T1 Faker Aims For Historic Fifth LoL Worlds Trophy
He’s the undisputed GOAT. They’re the most storied organisation. Lee “Faker” Sang-hyeok and T1 went seven years without winning a League of Legends World Championship, but their unexpected 2023 run saw Faker’s legacy extended with an unprecedented fourth title.
Their roster has remained the same for the last three seasons – Zeus, Oner, Faker, Gumayusi, Keria – and they’ve now reached a third successive Worlds final.
But it hasn’t all been smiles and rainbows. The lineup hasn’t won a domestic title since Spring 2022 and each season has seemed to be on the brink of a breakup. By the end of 2023 most of the lineup was out of contract and they looked nailed on to split, but the miraculous Worlds run saw them band together again for 2024 and give it another try.
Domestically, problems occurred again and the team has been in Gen.G’s shadow all year with their Esports World Cup title the only glimmer of greatness.
But here on the biggest stage of them all, T1’s Worlds buff has come into full effect and suddenly the squad finds themselves LoL Worlds favourites in a Championship final yet again against China’s Bilibili Gaming.
A win will see Faker extend his legacy, claiming an unprecedented fifth Summoner’s Cup. A loss will see the team’s legacy end on a whimper, rather than cementing themselves as the greatest LoL dynasty ever.
T1 has looked extremely strong through their run. An early ramp-up in form saw them beat paiN Gaming, Bilibili, and G2 Esports in the Swiss stage to book their spot in the main event, and it’s since then that they’ve looked unstoppable.
A tricky tie against Top Esports in the quarter-finals looked a walk in the park for T1. The Koreans shut down their Chinese opposition in a ridiculously dominant 3-0 win in which TOP’s superstar bot laner JackeyLove wasn’t able to have any impact.
Then the semi-finals saw T1 against Gen.G; the side plaguing them for years in the LCK and with the best player on the planet, Chovy, in the mid lane. But the T1 aura struck, Gen.G looked a shadow of their normal selves and T1 beat them for the first time in 11 meetings.
Gen.G and Bilibili Gaming were tied favourites coming into the tournament. T1 has knocked out one already, and must beat another in the final. But despite being underdogs on paper, such is the immense weight and expectation from their fandom that T1 are always treated as the favourites; nothing but victory will suffice.
The immense expectations are T1’s biggest obstacle in the final. They were clear favourites against DRX in the final in 2022 but failed to make it count. Members of the team were visibly devastated by the defeat but T1 continued with the same roster for 2023 and turned it around.
More Weibo vs T1 at LoL Worlds Finals:
Lee “Gumayusi” Min-hyeong in the bot lane, a player seemingly born to play video games, has been their star at the tournament. He’s the younger brother of StarCraft pro INnoVation and rather incredibly a distant nephew of Faker himself. He looked like a bot lane prodigy when he was first promoted from T1’s academy, but there had been question marks around his form this season and a lot of discussion around his limited champion pool; something that can be hugely detrimental in best-of series.
Now he’s playing better than ever as the clear standout player at Worlds 2024 so far and will be the man that T1 will hope continues his form in the final to lead them to back-to-back Worlds glory.
