T1 file complaint after LCK series against Hanwha Life is plagued by bugs

After T1’s series against Hanwha Life Esports in LCK Summer 2022 was plagued by bugs, the ten-time Korean domestic champions filed a complaint with Riot about how the situation was handled. League admins have apologized for the errors.

Players and fans were met with extensive delays during the LCK Summer 2022 series between T1 and Hanwha Life Esports on July 13 due to a number of game-breaking bugs forcing restarts and chronobreaks.

However, the handling of the situation has not pleased either team, with T1 submitting a formal objection to Riot over the series which they won 2-1.

While Game 1 went off without a hitch with T1 winning relatively comfortably, issues started cropping up in Game 2. AD carry Lee ‘Gumayusi’ Min-hyung noticed a problem with his runes four minutes into the game. However, admins denied a restart. The 36-minute bloodbath fell the way of Hanwha Life Esports in the end, tying up the series.

The bugs continued in Game 3 this time with jungler Mun ‘Oner’ Hyeon-jun. Playing Xin Zhao, a bug was picked up by both sides where Oner’s Smite was on a shorter cooldown than expected. The game was eventually paused and chronobreaked to before the first instance of the glitch.

T1 accepted the ruling of the chronobreak, apologizing for not pausing sooner despite “Oner vocally and repeatedly speaking out about the bug.” 

However, the LCK Spring 2022 champions and MSI finalists disputed the lack of a restart in Game 2 once issues with Gumayusi’s runes emerged: “While Gumayusi’s rune bug did not result in a chronobreak, Oner’s smite bug did. We disagree with the referees’ decision and will file for a formal objection.”

T1’s players also complained about the situation after the series was wrapped up.

“It’s unfortunate that the game was affected by that,” Lee ‘Faker’ Sang-hyeok said according to a translation. “I also feel bad that there have been several other things that are inconvenient as a pro player, yet they don’t fix them.

“I hope they fix these things as soon as possible for fans and for the development of esports.”

The LCK issued a statement the morning after the series was played, saying the rune bug is well-known and players have been advised to keep an eye out for it.

“In the LCK the referees run a series of checks with the players before the games start in order to inform and check for bugs, frame rate drops, and lag. They also guide players on these game conditions and check equipment during the time.

“Recently many rune setting bugs have occurred during the game, and therefore the referees have informed the players that they should recheck their rune settings as soon as the game begins and report it instantly to the referees.”

The admins denied a restart in Game 2 because the game was already a “game of record”, which in the rulebook means remakes are no longer available.

If T1’s formal objection to Riot is successful, a replay of Game 2 might be offered as a solution, giving the ten-time champions a second chance to sweep the series and improve their game record.

As it stands T1 is currently second on the LCK Summer 2022 ladder with an 8-1 record, while Hanwha Life Esports is in ninth with only a single series win.