“There is No Downfall even if there is a Slump”… T1 Catches DK and Goes on a 3-Game Winning Streak [Lee Joo-hyun’s Login eSports]
“(For T1) there is a slump, but no downfall”
These are the thoughts of T1 head coach Kim ‘kkOma’ Jeong-gyun in an interview after their 3-1 victory in the 2016 LCK (League of Legends Champions Korea) Spring Finals.
At the time, SK Telecom T1 (now T1) started the Spring regular league in 7th place, but ended up winning the championship.
T1’s same stamina was replicated in the 2024 LCK Summer regular league eight years later.
T1 is on a three-game winning streak, having won against Dplus Kia with a set score of 2-1 on the 31st of last month.
T1 has been struggling since winning the eSports World Cup (EWC) held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia early last month.
After losing to Hanwha Life Esports on the 12th of last month, they were dealt a blow to BNK FearX in the last match of the first round, falling into a three-game losing streak. 파워볼실시간
However, they have been showing a different side since entering the second round of the regular season.
Although they lost to Hanwha Life Esports again, they have since been on a roll, defeating KT Rolster, DRX, and even 3rd place Diplo Kia in the regular season.
With this, T1 now sits in 4th place in the regular season with 8 wins and 5 losses, tied with Diplo Kia.
The match against Diplo Kia that day also clearly demonstrated T1's strength.
T1 lost the first set after a fierce battle that lasted 46 minutes, but they then won the 2nd and 3rd sets to complete a 'loss-win-win' reverse sweep.
A particularly notable point is that they showed a departure from the 'rigid ban pick' that was pointed out as a weakness in the previous match against BNK PierX.
T1 started off with an advantage by selecting Kennen, Povi, Corki, Jhin, and Leona in the first set that day, widening the gap early.
However, they later got caught up in the opponent's mobility, accumulated damage on the side, and lost the major large-scale engagement (team fight) surrounding a large object, giving them the victory.
In the second set that followed, T1 showed different cards by selecting Jax, Viego, Corki, Kalista, and Renatta Glask.
While Jax withstood the opponent's offensive in top, T widened the gap by eating the opponent's turrets in mid and bottom.
T1 maintained a gold lead until the end, eventually destroying Diplo Kia's nexus by widening the gap by over 10,000 gold.
The highlight of the day came in the third set.
T1 once again used Jin, a long-range dealer who they had used in the first set and lost.
However, unlike before, they showed flexibility by changing other champions.
They formed a rush composition with Camille, Vi, and Ahri in the upper body, and showed a composition that maximized Jin's 'long-range support' ability.
Of course, there was a weakness of not having enough tanks, but T1 compensated for this with their specialty, aggro ping-pong called 'Circus'.
Whenever there was a move by Deflek Kia, there were scenes where 'Faker' Lee's Ahri and 'Owner' Moon's Vi survived with only a little blood left.
Even with a poor record of 0 wins and 3 losses this season, the performance of the long-range dealer 'Gumayusi' Lee Min-hyung, who confidently chose Jin, was also dazzling.
In a large-scale battle that began around the fourth dragon at around 23 minutes of the game, T1 succeeded in hunting the dragon, but allowed Diplo Kia to initiate (start the battle), and the fight began with Ahri being cut off first.