In their opening match of the playoffs at the LCK Spring 2024, T1 suffered a crushing defeat, losing 0-3 to Hanwha Life Esports. Of course, HLE is currently very strong, but the manner in which T1 lost surprised many. After all, T1 is a very strong team and this season seems quite balanced with HLE. This loss also pushed T1 down to the lower bracket, where they will face Dplus KIA, which is also a tough opponent. In the post-match press conference, Faker shared some insights regarding his team’s defeat against a championship contender this season.
Accordingly, Faker admitted he was “disappointed with the current performance and form” but also stated: “We cannot practice while ranking up, while other teams can play normally. Therefore, I think our performance is worse than usual. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t show what we wanted. […] Honestly, if it were just a short break from ranked games or missing a few matches, it wouldn’t have too much impact. But the game always changes, while the preparation time is nonexistent. It’s really not fair that we don’t have the opportunity to practice normally compared to other teams. And there are many other reasons beyond this for our defeat today.”
Clearly, for a player like Faker, who has seen many ups and downs, there is no need to make excuses for T1’s defeat or to blame other reasons outside of performance unless they are real or serious. Moreover, during the LCK Spring 2024, Faker rarely attended post-match press conferences, even when T1 won. Additionally, according to a representative from T1, the DDoS issue has been ongoing since December. The team initially attempted to address it by changing the stream schedule of the players. However, the problem worsened starting in March, and currently, T1 players have been unable to rank up for over half a month.
However, Faker’s remarks have been cut and criticized by some netizens and even KOLs in the League of Legends community, claiming that T1 is using excuses to deny their defeat. Notably, streamer IWDominate stated: “Who cares if T1’s reasons are valid? It’s just unfair play to bring this up right after a loss. LPL teams faced a terrible Covid outbreak at Worlds 2022 and couldn’t compete with a full roster on stage. No other team made excuses like that for their losses.” He also sarcastically pointed out that T1, being part of a wealthy telecommunications conglomerate, should be able to find a way to solve this problem.
IWDominate’s post immediately received numerous criticisms from Western audiences. Everyone understands that the issue is not merely about changing machines or training locations. Not to mention, T1 players have voiced concerns about this issue multiple times on streams. The loss to HLE was merely an opportunity for them to publicly share about this matter after a question during the interview.
In reality, ranking up and scrimming with other players is incredibly important. In those environments, they practice macro skills, test new strategies, or get accustomed to newly released or adjusted champions. Moreover, ranked environments are crucial for players to “keep their hands warm” if there’s a long break between matches, such as between the end of the group stage and the start of the playoffs.
Therefore, the inability to practice or scrim due to DDoS issues certainly has a huge impact on the players’ preparation. In a competitive environment like the LCK, the impact is even greater as just a small difference can change the outcome of a match. Other teams’ players are also hesitant to rank or scrim with T1 because they fear “whenever we face T1, we get DDoS’d.”
Currently, no one can be sure if Faker’s revelations will lead to a resolution of the issue. However, it is clear that Faker’s disclosure is necessary for Riot or anyone responsible to take stronger intervention measures to address the problem.