NA LCS: Echo Fox given victory after client crashes


(Image Credit: Riot Games)

Echo Fox was playing their second match of the summer split today, when towards the end of the match the in-game client failed, resulting in both teams disconnecting from the game. 

10 minutes of investigation went by before Riot teams gave the verdict that the game couldn't be revived, nor would it be reset. 

Instead, Riot decided that the win would go to Echo Fox. The team, who was a favorite to win from the start, had the following leads:

  • 7 turrets to 0
  • 63.2k gold to 53.2k
  • Equal kills for both teams

It was clear to anyone watching the game that, despite the zero kill difference, EF had a great advantage not just in gold numbers but in raw damage and were actually moments away from initiating what was probably the final siege of the game before their victory. 

Still, it's understandable that fans of both Echo Fox and Clutch Gaming don't like the outcome that was decided on. It feels a bit cheap for both sides of the coin and is undesirable although unavoidable. 

According to Riot, the crash would be further investigated, though it was noted that Taliyah, Huni's jungle pick (which is a whole story on its own,) can cause server side lag which may have contributed to the crash. Thus, Riot disabled Taliyah in both professional and solo queue play for the foreseeable future. 

Aside from Taliyah being removed from current play, the actions taken by Riot are by the book in this current case. According to LCS rule 14.1, the seven turret difference was enough to give the officials enough evidence that a loss for CG was a reasonable outcome of the match. 

All the same, avoiding this situation in the future is the best thing that could come from this unfortunate circumstance. It's possible we see tighter restrictions on champions that Riot sees as possible issues for server performance in coming competition, and it wouldn't be surprising if they focused more resources to finding these problems' early to avoid a repeat of this.

Be on the lookout for more information from Riot in the coming days. They know better than anyone what kind of frustrations their player base is exhibiting with the current state of the game, and ensuring issues like this stay minimized will be vital for the health of professional play. 

Do you agree with Riot's decision? Let us know in the comments below!

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