Esports Legends: Mithy

Alfonso “mithy” Aguirre Rodríguez is one of the more infamous and controversial support players from the European League of Legends scene.

He has reached highs and lows in his career, but always found his way back to the stage both as a player and coach. This is his story on how his career skyrocketed early on only to get hit by a banhammer to start all over again. A legend in his own way.

A promising start

In the early days we saw future professional players on multiple teams early on in their career. It was no different for mithy, starting his career with a more known organization in Giants Gaming. He hopped between some teams but most notably played for Against All Authority. He then settled for Lemondogs with players like Zorozero and Nukeduck. They would play in the EU LCS 2013 Summer Playoffs and have quite a successful run, winning against the Russian powerhouse Gambit Gaming to eventually lose in the finals against Fnatic 3 to 1. This was a fantastic start for the newly formed team, and it even got them a chance to compete at Season 3 Worlds as Europe’s number three seed.

This would be mithy’s first big international event and he played in a group with the eventual world champion of that year. A group consisting of SK Telecom T1, Oh My God, Team SoloMid and GamingGear.eu proved to be quite the challenge. The two powerhouses from the east in SK Telecom T1 and Oh My God were the clear favorites, but mithy made sure to leave his mark. He placed third in the group, towering over the very well-known Team SoloMid from North America and won the EU versus NA battle in the favor of Europe at Worlds.

Getting hit with the banhammer

Disaster struck on June 6, 2014 as mithy was suspended from the League Championship Series until the end of 2014. The reason behind this was his extremely toxic behavior in solo queue. The public ranked ladder on the League of Legends client. His behavior included, but was not limited to, in-game harassment, verbal abuse and continual use of racial slurs. This was a serious case of misbehavior and shows how the competitive scene has evolved from the early days.

Not only was he banned, but he also got a fine and fair warnings beforehand. Because of his suspension he was released from Ninjas in Pyjamas (the team Lemondogs rebranded to). For most people this would be the end of their career but for mithy it was a clear sign he had to change. And change he did.

The resurrection

On December 19, 2014 mithy’s ban was lifted by Riot. He was again eligible for professional play and he was right on time. xPeke was creating a team consisting of the best free agents at the team to form Origen. The line-up would be sOAZ in the toplane, Amazing in the jungle, xPeke in the midlane and mithy would support Zven (back then called Niels) in the botlane. This would be the start of a long-lasting friendship between the two in the botlane, driven by their competitive nature. They would know immediate success in the European Challenger Series, topping their group and only losing one game to Copenhagen Wolves Academy (formerly LowLandLions.White).

They swept their way into the EU LCS and made a splash when landing on Europe’s biggest stage. They shared a second position in the regular season with H2k-gaming but eventually got the better of them. This was mostly due to mithy’s formidable play on Thresh, a champion known for his playmaking abilities and a pioneering champion in the support role. Origen would go on to compete at Worlds after a successful run in the 2015 Season Europe Regional Finals. There they would give European fans something they had not gotten in a long time: hope. They showed Europe that we can still compete on the highest level and made it to the semi-finals, losing to the eventual world champion SK Telecom T1 again.

Series of controversial moves

After his run with Origen, mithy decided to join G2 Esports together with partner in crime Zven. They would both compete at the 2016 Season World Championship but busted in the groups, only winning a single game. The next year, G2 Esports made some changes but the botlane stayed. They found some more success at MSI 2017 reaching the finals, but once again lost against SK Telecom T1 and finished second. A rivalry was born between G2 Esports and SK Telecom T1.

Although mithy followed Zven to North America, his dream would come falling. When Zven decided to stay, mithy returned to Europe after very mediocre results in North America. He first returned as a player but was really hit-and-miss and it eventually forced him into retiring as a professional player.

Start of something new

When mithy retired, he was immediately picked up by Fnatic as their new coach. He would reach back-to-back finals against G2 Esports but was unable to leave his mark coming in second both times. After a 5-8th place exit at Worlds 2020, mithy made his last “controversial” move. He left a successful organization like Fnatic to join up with Zven one more time and reunited with Perkz in the midlane on Cloud9 in North America as a coach. Right now, mithy had a successful run with the team finishing first in the regular season of the LCS.

His career was not without any struggles, but he managed to overcome them. In the end, it made him a stronger person and a legend in his own way. He is the perfect example that people can learn from their mistakes and be better. The change he went through really made him a different person and a better, healthier competitor in the end. His career is far from over and who knows where it ends. Hopefully with a win against SK Telecom T1 (now known as T1) in the future.

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Image credit: Origen

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