Toyz, the Taipei Assassins midlaner who won the League of Legends Season 2 World Championship in 2012, left a Taiwanese prison on November 3 and was put straight onto a flight to Hong Kong. The 34-year-old, whose real name is Kurtis Lau Wai-kin, had served more than two years of a four-year, two-month sentence for selling cannabis vape cartridges.
According to Taiwanese media reports, officers from the National Immigration Agency collected him from Changhua Prison at 8:00 am local time and escorted him to the airport. Images from the deportation, credited to the agency, showed him being led through the airport in a wool hat and dark clothes.
Prosecutors swapped Toyz’s parole supervision for deportation
Taiwan’s Agency of Corrections approved his parole on October 19, and the Taiwan High Court’s Taichung Branch granted it a day later, as Central News Agency reported. Under normal rules, a paroled inmate serves the rest of the term under protective supervision in Taiwan.
In Toyz’s case, however, prosecutors replaced that supervision with deportation to Hong Kong, where he was born. The National Immigration Agency also said he will be barred from re-entering Taiwan for a set period, although reports have not specified how long that ban will last.
His marriage in prison offers no easy route back to Taiwan
The deportation went ahead despite reports in January that Toyz had registered his marriage to Taiwanese influencer and entertainer Shinozaki Hsuan (ç¯ å´Žæ³«) while behind bars. At the time, a lawyer quoted by Taiwanese media said the marriage showed family ties in Taiwan, which could work in his favour with the courts or immigration officials.
The immigration agency has now made clear that any future application to live in Taiwan as the spouse of a local resident will be reviewed strictly under the rules for Hong Kong and Macau residents. As a result, the marriage gives him no automatic way back, and any return will depend on how that review plays out.
A two-character post on Threads drew thousands of replies
Toyz wasted little time getting back online after arriving in Hong Kong. On the evening of November 3, he posted just two characters on Threads, “å ±æ•¸,” which is a playful call for fans to sound off. According to Taiwanese outlet CTWANT, the post passed 10,000 likes within just 15 minutes.
The replies were split between longtime fans welcoming him back and critics telling him to stay out of trouble. Many also asked whether he plans to return to streaming, although Toyz has not said anything about his plans so far.
Toyz was first detained in September 2021 on suspicion of selling cannabis vape cartridges, before being released on bail of NT$1.5 million that November. He was later sentenced to four years and two months, and the Taichung branch of the High Court upheld that ruling in December 2023.
Taiwan’s Supreme Court then rejected his final appeal in April 2024, and he reported to prosecutors in Taichung to begin his sentence on May 16, 2024, as Taiwan News reported. Without parole, his full term would have run until July 2028.
The case also ended his public ties with esports. In December 2023, a fellow streamer protested on stage after Toyz was announced as a presenter at the Starlight Esports Awards. Shortly afterwards, on December 5, Toyz smashed his championship ring on a livestream and said he was leaving the esports scene, according to Taiwan’s Public Television Service.
The Orianna player behind one of the biggest upsets in Worlds history
Long before the case, Toyz was one of the brightest stars of early League of Legends esports. He joined Taipei Assassins in April 2012 and helped the team knock out heavy favourites Moscow Five 2-1 in the semifinals of the Season 2 World Championship.
TPA then beat Korea’s Azubu Frost 3-1 in the final at the Galen Center in Los Angeles on October 13, 2012, taking home the $1 million winner’s prize. Toyz’s Orianna became the symbol of that run, and Riot later honoured the champions with a TPA skin line featuring Orianna, Ezreal, Mundo, Nunu and Shen.
His playing career turned out to be short, though, because carpal tunnel syndrome in his wrist forced him to retire in June 2013. He went on to coach Fnatic at the 2014 World Championship and later held management roles with LMS teams, including G-Rex, until late 2019.
After that, Toyz moved fully into streaming and content creation, which turned him into one of the most talked-about internet personalities in Taiwan. Fourteen years after lifting the world title in Los Angeles, he is now starting over in Hong Kong, the city where his League career first began with CrossGaming.
