T1's winning streak came to a screeching halt this LCK Spring. Their opponent was Hanwha Life Esports, who had some of the best players in the game, but were in a bad mood after losing back-to-back games. While T1 won the first game with a forking combination like Jays-Jin-Jigs, the second game was a different kind of objective battle, resulting in their first loss of the season.
Commenting on the game against Hanwha Life, T1 head coach Bae "Seong-woong" Bae said, "We expected Hanwha Life Esports to lose momentum because they were on a losing streak, but they prepared their pick bans better than we thought and played well, so we lost unfortunately. Lee 'Faker' Sang-hyuk added, "Our preparation and will to win was lacking. We made a lot of mistakes in the game. Our team was on a winning streak, so we didn't feel like we could keep our composure. On the contrary, our opponent played hard," he reflected.
Regarding the opponent's tank-centered combination from the second set, Bae Sung-woong said, "We prepared for the second set with a concept. I thought the completion process was good, but we lacked late game champion value. In the last three sets, we had good late-game value, but it was unfortunate that we couldn't punish our opponents in the dragon battle." "I thought the third dragon was the turning point in the game. We had a good stack of dragons, but we gave them a dragon. From then on, they were able to build up their dragons, which gave them strength."
When asked if they learned anything from the game, 'Faker' said, "We talked about making experimental picks this time, and we were able to get a lot of information from that." "I felt like we were operationally stiff in the second set, and it's my job to loosen that up," Bae said.
T1 will next face Nongshim Red Force this week. "We won't let our guard down just because they're Nongshim, and we'll work hard to secure the same first win," said coach Bae Sung-woong. "Faker" concluded the interview by saying, "We have a short period of time left before Nongshim, 한국야동 so we will prepare hard, mainly by managing our physical condition.