Although T1’s journey through the 2023 League of Legends World Championship has been mostly smooth so far, the iconic esports organization might have run into a bit of a speed bump on the way to the knockout stage of the tournament.
General manager Jeong “Becker” Hoi-yoon claimed on social media today that T1 have been dealing with internet problems for two days at the place where they’re staying in Busan, which has prevented the roster from competing in crucial scrims before the start of the team’s playoff run at Worlds, according to machine translation.
He also said, according to machine translation, they haven’t even been able to play solo queue, and despite consistent requests for help from Riot and the tournament organizers, they still haven’t been provided a solution. T1’s COO Josh Woongki Ahn also corroborated these claims by saying there have been complaints from other teams that are staying at the same location as T1.
This is a major issue for teams who are heading into the most important stage of the biggest League event of the year since they aren’t able to properly prepare for their matches. With a chance to represent their countries in the finals at stake, teams must be able to practice efficiently and thoroughly if they want a fighting chance against the strongest squads in the world.
In a similar vein, esports journalist and content creator Daniel “Quest” Kwon said teams were reportedly dealing with various internet and logistics issues during the play-in and Swiss stages. Problems happen, but at such a prestigious event, the organizers shouldn’t allow them to last too long, or else issues around competitive integrity could come into play if some teams are able to better prepare than others.
For T1, the team still has some time before its quarterfinal match vs. LNG Esports. If the TOs are able to fix these issues, they should still be able to get some much-needed practice in before that series takes place on Sunday, Nov. 5.
