Why Did Zven Refuse to Shake Hands With Yeon After LCS 2023 Match?

The League of Legends Championship Series (LCS) 2023 Spring Split is currently underway and is already halfway through the regular season. After four weeks of intense League of Legends action, FlyQuest is on top of the table with a scoreline of 8-1, closely followed by Cloud9 (C9) and Evil Geniuses at 7-2 each. Week 4 of the LCS 2023 Spring saw three back-to-back days of play and the biggest talking point of the league was the interaction between Cloud9 support player Jesper “Zven” Svenningsen and Team Liquid’s attack-damage carry (ADC) Sean "Yeon" Sung.

On Day 3 of Week 4, Team Liquid faced Cloud9 and lost the game, following which Cloud9 Zven refused to shake hands with Yeon. However, Zven quickly issued an apology for his action.

Here’s what happened between Zven and Yeon.

Cloud9 and Team Liquid players talk in all chat in-game

Zven refusing to shake hands with Yeon was a result of some banter that was exchanged between Cloud9 and Team Liquid in-game. According to esports content creator and interviewer Travis Gafford, who interviewed Zven after the game, Yeon reportedly typed “worse than our Academy team” in all chat which angered Zven. Following this, after winning the game, Cloud9 Zven retorted, “Back to Academy.” Gafford explained that Zven did not shake Yeon’s hand because he was “fired up” and felt the comment was “a little over the line.” Gafford also added that the Cloud9 player acknowledged that his own actions were over the line as well.

Following this, Zven tweeted, “I didn’t shake his hand after the match because he called us ‘worse than our academy team’ after they won the team fight at drake. In the game, I thought it was distasteful to talk s*** after they won the fight but in hindsight, I think I was a bit out of line as well.” He apologized to Team Liquid and Yeon and also thanked them for firing him up and making the match more exciting.

Replying to this, Yeon tweeted, “It’s not worth an apology, to me it’s just in game. I see somebody fire one at my mid laner, and I’ll fire one back and then instant mute you shouldn’t apologize.”

Notably, the banter began between the two teams when C9’s mid-laner Dimitri “Diplex” Ponomarev typed “xDDDDD” in all chat after winning his lane. Following this, Team Liquid extended its gold lead and Yeon called Cloud9 “worse than [their] academy team.”