T1 finished LCK Spring 2024 with an excellent result: 15 W – 3 L in the group stage (2nd overall), followed by a good playoffs run. They came close to winning and had a 1 – 2 advantage in the Grand Final against Gen.G Esports, but eventually lost 3 – 2.
However, despite this loss, based on their overall performance and the fact that the roster has not been changed in nearly four years, everyone expected T1 to be one of the top two teams in the Summer split. But so far, LCK Summer has been rough for Faker and his squad.
T1’s Matches
[2024 #LCK Summer R1 M6 vs KT]⁰
다음 경기를 위해 꾸준히 노력하겠습니다.
T1의 첫 번째 Home Ground에 찾아와주신 팬 여러분께 감사드립니다.We will strive to bring the victory at our next match.
Thank you for cheering us on at the T1 Home Ground.#T1WIN #T1Fighting pic.twitter.com/j1RzI6hVHE— T1 LoL (@T1LoL) June 29, 2024
T1 started the split with a solid victory against NS RedForce. The two teams looked like they knew exactly what they wanted to do. T1 repeated two champion picks: Azir and Senna. NS RedForce repeated four of them and essentially played the same draft twice.
But because of T1’s amazing teamplay and superstar players, the battle was lost both times during the mid portion of the game.
T1’s next match was against Gen.G Esports and the result was not only bad. It was crushingly bad. Game 1 lasted just 27 minutes while game 2 just 24. T1 tried to make Rell and Taliyah work well together but their combo was met with a much more powerful one: Skarner, Nidalee, Ezreal, and Leona.
Gen.G were so confident that their idea would perfectly counter T1’s strategy that they picked these four champions twice.
In their next three matches, T1 won without struggling too much. Their opponents were Dplus, Freecs, and DRX. Dplus nearly won game 1 against them. Freecs actually won this game but ended up losing the next two. DRX looked hopeless from the start.
After these three victories, T1 were doing alright in the league and their only defeat had been against their nemesis, Gen.G Esports. But in their next match, one of the league’s underdogs managed to beat them.
KT Rolster were 1 W – 4 L before they met T1, so everyone was sure they would lose. But Faker’s team underestimated their ability to counteract them. After picking Azir, Zeri, and Skarner in game 1, T1 used the same strategy in game 2 and it backfired.
Then, in game 3, they tried another Zeri-based strategy and it backfired again. It’s not entirely clear why teams with such formidable players and so much versatility decide to go for the same strategy and champions two or even three times in a row. This match between T1 and KT Rolster should serve as a warning.
With their current record of 4 W – 2 L, T1 are ranked 3rd in the league, on par with Freecs and Hanwha Life Esports.
Header: T1
