‘League Of Legends” CaptainFlowers turns down Worlds 2021 to focus on mental health

North American League Of Legends caster Clayton ‘CaptainFlowers’ Raines has announced that he has chosen not to attend Worlds 2021, explaining that he needs the time to recharge and focus on his mental health.

Earlier today (September 6), Raines used Twitter to share that he has made the decision to step back from Worlds 2021 – the biggest League Of Legends tournament held every year – due to issues he has been struggling with for several years.

In a longer post, Raines clarified that Riot “wanted me on the show”, but explained that his physical and mental health are currently “a long way from where I’d like them to be” and the intensity of Worlds can make this even harder to manage.

Touching on the difficult scheduling and workload of Worlds – which is often coordinated internationally – Raines shared he often feels “super exhausted all the time” during the tournament. The feeling lasts after the event has concluded, as he says it “bleeds over even after the event concludes, and I end up in a downward spiral of an increasingly self-destructive mental state.”

His decision to step aside from Worlds comes down to the fact that “I truly believe that if I do Worlds this year it will leave me in a really bad place in terms of being able to take care of myself”.

While Raines apologises to fans who may be disappointed, he adds that the decision to pass on the competition gives him “the best chance for a positive future”.

Despite stepping away from the official Riot Games broadcast for the competition, Raines has clarified that he will be rebroadcasting Worlds matches the day after each game is live, something which will be “a CaptainFlowers Project, not a Riot project”.

In other news, last week (September 2) Respawn Entertainment shared a powerful video that aimed to raise awareness about “prolonged mental illness and despair”.