Creep Blocking Controversy Returns For LCS Games

Yesterdays game between 100 Thieves and Clutch Gaming in the LCS may have seemed like a pretty normal game overall, but it was what happened after the game that has a few eyebrows raised among the competitive scene. A minor controversy has risen up among the coaching community about a little-known mechanic in the game that allows players to manipulate the pathing of minions and create an advantageous situation for themselves.

There has been mixed communication from Riot to different teams/coaches about what is and what is not against the rules. See these tweets:
1. https://t.co/qXyWrcE73I
2. https://t.co/b9kwZtCrxN

— Empyre (@NaserAlNaqi) February 10, 2019

The ability to manipulate the minion waves was patched out of the game back in 2016, at least for the first wave, so teams couldn’t intentionally set themselves up with a better position in the early game. The fix was to give the early minions the ability to ignore unit collision until a certain point in the map, so they would advance down the lane as normal.

That isn’t the messaging any of us got. Super unclear if that’s the case.

— Moose (@HussainMoosvi) February 10, 2019

Unfortunately, it looks like minion manipulation is back, though not as terrible as it once was, thanks in part to streamer Adrian Riven, who figured out where the minion ghosting ended and how you could manipulate the wave. According to some coaches, Riot Games reached out to the teams and informed them that this kind of manipulation was not allowed, while other teams were told it was okay to manipulate the waves as long as the tower or terrain was not involved.

Well thats actually weird af... Message that we got came with a video included showing both manipulations. (blocking 1 minion at turret or just delaying/blocking the wave)

— André Guilhoto (@AndreGuilhoto94) February 10, 2019

Ultimately it took Chris Greeley, the Riot Games Commissioner of the LCS, to take to social media and answer the questions directly. Minion blocking, according to Riot Games, is allowed as long as the use of towers or terrain is not involved. Greeley also apologized for the poor explanations that some of the teams received, and directly apologized to Clutch Gaming for their miscommunication.