T1 wins the Esports Team of the Year award

T1 went through quite a rollercoaster this year. First they finished LCK Spring in 2^nd place, after ending the group stage with a record of 17 W – 1 L. That was a phenomenal achievement that indicated this would be Faker’s year again.

However, in the playoffs, T1 ended up losing the Grand Final to Gen.G Esports, a team they had defeated in the upper bracket Final (3 – 1). This opponent, whose group stage record was merely 13 W – 5 L, simply found a way to beat T1 consistently.

In LCK Summer, Faker got injured. It may sound strange to someone who’s never tried to train and play the game professionally, but esports competitors do get injured from time to time. In most cases, their arms suffer from too many hours of intense training. Wrist injuries seem to be the most common.

In games like Dota 2 and Counter-Strike, quite a few famous players got injured over the years and had to take long breaks. In some cases, when they came back, they were not the same and their careers suffered as a result.

So when Faker announced his injury, everyone assumed the worst. At first, we were convinced that T1’s 2023 season was ruined. And it nearly was. But after weeks of absence and some important resignations, Faker came back to lead his team. T1’s group stage record in this split was 9 W – 9 L, which clearly shows just how big his individual contribution is.

But, because of LCK’s competitive format, T1’s 5^th place was sufficient to allow them to qualify for the playoffs, where they started in the quarterfinals. Their first opponent was Dplus (3 – 1). After that, T1 defeated KT Rolster (2 – 3). In the upper bracket Final, Gen.G defeated them (2 – 3) and sent them to the lower bracket Final, where they defeated KT Rolster again (3 – 2).

In the Grand Final, Gen.G proved to be once again much stronger and beat them 3 – 0. But T1 were qualified for Worlds 2023 and that was all that mattered.

[#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

Worlds 2023

In this great competition, T1 played surprisingly well. Once again, they were defeated by Gen.G in the Swiss Stage.

But, despite qualifying for the playoffs with a 3 W – 0 L record, Gen.G lost in the quarterfinals to Bilibili Gaming, who in turn lost to Weibo Gaming in the semifinals. This allowed T1 to win with ease (3 – 0) after defeating LNG Esports and JDG.

Header: T1