During the week 6 match of the LCK Spring 2020 group stage between Griffin and APK Prince that took place yesterday, April 5th, a rare incident occurred that led to Griffin receiving a rather unfortunate penalty.
Specifically, right at the start of game 1, player Untara – a former member of T1 who is currently playing the top lane for GRF, had to request a temporary pause due to… a bathroom emergency. This unavoidable pause resulted in Griffin being penalized with a Penalty (if a team receives 2 Penalties, they will lose one point in the standings).
Before this match, GRF was at the bottom of the standings with a record of 2 wins and 12 losses, and if they lost 1 point, their chances of avoiding relegation would be almost zero. Fortunately, after Untara’s incident, no further issues arose, the match continued, and Griffin secured a crucial victory against APK to keep their hopes alive of escaping the relegation zone.
Prior to Untara, the LCK also witnessed a similarly “comical” situation when Cuvee of Gen.G had to request a game pause for a bathroom break. However, Cuvee’s incident occurred at the venue where the organizers could directly control the match, so pausing was not an issue.
In the case of Griffin and Untara, due to the online match format, any reason for interrupting the game, whether accidental or intentional, carries consequences. Fortunately, this incident did not directly impact this team’s standings.
The victory against APK marked Griffin’s third win of the season, although it did not lift them out of the bottom position, it was enough to narrow the gap with the two teams above them, HLE and APK.
With the LCK set to abolish the promotion/relegation system starting in the 2021 season, remaining stable in the top professional League of Legends tournament in South Korea during the Spring and Summer splits of 2020 will be a crucial task for Untara and his teammates.