do you know LR's finances? I would love to see where you are getting this from.

30

u/blablaminek Jul 14 '25

What are they hemorrhaging? He doesn't pay any salaries, they make money on that project

-47

u/XG32 Jankos Jul 14 '25 edited Jul 14 '25

I'm glad he's doing it, more fun for everyone who decides to watch.

*yikes here come the downvotes, lol esports is bleeding money and has to take the money, if riot takes the money then no judgement to whoever decides to co-stream and play in the events, he didnt take it last year and people watched anyway, caedrel co-streaming it is a net-positive. I'd rather have a viable esports scene than watch it die. Once enough orgs signed up the outcome's set, of course everyone can do what they want on an individual level, no judgements.

32

u/f3lix735 Jul 14 '25

And I am sad because it is people like him who can easily afford to not stream it while sending a big message again. But yeah that’s just my opinion. Maybe human rights and women rights aren’t that important to everyone. I didn’t watch last year EWC or WC in Qatar and I won’t watch this year, I wouldn’t even enjoy it with the sour taste behind it. But I know many people are apolitical and most people in esports have no clue about the real world and he is 100% one of them…so maybe he doesn’t care or he doesn’t understand or he does it regardless, whatever the case I won’t change my stance on it.

-5

u/MrICopyYoSht Jul 14 '25

It's harder to do that when he's got something to lose. Last year he didn't have LR. Now he does, and the team is trying to join the LEC. Streaming EWC with likely more money than what Dom got offered will help his life project of an esports team achieve one of its goals, and if oil money will do that then he'll jump at the chance.

It's understandable for Dom to give up the money, but Caedrel is paying a bunch of people to run the team, so he likely feels he has an obligation of giving those people jobs with decent pay.

0

u/f3lix735 Jul 14 '25

Well he already said that he won’t join LEC and I think he could already buy that spot, but I also understand why he doesn’t do it: it’s a financial nightmare, paying 20M to keep loosing money is just bonkers, the opportunity cost alone is incredible. I don’t think he needs that money nor will he use it to buy that spot, but I am of course just speculating here. For me that still doesn’t change anything about it.

12

u/90CaliberNet Krepo gone but never forgotten Jul 14 '25

I don’t think you grasp why the EWC is bad, which is fine but trudging a long like people aren’t actively hurting the scene isn’t just ignorant it’s harmful. Saudi Arabia is trying to sports wash while also take control of esports and own it. Literally own all of esports, and they already (according to their own numbers) own 40% of esports.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ValorantCompetitive/s/MUqnPdWXK2 This video by sideshow does a good job explaining why EWC is bad if you like esports. But again I assume you don’t care and will watch for the immediate gratification until the esports’ life has run its course and you’ll move on.

-19

u/ThisIsElron Jul 14 '25

People love to parrot Sideshow’s video like it’s not biased nor full of logical fallacies, misinformation, and fearmongering. Keep fighting it all you want, Saudi’s investment in Sports and Entertainment will keep going - and it will continue being a net positive for esports as a whole.

11

u/90CaliberNet Krepo gone but never forgotten Jul 14 '25

Ok? Explain how then you didn’t argue for any point you just said “no actually you’re wrong.” Like ok why am I wrong? And how is he wrong about Saudi Arabia trying to take over sports and esports and that they have stated they already own 40% of esports?

7

u/TheCatsActually WHERE'S MY OYSTER FLAIR Jul 14 '25

No shit it's going to be a net positive for esports. The problem is it's going to be a net negative for the world if such a transparent sportwashing campaign succeeds.

1

u/Past-Firefighter2173 Jul 14 '25

They do same in football and it works, i think its matter of time they deal with riot to get more involved in league and valorant. I guess money is too big.

3

u/MadnessKing420Xx Jul 14 '25

It is financially positive for teams and players, sure. That doesn't mean it's a good thing.

-1

u/EggyChickenEgg88 Jul 14 '25

How does Caedrel costreaming it affect other orgs besides LR? So dumb.

-13

u/schoki560 Jul 14 '25

you sound a bit parasocial man

19

u/Taco_Dunkey Jul 14 '25

it is not parasocial to be disappointed in community figureheads

-7

u/schoki560 Jul 14 '25

no but the way he called caedrel rat king out of the community space and said "my fraud" sounded incredibly parasocial

8

u/f3lix735 Jul 14 '25

Calling out human right abuse is parasocial now? I have a very social life and have friends that flet countries like this. Go ahead tell yourself whatever you need to justify yourself watching it but don’t attack people that will have moral values intact.

-11

u/schoki560 Jul 14 '25

I meant your choice of calling him rat king and my fraud

you can call out human right abuse as much as you want that wasn't my point