In the early hours of July 7, T1 officially secured their spot in the EWC 2024 Finals after defeating Team Liquid with a score of 2-1. Contrary to many spectators’ predictions, T1 had to work extremely hard to overcome the LCS representatives in this match. In fact, TL was the team that took the lead and put T1 in a position where they had to “come from behind.”
However, with the resilience of a top-tier team, T1 pulled off a very emotional “turnaround” in this match. After the match concluded, TL’s coach Spawn expressed deep regret over the loss despite their exceptional performance. Nevertheless, the TL coach acknowledged that Faker and his teammates possess a unique quality, and his team lost with “full respect.”
“I am truly very sad at this moment after losing the match. Perhaps it is because T1 is the best team at playing under high pressure and made it impossible for us to win. However, I still regret that the whole team could have won that deciding match. This has been an extremely enjoyable tournament, thank you all for the support,” TL’s coach Spawn shared on his personal page.
Indeed, looking back at game 3 between T1 and TL, spectators can see that the LCS representative played very well and had a “dream start.” Notably, they maximized their lane swap strategy and took down Zeus twice at the beginning of the game. Meanwhile, T1 failed to find a similar way to attack Impact, allowing him too much freedom.
However, just as Coach Spawn mentioned, the T1 team possesses exceptional pressure resistance and did not get caught up in TL’s playstyle. In fact, T1 knew how to capitalize on TL’s enthusiasm and set a trap for their opponents to secure victory. A prime example was the team fight in the 20th minute when T1 took advantage of UmTi’s eagerness and pulled TL into a fight where T1 had a complete advantage. Shortly after was Oner’s spectacular Baron steal that opened the door to victory for the LCK representative.
With this result, T1 has secured their place in the EWC 2024 Finals, where their opponent will be TES, who is currently in excellent form. It’s not out of the question that this final match may require a full 5 games to determine the winner. As for TL, they put on a great performance against a strong opponent named T1. If they maintain this level of play, TL could very well become an interesting phenomenon at the 2024 World Championship.