Who was Remilia? Remembering League of Legends' first female pro
Maria “Remilia” Creveling was League of Legends’ first female professional player. Remilia played support as a part of Renegades’ LCS roster and later served as a substitute player for FlyQuest. Maria sadly passed away in 2019, but left behind a legacy of breaking boundaries.
Remilia made her name in League of Legends playing the support role, and is specifically known for her play on the champion Thresh. It’s pretty clear why when you examine any of the many montages created to capture her capabilities on the champion. Her crazy engages and predictions earned her the nicknames “MadWife” and “Thresh Queen.”
Who did Remilia play for?
Remilia entered the professional scene in 2013 when she was scouted by Curse Academy. After leaving Curse Academy, Remilia spent time playing for amateur teams attempting to qualify for NA’s Challenger Series, including Team Dragon Knights and Roar. Two years later, she joined Misfits’ North American Challenger roster. This Misfits team would shortly rebrand to Renegades before defeating Team Coast in the Challenger Series finals in order to secure an LCS slot. Remilia had finally made it to the big leagues of League of Legends.
In January 2016, she played her first LCS game and became both the first woman and the first transgender person to compete at the highest level of League of Legends. Partway into the season, Remilia withdrew from Renegades’ roster, citing pressure and transphobic harassment online. In the years to come, Remilia would play for Latin American team Kaos Latin Gamers and was an official substitute for LCS team FlyQuest in 2017.
Renegades Controversy
Later in 2018, Maria clarified the true extent of her negative experience with Renegades. In a series of since-deleted tweets, Remilia accused Renegades’ Chris Badawi of serious negligence and exploitative behavior.
Badawi had already been at the center of controversy in 2015, having broken LCS competitive integrity laws in an attempt to poach players. Badawi was banned from involvement with LCS teams in any major capacity. In 2016, Badawi was discovered to have still had connections to both Team Dragon Knights and Renegades, and both organizations were expelled from events and leagues sanctioned by Riot Games. Remilia’s close friend Richard Lewis posted a video explaining the extent of Badawi’s failure to protect and support his players, Remilia in particular.
In her later Twitter posts, Remilia outlined more of the exploitative and manipulative behaviors committed by Badawi. These allegations made clear the levels of abuse and mismanagement Remilia had been forced to endure during her pursuit of professional play.
Tragically, Maria Creveling passed away in her sleep on December 27, 2019. Richard Lewis announced her passing on Twitter.
Maria remains the first and only female player to compete in LCS, a milestone in League of Legends esports.
Nicholas James is a gaming writer with a passion for all things geekdom, as well as live theater. Nicholas is best known for covering League of Legends and other top MOBA titles, but his expertise covers numerous games across multiple genres. When not watching the LCS or playing the latest new release, Nicholas can be found doing some tabletop gaming and painting his favorite miniatures. Nicholas has also published with Hotspawn, TheGamer, Dexerto, Esports.gg and other industry outlets.
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