The LoL Worlds 2022 have been plagues by in-game bugs, but this one that happened to TES JackeyLove could have ruined the teams entire run at Worlds 2022.
Top Esports was one of the favorites going into the 2022 League of Legends World Championship. They'd taken JDG to two five-game series in the LPL playoffs, the bot lane meta also looked perfect for their star ADC Yu "JackeyLove" Wen-Bo, but a single loss to GAM Esports ruined their chances at the quarter-finals.
But a prominent YouTuber and bug-finder connoisseur Vandiril seemed to have found an issue within the game that could have lost TES that match. One item bug seemed to have been the downfall of TES.
LoL Worlds 2022: Maw of Malmortious Bug
Top Esports almost had the Nexus. They just had to get in two or three more hits and the W would have been theirs and a chance at the quarter-finals as well. But just as they were about to win, GAM Esports jungler Đỗ "Levi" Duy Khánh respawned.
Levi, on Karthus, used his ult to chunk down the remaining TES players considerably and the rest of GAM also respawned to defend what was left of their Nexus.
Now that we have the situation it's time to check out what exactly happened and what the bug even entails. JackeyLove built Maw of Malmortious to negate some of Levi's magic damage. The item will also give players a shield when taking magic damage that puts their champion below 30% health.
This bug might have eliminated TES from Worlds.In the final moments of GAM vs TES, Karthus ults TES team. Nami w/ 96 MR takes 930 Damage.Lucian w/ 100 MR takes 924 Damage.But Lucian had Maw. It activated, but didn't block any damage. Otherwise, he would have had 600+ HP. pic.twitter.com/2K1ryCJZcJ
— Vandiril (@Vandiril) October 16, 2022
Upon closer inspection Vandiril, who has found multiple bugs already that have been game deciding throughout the World Championship, found that the damage of Karthus' ult was not negated by the item, which then decided TES' fate.
Even though Levi had Liandry’s Lament (upgraded by Ornn), Shadowflame, and Void Staff which could have eaten through JackeyLove's Lucian with ease, it doesn't negate the fact that the large shield from the item's passive never triggered.
Fans and experts alike believe that if JackeyLove had lived just a bit longer he would have been able to hit the Nexus and probably win the game with one or two more auto attacks. Riot has not made a statement yet regarding the issue though.
YamatoCannon Explains Riot's Opinion on Bugs
Since the issue with the Maw of Malmortious bug has gone viral on League of Legends twitter, many fans have questioned why Riot have not addressed the issue. Not only that, but there have been a multitude of bugs seen throughout the tournament that could have been game changing.
Fnatic head coach, YamatoCannon added fuel to the fire by explaining that Riot won't say anything due to their ruleset regarding in-game bugs.
Riot won't say anything about the bug because their sentiment/ruleset has always been if players don't spot bugs themselves it won't be accounted for. I remember games where I saw bugs from backstage and I couldn't even fight to pause or chronobreak.
He goes on to state that he's not sure what a good solution to this issue could be wherein coaches can also intervene when they see bugs happening. He does state that there could be some though that would abuse such a system.