The 2024 LCK Spring was supposed to be another glory run for T1 and their iconic mid-laner Faker. However, the tournament took a frustrating turn when a wave of crippling DDoS attacks struck the league. It severely impacted the integrity of the competition between Gen.G vs T1 LCK finals 2024.
While T1 battled valiantly to the finals, they ultimately fell 2-3 to Gen.G in a heartbreaking title series. Faker expressed DDoS issues unfairly disrupted T1’s preparation, possibly costing the championship.
“I believe it is true for me to state that we were not given a fair opportunity to practice compared to other teams,” Faker said, clearly frustrated.
A Massive Disadvantage for T1
The distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks began in late February, launching malicious traffic that overwhelmed the LCK servers and caused constant network issues. As the weeks went on, the attacks escalated, even targeting individual pro players’ internet connections when streaming.
Key T1 members like Oner, Gumayusi, and Keria all had their personal streams hit by DDoS strikes, making it impossible to queue up for solo queue practice games. With the solo queue being the typical training ground for pros, the attacks created a nightmare scenario for T1.
“We were not able to practice solo queue at all while other teams did not have this issue,” Faker explained. The impacts were far-reaching, stunting T1’s ability to properly coordinate team strategies, scout the meta, and keep their mechanics sharp. All of this culminated in their LCK finals defeat against Gen.G despite being heavy favorites.
While coaches attempted to gameplan around the issues with specialized team practice, there was only so much they could do when constantly fighting connection problems. Faker made it clear the DDoS attacks created an unfair competitive environment.
What Are DDoS Attacks?
For those unfamiliar, DDoS is short for distributed denial-of-service – a form of cyberattack that overloads servers or internet connections with malicious traffic to cause disruptions or outright outages.
In an esports context, DDoS attacks wreak havoc by targeting game servers or streamers/pro players directly. This overwhelms their connections and internet bandwidth, resulting in severe lag spikes, disconnects, and an inability to stay online.
The LCK attacks were severe, requiring multiple game delays, audience refunds, and even temporary cancellations of live broadcasts. Despite Riot’s attempt to address the issues, the attacks persisted and affected playoffs.
DDoS strikes on individual T1 players severely disrupted their critical solo queue training pipeline.
Gen.g vs USA: Looking Ahead to MSI
In the Gen.G vs T1 LCK finals 2024, although T1 ultimately qualified for the 2024 Mid-Season Invitational by points, the LCK struggles put a damper on their typical peak form entering the international competition.
Faker expressed determination to shake off the issues and regroup ahead of MSI, and coach kkOma echoed similar sentiments about learning from the Spring Split shortcomings and resolving to put forth a better showing at MSI after addressing holes in their play.
However, there are still concerns about DDoS vulnerability – especially with MSI taking place on the brand-new Riot esports server platform. Any repeat attacks could be an explosive controversy on the global stage.
Riot and organizers must prioritize cybersecurity to prevent DDoS attacks unfairly impacting high-stakes events, as experienced by Faker and T1. DDoS strikes on individual T1 players severely disrupted their critical solo queue training. As Faker and T1 can attest, DDoS issues present a massive competitive unfairness that the highest levels of pro play simply can’t tolerate.
