General Discussion - Page 2859

In late 2011, EG went to SMM with their post-TI roster of Demon, Fear, Misery and Pajkatt, with the Chinese player Luo standing in for Playmate. During a winner's bracket Boi1 match with MiTH.Trust, EG used some unconventional lanes to take a commanding lead; 8-4 in kills, 6-0 in towers and a considerable advantage in farm including a Broodmother with Orchid and Syllabear with Radiance as well as an Urn and Pipe with Mek extremely close. MiTH's most farmed hero was an Antimage with Treads, RoH and Claymore. Just before 20 minutes, TNK, captain of MiTH, had a BSOD. Because of SMM's hardware sponsor, all the computers had software installed that performed automatic resets whenever a machine was rebooted. The reset wiped the machine's memory and TNK lost the save file, meaning the game could no longer be loaded. SMM's rules stated that any games unable to be loaded pre-20 minutes would be replayed, while games lasting longer than that would assign a point value to each kill and destroyed tower. The team with the most points would take the game. Initially, EG were offered either a defwin or the option to play the game out 4v5. EG chose to play the match out, but MiTH's players left en masse and walked away from their computers, leaving their manager to argue with the admins. Forty or forty-five minutes later, EG were told that the game would be remade.

So the game was remade, but not from the start. Both teams were given the same drafts, and EG were told to take the same lanes and items. MiTH were not. Because EG's success was built on unconventional laning of the Beastmaster, Syllabear and Broodmother, MiTH gained a massive advantage and steamrolled through them easily. At the conclusion of the game, EG disputed the admin's decision in extremely strong terms, pointing to a decision to award LGD a defwin in extremely similar circumstances the day before, the tournament's culpability in removing the save, and the possibility that TNK had deliberately caused the reset. (I have heard, but can't remember where, that the player was banging on the side of his PC with his hand in an effort to cause a hardware error.) That's when Demon smacked a monitor off a table. Misery and Pajkatt were both in the faces of admins and MiTH players. Eventually Fear got them out of the building and they announced that they were dropping out of SMM due to its serious organizational and technical problems.

Later, after community pressure, MiTH offered to replay the game completely. The SMM admins agreed initially but withdrew their agreement. EG's players felt that the offer wasn't genuine at all, but a smokescreen to get them to return to the venue to play out matches in the loser's bracket. The players weren't punished for anything that happened and the organization supported their decision to abandon the tournament, if not the manner in which they went about it.