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Estral Esports Top Laner Summit Suspended Following Cheating Allegations
Estral Esports’ Top Laner Park “Summit” Woo-tae has been provisionally suspended from competing. This comes off the heels of allegations recently raised during the LTA North Promotion Tournament between Estral Esports (Summit’s organization) and Disguised. The series took place from 1pm PT / 10pm CET but could not be completed in its entirety due to a series of ongoing DDoS attacks. Due to the allegations against Summit, the player has been suspended until the outcome of a full investigation comes to light.
Cheating Allegations Lead to Provisional Suspension
The match between Estral Esports and Disguised was interrupted mid-series by a reported DDoS attack, which significantly delayed the continuation of said series. The issue caused over a 3-hour-long delay, ultimately leading to a forced postponement of the series for Games 4 and 5.
The allegation against Summit was first raised when spectators spotted Summit in the background of teammate Jang “Ghost” Yong-jun’s POV camera, watching a League of Legends game. Later reports confirm that he was watching a VOD of the very series they were playing in at the time, from one of the previous games.
Following the incident, Riot Games released the following statement:
“After extensive review of the allegations raised during the LTA North Promotion Tournament between Estral Esports and Disguised, match officials have provisionally suspended Summit from competing pending the outcome of a full investigation.
The Esports Global Code of Conduct 2025 Edition provides that: ‘cheating is defined as the use of any in- or out-of-game method, technique, or technology that affects the outcome of a game or that gives a personal or team unfair advantage, including, for example, the use of hacks, bug exploits, cheats, or communication with individuals who are not playing in the game.’
Estral Esports will be permitted to field a substitute player from their existing roster in the interim. We take all levels of competition seriously and remain committed to upholding competitive integrity across all matches.”
Tough Ruling: Necessary or Reactionary?
This isn’t the first time Riot Games has taken a strong stance in their esports titles on a particular ruling. In most cases, the prevailing theory is that Riot Game's rulings have been more concerned with future dissuasion by setting an example, rather than with the circumstances of the individual in question. This has both positive and negative ramifications that may not always be immediately apparent.
In this case, while many may not have been aware of this tournament, the LTA North promotion tournament serves to promote one team from the challenger leagues to join the LCS in 2026. Disguised and Estral Esports’ series took place in the Upper Bracket Semifinals, and winning it would put them a series away from qualifying to the Grand Finals.
With that understood, it’s clear that the stakes for this tournament were significant for the teams involved. However, considering the other side for the moment, we have the follow statement from Estral Esports, citing:
“We understand the frustration and outrage this situation has caused, and we fully share your feelings. Our series faced significant technical challenges, including DDoS attacks on Riot’s servers, which resulted in a pause of more than two hours without a clear solution or effective communication from the on-site officials.
We acknowledge that, amid the uncertainty, our player made a mistake by watching a stream during the pause. However, there was no bad faith or intent to gain an advantage. It was an unfortunate action that stemmed from an unsustainable situation.
We believe the sanction imposed is disproportionate and overly sever. The penalty fails to take into account the human factor of having seven people (players and staff) waiting in front of a compute for more than five hours, without movement or solutions.
We have filed a formal appear with the league. We will continue to advocate for fair treatment of our players and for a more humane standard in event management.”
The series faced two significant tech pauses during its course, once during Game 2, where the delay lasted over 2 hours, and a second one in Game 3, where the game was again paused for an hour. The Bo5 series, which currently sits at 2-1 score in favor of Disguised, is set to resume on October 7th at 1pm PT / 10pm CET. However, Summit will not be present for the remaining two series as per Riot Games’ statement and verdict, which as outlined above, will significantly impact their chances of earning that LCS spot.
The player has not released a statement as of the time of this writing.
The full VOD from the incident is included here for those interested. The first pause occurs around the 2 hour 8 minute mark, and the incident occurred during the second pause, around 4 hours into the VOD.
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Featured Image Credit: Colin Young-Wolff/Riot Games
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