Riot drops TFT patch 10.17 early during LATAM Qualifier Finals

Despite being scheduled to release on Aug. 19, the Teamfight Tactics 10.17 update went live early tonight, directly affecting the LATAM Qualifier Finals for the Galaxies Championship.

Players competing for a seat at the TFT Galaxies Championship during the LATAM Qualifier Finals tonight were in for a surprise when in round two it was discovered that patch 10.17 had gone live hours early. Having the update drop early wasn’t intentional, according to lead game designer Stephen “Mortdog” Mortimer, sarcastically telling the players who were competing tonight to adapt to the sudden change.

Mortdog later posted on Twitter the update went live early due to it being classified as a hotfix and not a full update.

“You can blame this one on me,” said Mortdog. “Due to the Riot week off, there was no ACTUAL patch 10.17 (our normal server down time and deploy). Because of this, we planned to do 10.17 as a micropatch (which is done via a hotfix).”

Mortdog also went on to aplogize to the players competing in the LATAM Qualifier Finals tonight, understanding how many of them might be frustrated.

“To all the LATAM competitors: I apologize for this oversight,” said Mortdog. “I realize how bad this must feel. It wasn’t done with any ill-intention, but that doesn’t excuse me overlooking that aspect. I wish all our regions the best success, and realize this feels bad. I’m truly sorry.”

A majority of the changes within the TFT patch 10.17 were minor, with the exception to the item Titan’s Resolve. Often played on Rumble in a variety of Mech comps, the item’s max stacks were reduced from 50 to 25, lowering the Mech’s damage output. A competitor, according to a Reddit user, had already crafted Titan’s Resolve in round two at the LATAM Qualifier Finals on their Mech.

Tonight’s early patch mistake was the not the first time a Qualifier Finals tournament leading up to the Galaxies Championship has experienced issues. Eliminations on the first day of the EU Qualifier Finals were walked back after what was slated as a tie-breaker misunderstanding. And just a week prior, TFT streamer Escha reported numerous integrity issues surrounding the OCE qualifiers.

Players who qualified to compete in the final rounds at the LATAM Qualifier Finals will have additional time to prepare after the LATAM Riot team postponed the final rounds to Sunday given the circumstances. Two of those players will advance to compete at the TFT Galaxies Championship on Sept. 3.