Since their defeat to Hanwha Life Esports on the opening day of the LCK Spring 2024 playoffs, T1 has had a powerful “comeback.” They defeated Dplus KIA with a score of 3-0, while ShowMaker and his teammates had just barely managed to get past Gen.G right before that. Recently, T1 continued their impressive revenge against HLE to secure a spot at MSI 2024 and the chance to compete in the finals of LCK Spring 2024 against Gen.G. It can be said that in just over two weeks since their loss to HLE, T1 has shown how they have recovered and improved.
Notably, right after the loss to HLE, Faker faced a tough question from the press regarding T1’s severe DDoS issues affecting their preparation for the matches. Of course, as a player whose career has been tied to the inception and growth of the LCK and the Korean League of Legends scene, Faker would have no reason to make excuses for his team’s defeat. This has caused concern among T1 fans that their team would not be in the best shape for the remaining playoff stage. Some even worry that T1 might miss out on MSI 2024 altogether.
But now, everything seems to be fine for T1. And at this moment, many viewers are entertaining a “conspiracy theory” that Riot has stepped in to help T1 as much as possible. Specifically, a post that is gaining attention on the platform X (formerly Twitter) states: “T1 has qualified for MSI and I believe the risk of DDoS has decreased. I just want to say that maybe LCK/Riot has provided them with the best soloQ accounts ever. (If this is their account, then it’s almost certainly 99% true). Honestly, this should be the standard for Worlds or MSI, and I hope they apply it this year. Their first matches on these accounts went straight to climbing up to Challenger 1000 LP. Meanwhile, at Worlds, players sometimes have to play over 40 games to reach the Challenger matches.”
In reality, if this were to happen, it would be completely understandable. Riot and the LCK organizers certainly wouldn’t want T1 (a team always considered a “viewership magnet” for every tournament they participate in) to face too many challenges due to issues outside of their expertise. Not to mention, there’s public pressure since Faker spoke out about the DDoS situation. Furthermore, the training time for T1 to prepare for matches against DK and later HLE was very limited, as Faker revealed they faced difficulties even before that. Therefore, providing some “super accounts” for T1 players to quickly train would be quite normal.
However, all of this remains just a “conspiracy theory” from netizens following T1’s impressive performances since Faker revealed the DDoS issue. And perhaps, it will only remain as chatter, as neither Riot, T1, nor the players themselves may ever address this matter, both now and in the future.