Top10 0 IQ fail moments in esports

We know it from casual gaming: sometimes the brain doesn’t want to work like we do. The result are catastrophic plays and unwise actions.

We’ve previously shown you that esports players are capable of unbelievable actions in our Top 10 200 IQ Moments. Now we will show you how the opposite can look like. Even pros are human and sometimes make mistakes. How crazy these mistakes can look, we present you today with the Top 10 0 IQ Moments in Esports. Have fun!

10. Blaber Scuttle Crab Fail

Our list starts with this 0 IQ moment at the League of Legends MSI 2021 between Cloud9 and the Japanese organization DetonatioN FocusMe. After just three minutes, the junglers from both teams found themselves in a battle for the Scuttle Crab. Blaber, Cloud9’s jungler, not only missed all of his champion Nidalee’s spears, but also traded his Flash and his life to prevent the opposing jungler from capturing the Scuttle Crab. A completely unnecessary action, in which the young jungler probably forgot to switch on his brain. As expected, the game went to Detonation FocusMe.

9. Guardian Teamkill

The AWPer Guardian is one of the longest-serving but also best snipers the game has seen in recent years. This clip shows that even a veteran like him can have a catastrophic fail. In an exciting Best of 3 against Luminosity, Guardians Team NaVi went into overtime. So it was time to put full focus on the match. Guardian’s mind was somewhere else when he gave his teammate flamie a clean shot in the head. Especially in the overtime such a moment is extremely bitter and should not happen too often.

8. Rekkles Twitch Throw

Actually AD Carry Rekkles is one of the best and most reliable AD Carries in the League of Legends scene. With always excellent positioning he has made a name for himself on the role. But Rekkles can also do other things. During the group stage of the League of Legends Worlds 2017 against Immortals, the Swede’s fuses obviously blew on this play. Invisibly, he snuck up on his opponent to take him out by surprise. Driven by his greed, he flashed forward to secure the kill, but suddenly found himself in the middle of 4 opponents and died instantly. This was despite his team Fnatic having a comfortable lead. Long story short: with this play the lead tipped and Immortals won the match by a base race.

7. S1mple Knife Fail Leads to Map Loss

S1mple is actually known for his great game knowledge and intangible skills. However, against his former team, Team Liquid, the Ukrainian’s mastermind stopped short. S1mple wanted to finish the first map in the Best of 3 with style and take down former teammate nitr0 with a knife. The latter survived, however, and was able to take out both S1mple and his two teammates after that. Team Liquid managed a crazy comeback, won the map in overtime and as a result also won the Best of 3 against NaVi. The two teams met again in the semifinals, where Liquid prevailed again and won the final of ESL ONE Cologne 2019. 

6. Overtime own goal

It is only natural that the nerves of some pros are strained during longer matches. But a lapse like this one is really rare. In the RLCS Season 8 Veloce Esports and Renegades had a fierce battle that lasted 9 minutes in Overtime. Renegades was just one play away from elimination when their player Siki seemingly forgot which goal was the right one. He courageously jumped into the ball and put the ball into his own net. The casters and his teammates were equally stunned as 9 minutes of overtime were wasted by this moment. Renegades was eliminated from the tournament thanks to this blackout.

5. Summit1G Molotov

The 5th place on our list is a clip that all Counter-Strike enthusiasts should remember. It is Summit1G’s legendary Molotow, which he and all of us remember to this day in the form of 1G memes. In the Mappoint round for Splyce, Summit found himself in a 1-on-1 situation, and threw a Molotov before taking out the last opponent. Full of joy at the supposed victory, Summit turned to face his teammates, but at the same time ran over his own Molotov in the game and burned. The round, as well as the map in the end, was lost. Perhaps Summit made the decision in this game to stick to streaming after all.

4. Zven Game Throw

Zven had the reputation of being one of the best AD carries in the West before his many misplays. However, his nerves often didn’t cooperate so well, which is made clear to us by the following clip. In the LCS Spring Split Finals in 2019, the Dane faced Team Liquid with his team TSM. The final went the full length until Game 5, where Zven made probably the biggest blunder of his career. For no apparent reason, he decided to start a fight alone on Baron and suddenly found himself facing 4 opponents. His Escape abilities were all on cooldown, and so the AD Carry died, which pushed the doors to victory wide open for Team Liquid. They grabbed it after a nail-biting 45 minute game. A small moment when Zven turned off his brain was enough to shatter the dream of victory.

 

3. Woshige Guilty Gear Top 8 Evo 2015

Jumping on the podium is this clip from the Guilty Gear Evolution Championship in 2015. The fighting game requires a lot of attention, which must have gone down the drain a bit for the Japanese “Woshige” towards the end. Believing for sure that he was able to defeat his opponent Ogawa in the semifinals, he jumps up and cheers with joy. When he turns back to the screen, he notices that the match is not yet over and that his opponent is beating the Japanese player up. Losing a game like that is extremely bitter, and the perfect example of a 0 IQ moment. Woshige took it in stride, but the fact that his opponent ended up winning the tournament because of this blunder is probably still gnawing at him.

2. Doublelift Viktor

Once again we find a 0 IQ moment at the League of Legends Worlds, and once again an AD carry from TSM takes center stage. None other than Doublelift does us the honor and enters our list of the most unwise plays in esports. In the last game of the group stage at League Worlds 2016, TSM desperately needed a win to qualify for the playoffs. And everything looked like TSM could beat the favorite Samsung Galaxy. Until that moment. After winning a teamfight, TSM made its way to the Baron. Doublelift, however, had other plans and spontaneously went into 1vs1 against Midlaner Crown. The latter took Doublelift down without further ado, which is why his team was unable to take down the Baron. TSM would have had a huge chance to win the game with the Baron. In the end, thanks in part to this play by Doublelift, they were eliminated from the tournament.

 

1. CLG Bomb Fail

Ranked #1 in our list of 0 IQ moments in esports, team CLG played at DreamHack Open Valencia in 2017. In the deciding group match, CLG and Red Reserve played to qualify for the playoffs. And everything looked good for CLG: all opponents were eliminated, only the bomb remained to be defused. Some Red Reserve players had even left the server. But then the unbelievable happened: nobody on CLG’s side had a defusing kit, and the bomb exploded. A small fail, which would have been half as bad. However, this no-brainer sent the match into overtime, where CLG actually lost the match. Red Reserve qualified by this action instead of CLG for the playoffs, where they reached the finals. CLG’s only option was to pack their bags and go home. When an entire team turns off their brains and goes for such a fail, they rightfully deserve #1 on our list.