Trainwreckstv among nearly 300K accounts penalized in Riot’s boosting crackdown

Rituraj Halder Published September 22, 2026

In one of the biggest competitive ladder cleansings in video game history, Riot Games has officially penalized nearly 300,000 accounts across League of Legends and VALORANT for rank manipulation. This has made big names, like streamer Trainwreckstv, quite upset. 

After the rollout of its aggressive Anti-Boost detection system, which originally launched in League before being integrated directly into VALORANT’s Vanguard anti-cheat, the developer made it clear that, if you didn’t earn your rank with your own mechanics, you’re getting scrubbed from the leaderboards.

Riot wipes undeserved rank holders from League and Valorant

Riot confirmed that a staggering 296,416 “rent-a-rank customers” have been served penalties. The crackdown targets every flavor of rank inflation imaginable, from paying hard cash for pilot boosts and buying pre-leveled smurf accounts to “hitchhiking” by queuing alongside high-ELO smurfs who deliberately tank their MMR to carry friends with worse LoL stats and ranks.

The consequences range depending on how hard players tried to game the system. While purchased accounts and unsalvageable burner profiles face instant, permanent deletion, main accounts caught exploiting boosting services are hit with rank rollbacks, stripped seasonal rewards, and suspensions.

Riot’s automated Vanguard detection didn’t spare even the big names in the game’s streaming scene. Kick streamer Trainwreckstv revealed his League rank was completely reverted shortly after the announcement. 

According to him, the ban was placed on him for casually queuing on-stream with former pros and high-ranking creators like Tyler1, Trick2g, and Yassuo.

“I just don’t understand how this is possible… It’s not my fault they’re all pro League players,” Trainwreckstv said during a recent stream.

This follows a previous 31-day VALORANT suspension he received for stacking with high-ranked players like sinatraa, where Riot devs pointed to smurf accounts present in the lobby as the catalyst.

For everyday competitive players grinding through iron-clad lobbies, knowing that rent-a-rank buyers and lobby-abusers are getting wiped means ranked queues might finally return to a level playing field. 

Riot has warned that the Vanguard Anti-Boost engine isn’t even at full capacity yet, meaning the ban wave is far from over, so if you’re thinking about grabbing the bag or paying for a carry, you might want to rethink before it’s too late.

Also read: Time wasted on LoL: Find out how long you have been playing League of Legends for