Faker calls out “unfair” conditions as DDoS attacks impact T1’s performance
League of Legends’ greatest player, Faker, cries foul over targeted DDoS attacks, leading to T1 missing practices for weeks.
Widely regarded as League of Legends “greatest of all time,” all eyes are on Faker whenever T1 takes the stage. However, it seems like the reigning world champions found themselves in unfamiliar waters after losing a BO5 match to Hanwha Life Esports 3-0.
The hacking spree in the South Korean LoL server has been a long-standing issue since December. It has even resulted in match postponement, pre-recorded livestreams, and eventual migration of the LCK Organization to an offline server.
Among the most affected teams is the current League of Legends world champions, T1. The team’s long-time member and star player points to the DDoS attacks as the main reason behind their uncharacteristic loss against HLE.
DDoS attacks led T1 to an unusual 0-3 loss to Hanwha Life Esports
Besides the shocking 0-3 loss, many fans were sad to see a heavily affected T1 in the Round 2 match against HLE. Based on clips from T1 fans during the match, most T1 players were visibly upset over their performance.
Speaking in the press conference following the shock defeat, Faker explained (transcribed by Ashley Kang), “I believe it is true for me to state that we were not given a fair opportunity to practice compared to other teams.”
Faker recalls that while preparing for the Playoffs, T1 was “unable to practice in solo queue, unlike the other teams who could.”
“So I think our performance declined quite a bit overall,” Faker commented. “And overall, I think we played poorly than I expected compared to what we were capable of.”
Before the Playoffs, the T1 Organization initially announced that the team would step away from streaming for the time being. This decision is despite multiple efforts to curb hacking attacks with shortened streaming hours and a more flexible schedule.
Some dedicated fans clipped instances where T1 was hit by DDoS assaults while on stream. In an Oner clip from his stream, he instantly acknowledged that his lags and mishits were caused by an ongoing hack on his League of Legends client.
The hacking spree has also reportedly affected T1’s Valorant team, which is set to compete in the upcoming VCT Pacific Stage 1 regional tournament in Seoul.
Riot Games and LCK have yet to arrive at a solution to the ongoing DDoS attacks on the South Korean server.
Faker and T1 will have a last-chance bid to advance to the lower-bracket semifinals in a BO5 elimination game against Dplus KIA on April 7, Sunday, 3 PM KST.