Fnatic ADC Oh “Noah” Hyeon-taek is taking an indefinite break from social media including Twitter after his team was knocked out of MSI, but the loss isn’t the only thing weighing on his mind.
After not posting on social media for two weeks, Noah came out of the brief hiatus and explained that he would be deleting his social media, presumably his X. He’s disappointed by his performance at MSI, which is one thing that fueled his decision to do a social media blackout.
It wasn’t all about his performance, though. Harsh comments caused him to spiral mentally, another reason he discussed at length.
After his last MSI match against Team Liquid’s explosive bot lane, the internet tore Fnatic apart. The general consensus was that Team Liquid performed outstandingly. However, some fans took that as an invitation to be cruel to Fnatic on Twitter, including Noah. This wasn’t the first time Noah was the target of intense fan assessments either.
Unfortunately, this led Noah to seriously doubt himself and his skills. Combined with the intense stress that already comes with any esports tournament, especially one as large as MSI, Noah experienced panic attacks during the competition.
Noah feels like he took the opinions of strangers way too seriously. For a young player in a tough career moment, the outcry appears to have affected his mental health. Noah wasn’t able to take the advice of those around him at the time because of everything he was seeing online.
His goal now is to “change” by focusing on himself and those he cares about.
Noah’s social media break will last until the last game of the year. Speculation about Fnatic’s current place in esports would show that this will probably be after Worlds, which is set to end in November. Many of his teammates and rivals in the pro scene expressed their love and support. Many fans were also overwhelmingly positive about his decision.
Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time this season that a League of Legends pro has needed to step away. Bleed Esports’ yay has recently announced a break from the scene. Statements indicate his decision is also for mental health reasons.
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