Currently, the international tournament “Mid Season Invitational 2022” is taking place in Busan for League of Legends: The representatives from China, Royal Never Give Up, won all their group stage matches at MSI, but the results have now been annulled by Riot Games. RNG must repeat their 3 LoL matches. The reason was a discrepancy in ping.
This is the situation:
- At the MSI 2022 tournament, 11 LoL teams are competing, each the best in their respective regions. Traditionally, the representatives from the two major Asian regions: China (RNG) and South Korea (T1), are seen as favorites to win the tournament. The European representatives G2 are considered outsiders, although they see it quite differently.
- All teams are playing on-site in Busan, South Korea. Except for the representatives from China, Royal Never Give Up: Due to the COVID situation, the team from China is not participating.
- After RNG had already won 3 group stage matches, a big mess occurred on day 3. Riot Games annulled the 3 matches in which RNG was involved.
The German representatives, Eintracht Spandau, are still a few steps away from being allowed to participate in the MSI:
Ping discrepancy leads to annulment of 3 matches
What is the problem? Because all teams are playing in Korea, except for RNG, Riot Games set the technology so that everyone should play with a 35 ping to create equal conditions: Both the Chinese and the 10 teams on-site should play under exactly the same conditions to ensure fair competition.
But Riot Games reported on day 3 that there were problems. In Busan, the desired 35 ping was not achieved. This became apparent now (via twitter). They will now change the configuration to reduce latency to the targeted level.
The matches of RNG had a “ping discrepancy”: Therefore, it was decided by Riot Games that it would be in the best interest of fair competition to repeat all 3 matches in which RNG was involved.
They apologize to all players and teams.
RNG suggests that this is somehow unfair
This is the result now: RNG has had their 3 wins annulled and they must play again.
They have already won their first rematch against Istanbul Wildcats and are back to 1-0.
Since RNG’s 3 opponents are clearly weaker, there is hardly any doubt about how the next matches will turn out.
RNG seems to be somewhat disappointed with Riot Games’ decision, mentioning in a tweet “unexpected events” and “unfair treatment.”
This is how it is being discussed: It is definitely a strange situation. People are now discussing on Twitter whether it is really fair for RNG to “play 3 more matches” than everyone else. Additionally, RNG would also play without the noises of the arena.
The fairness of the tournament overall is being questioned because RNG is playing under these different conditions than the 10 teams on-site.
Ultimately, it is believed that it will end up being a duel between T1 and RNG.
In general, the tournament is also being viewed critically at the moment because the group stage provided little excitement. In the first days, there were mainly clear victories for the favorites and hardly any surprises.
For years, RNG has been associated with one name: Uzi, who might be the best mechanical LoL player in the world:
LoL: Uzi (22) is considered the best ADC in the world, has broken “arms like a 50-year-old”
