GTL: Riot Rules Echo Fox Winners After NA LCS Server Issues

Week 1 of the Summer Split in the North American League of Legends Championship Series and Team SoloMid and Echo Fox shined, but with claims of tech issues and the changes to franchises and meta in the tournament, is Riot playing a little too loose with their top-tier competition? Mandie Roman discusses this topic on Game Talk Live with help from an expert panel of guests including Echo Fox’s SeungHoon ''Huni'' Heo and Nick D’Orazio of InvenGlobal.

As the Summer Split kicks off, a big concern among players is almost always the meta. Learning which champions, items, and compositions link up correctly has always been a stressful challenge of the pros to be able to adapt to, especially as Riot releases new patches that change up the game or offer new features.

The panel discusses how players have to react to the challenge of the meta, considering how to deal with it, and how Riot's style of patching evolves the game and forces players to evolve with it. Discussion also includes how tournaments have played out in the past, as well as the difference between various League of Legends scenes, such as American, European, and Asian scenes.

One of the biggest issues of the Summer Split occured when Echo Fox took a default win against Clutch Gaming when the client crashed, prematurely ending the match between players. With this in mind, the panel discusses whether or not Riot handled the situation properly, or whether there was a proper answer for the issue at all.

The guests theorize that if Riot had chosen to restart the game at the point at which it was going in Echo Fox's favor, it would have been an even greater controversy. The rules Riot used to make their final decision on the match are cited and discussed on the show, with consideration of whether or not Riot was correct in their effort and execution.

After a break, the discussion turns to what Riot is doing with their esports scene and how they are working to boost it in general. Panelists discuss the overall state of esports in League of Legends and their opinions on whether or not Riot is moving in the right direciton with the choices they've made in official competition.

This episode of Game Talk Live has ended, but you can check out the full episode in the embedded video above. Be sure to check out the previous episode as well in which guests discusses China's recent efforts to monopolize their worldwide gaming industry.