AFTER SIX YEARS, T1 are finally back on top in League of Legends as they win Worlds 2023, sweeping China’s Weibo Gaming, 3-0, Sunday evening.
It was a dominating win from T1 who grab the org’s fourth world championship, the only team who has managed to do that. The win also marked the fourth championship for the game’s GOAT Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok.
At the same time the win was also a redemption for the young T1 squad who fell short last year losing to an inspired DRX squad 3-1.
T1’s road to greatness
T1’s road to winning Worlds 2023 seemed like something from a novel. The team struggled during the LCK summer season as Faker had to sit out four weeks of the regular season to rehabilitate an injury on his right hand and arm. He would only return in the last week of regular season to salvage T1’s campaign to secure a playoff spot.
Faker’s return lit a fire within T1 who went on a tear during playoffs to earn themselves a place in the grand finals. Unfortunately their streak was stopped by Gen G with an emphatic 3-0 sweep during the LCK summer grand finals.
Going in Worlds T1 was a favorite to make it far, but not as a finalist. All eyes were on China’s JD Gaming who won MSI earlier this year followed by a dominating run during LPL Summer. Korea’s champion Gen G were seen as the ones who’ll try and challenge JDG’s mantle after their dominant win in the LCK finals.
Korea’s Last Hope against a Chinese Gauntlet
T1 would find themselves back on the spotlight after the first round of the playoffs becoming the only Korean team left in the World Championship which was hosted in Korea. As the last home bet remaining, T1 also needed to fight their way against a Chinese gauntlet facing three Chinese teams looking to write history in becoming the third Chinese team to lift the Summoner’s Cup.
T1’s Chinese gauntlet began with LNG who they quickly disposed of with a dominant 3-0 sweep. Following LNG, was JDG one of the favorites, who was looking to complete the grand slam/golden road. JDG had already won LPL Spring, MSI, and LPL Summer and a win in worlds would make them the first team to win all domestic and international tourneys in the year.
Unfortunately for JDG, T1 would be the road block on their golden road, sending the Chinese favorites in the semis 3-1. Waiting for T1 in the Finals was Weibo who seemed to have found their form during their semis matchup against BLG.
Crowing the goat
T1 would overcome the Chinese gauntlet in the most dominant fashion, winning Worlds 2023 with a one-sided sweep of Weibo Gaming. T1 looked prepared against Weibo’s star top laner, Kang “TheShy” Seung-lok preventing him from repeating his carry performance against BLG in the semi-finals.
T1 made sure to lock TheShy down, daring him to play his most iconic champ Aatrox in games one and two before grabbing Yone then Gwen for Choi “Zeus” Woo-je. The top lane matchup would be the story of the series as TheShy finished with a dismal 1/4/1 and 0/6/1 KDA in games one and two.
Weibo tried to mix things up in game as they pulled out TheShy’s Kennen and the LPL’s own jungle Bel’veth pocket pick. The pick seemed to work out, as Weibo found themselves with a slight lead in the early game. However a teamfight around the Drake Pit would turn the tides back to T1’s favor as the team quickly took down both TheShy and their midlane Azir.
It was all T1 from there as they quickly took control of the rift before completely snowballing their lead.
Zeus would be crowned the Oppo Finals MVP for his stellar top lane performance in all three games.
Faker dedicated his fourth world championship to his T1 teammates: Zeus in Top, jungler Mun “Oner” Hyeon-jun, Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyung, and support Ryu “Keria” Min-seok. This world championship is also the first for the four.
It has been a long time coming for this T1 roster. They were touted as a super team consisting of prodigies in all roles. The team was heavily criticized after losing to DRX last year after their strong performance throughout the tournament.
With three contracts set to expire by the end of the season, the future is uncertain for the T1 roster. As one of the biggest orgs in South Korea, the team has the financial capacity to re-sign all players but the new Salary Cap rule in the LCK would make things complicated.
Get more of the latest sports news & updates on SPIN.ph
NOTICE ON UNAUTHORIZED AND UNLAWFUL USE, PUBLICATION, AND/OR DISSEMINATION OF SPIN.PH CONTENT: Please be notified that any unauthorized and unlawful use, publication, and/or dissemination of Spin.ph’s content and/or materials is a direct violation of its legal and exclusive rights to the same, and shall be subject to appropriate legal action/s.
