It is not unlikely that the podium position went home happy because they didn't face the communication issues; not taking anything away from them of course, but

It is not unlikely that the podium position went home happy because they didn't face the communication issues; not taking anything away from them of course, but having played dozens of CTFs, communication issues are real and affect some teams more than others. Specifically, they affect those teams that faced communication issues, heh. It is entirely possible that different teams had different experiences, due to any number of factors. Changing the rules mid-stream, for example, would likely affect one team in a positive way and another in a negative way, so of course the team that was affected negatively would be the more likely one to complain.