Giants defeated in LCS after bug causes restart

The European League of Legends League Championship Series and game developer Riot Games came under fire last night, after a champion bug prompted a professional match to be restarted. Viewers were furious with the decision, as they claim LCS side, Giants, were on the verge of victory. Their opponents, Vitality, then came back to claim victory in the series, which only incensed fans even further. The defeat means Giants remain tied at the bottom of the standings in group A, while Vitality pull two wins ahead of last placed Origen in group B. The bug was briefly explained as an issue with the champion Orianna, who uses a ball (think; control orb) as her offensive and defensive utility. When the player uses the ball defensively, it disappeared from sight, this is not intended.

Giants had a 7 kill, 3 turret, and almost 9,000 gold lead when the game was forced into a remake

Not only were the fans upset, but the Giants players and management also took to social media to express their outrage at the decision. Giants head coach 'Lozark' had few, but telling, words regarding the incident. While top laner Olof 'Flaxxish' Medin turned to sarcasm.

Tilted for my entire life. Insane decisions.

— David Alonso Vicente (@Lozarklol) March 9, 2017

 

gg hehe xd — OLOF (@flaxxish) March 9, 2017

Former European and North American LCS player Marcel "Dexter" Feldkamp pointed the finger at Riot and their refereeing of the league.

Giants is in a serious FeelsBadMan situation. Gotta love the inconsistency on the rules — Marcel Feldkamp (@MarcelFeldkamp) March 9, 2017

Riot Games were obviously thrust into a difficult decision. Of course Giants would not want to restart the game, with such a lead amassed, however Vitality certainly wouldn't complain. We have since learned that Giants asked the match to be rescheduled to another day, however LCS referees decided it would be re-played there and then. Much to the dismay of Giants. Vitality tweeted after the game, however it did nothing to quell the outrage of the fans.

This is definitely not the way we wanted to win, but we take today's series against @GiantsGaming #EULCS — Team Vitality (@Team_Vitality) March 9, 2017

The situation is eerily similar to a game two years ago between SK Gaming and Gambit Gaming, where another champion, Shen, bugged and forced a restart with Gambit healthily in the lead. While rare, these issues do happen, and in North America, the company have implemented a tool named 'Chronobreak', allowing for games to be 'rolled back' to just before the bug occurred, rather than restarting the entire game. Unfortunately, this tool is yet to be implemented in Europe. Riot estimates that the tool will become available in every region by the start of the Summer split.