Faker fulfills his dream of winning Worlds again

The truth is that everyone knew it before the match even took place. The skill difference was too big to leave room for an upset.

T1 entered Worlds 2023 as one of the best four teams in the race. But they were expected to encounter an opponent like Gen.G Esports, JD Gaming, or Bilibili Gaming in the Grand Final. Instead, they got to play against Weibo Gaming, a team that barely qualified for the playoffs and had a single relevant victory in the entire tournament, against Bilibili Gaming.

How they won against the Chinese squad, nobody knows. The strength difference between the two teams is enormous, so the 2-3 result must have hurt Bilibili players a lot.

[#Worlds2023 Finals vs. WBG]

Worlds에서의 4번째 우승컵을 들어올립니다!🏆
함께 울고 웃으며 뜨거운 응원을 보내주신 팬 여러분 감사합니다.

Our fourth WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP!🏆
Thank you for being part of our journey, your continued support led us here.#T1WIN #T1Fighting… pic.twitter.com/F3eC7UIhY2

— T1 LoL (@T1LoL) November 19, 2023

The background of the Grand Final

Weibo finished both splits 5^th – 6^th in the LPL. With these kinds of results, what chance did they stand against T1? Absolutely 0. However, the match was still fun to watch, at least for T1 fans. And to be honest, almost everyone who watched this match was a T1 fan. Weibo doesn’t have that many fans at the moment because they’re not a top regional team.

Everyone who watched the Grand Final of Worlds 2023 felt like Faker should easily win the match for his team. Any other result would have been an unforgivable theft.

Last year, T1 lost the Grand Final of Worlds after having a 2-1 advantage because of a lapse in concentration. It only lasted an hour but it was devastating. DragonX stole their prize after they had worked hard for an entire year.

This time, Faker made sure that nothing could stand in his way. His champions were well-chosen, and what he did with them was a masterclass. One thing that everyone enjoyed about T1’s strategy was their versatility. We often see great teams choosing to stick to the same set of strategies, sometimes picking the same champion over and over.

But in this match, Faker played three different champions. Each time, his game plan was completely different. This made it hard for Weibo to predict his moves. And while he was put under pressure, the rest of T1 had an easy time.

The games lasted just 30, 30, and 26 minutes respectively. These durations clearly indicate that the battle was one-sided. And it’s what everyone expected. We still hoped that Weibo would win a game, but they weren’t allowed to.

Header: T1