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T1 have had a fantastic Summer Split. Despite their loss, they fought well and will look forward to challenging for the Summoner’s Cup at the 2022 World Championship.
T1 made it back to the League of Legends Champions Korea Grand Finals again this weekend after a dominant regular season. Following their Spring win a few months ago, and conquering Damwon Kia in the LCK Summer Semifinals, T1 were set to raise the LCK title once again. Across from them? A familiar adversary in Gen.G.
However, the rematch between these two titans did not end in T1’s favour, as they unfortunately got swept in the Grand Finals. Despite the sweep, T1 were able to show true grit in the series and, most importantly, consistency throughout the year.
Throughout the three games, T1 had an advantage in many moments. The team continued to make plays despite being behind. However, on the light-filled stage of the LCK Summer Grand Finals, Gen.G was the better team.
T1’s strong midgame that faltered at the end
Gen.G was able to get an early lead, with Han 'Peanut' Wang-ho’s Sejuani stealing Mun 'Oner' Hyeon-jun’s early buffs. However, T1 simply waited for their mid-game spike in order to execute. The moment the clock hit 15 minutes, T1 executed a quick gank on mid to get Jeong 'Chovy' Ji-hoon’s Azir. Another gank onto Gen.G’s Aatrox put T1 back into the game.
As T1 pushed further into the late game, Gen.G drew closer to their Dragon Soul win condition. However, Oner had something to say about it, as he smited away an important third Drake from Gen.G. Despite these plays, T1 fell further behind as they lost the fight right after. At that point T1 was getting outscaled, and as they fought for the final Dragon Soul, an unfortunate reset on the Drake caused Oner to miss his Smite, and Gen.G was able to clean up for a victory in game one.
A disappointing loss aside, the game wasn't a complete wash – Lee 'Gumayusi' Min-hyeong was also able to pick up his 600th kill in the LCK, an amazing achievement despite him only being in the LCK for a year and change.
A quick game two, and an attempted rebound
Despite holding their own in game one, game two was not the same. Gen.G was able to bait T1 into picking their covered Zeri-Yuumi bot lane that had served them so well throughout the season. Gen.G then picked Nilah-Singed, a bot lane made to counter T1’s weaker lane setups. The second game was an uncharacteristic loss from T1. Gen.G was able to execute play after play in the early game, and by 15 minutes, the game was essentially decided. It would require a strong game three to come back in the series.
In the third game, T1 went back to their confident early-game drafting. The defending champions picked up Azir and Vi early in the draft and expected to get ahead in the early and mid-game. T1 started off strong, getting first blood on Gen.G’s Renekton top lane. They snowballed the small lead to a Rift Herald, which allowed T1 to gather mid and take a tower. They quickly did the same in bot lane. T1 now held a strong grasp over the map and could've slowly snowballed their lead.
However, a fight near the bot lane tri brush spelt doom for T1. Oner dove too far with Vi, and Gen.G was able to get kills on Mordekaiser and Ahri. Knowing that the game was on the line, T1 went in for a large gamble by trying to rush Baron Nashor. While it looked like the game was going to be lost for T1 right there, they were able to get out of the pit and deny Gen.G a Baron buff.
T1 had held off Gen.G for as long as possible, but time was not on their side. At some point, Gen.G was able to outscale T1 and, in a mid-lane fight, were able to wipe T1 to hand them one of the toughest losses of their season.
The loss may seem depressing for fans at the moment, but T1 is working towards a larger goal – the League of Legends World Championship 2022. T1 has already qualified for the event and they will have time to prepare for the upcoming competition taking place all over the United States starting in September.
