As demonstrated in many recent seasons, one of the strongest playstyles, which has played a crucial role in T1’s most glorious phases, is maximizing the diverse champion pool of its players to create unique strategies. According to many experts and fans, as long as T1 can maintain this playstyle, they can definitely overcome any opponent. There have been countless regretful opinions when T1 faced Gen.G, abandoning their “brand” playstyle and subsequently suffering repeated defeats.
However, recently, according to Keria, this playstyle of T1 forces the bottom duo to sacrifice quite a lot during the draft phase. Specifically, in a recent interview, Keria admitted: “People often think I pick champions (Ashe, Hwei, Ezreal…) for Support just for fun. But in reality, I have a wide champion pool, so sometimes I have to ‘sacrifice’ a bit for the team to gain an advantage in the draft.”
This revelation surprised many fans. After all, T1 is the team that brought the ADC Support playstyle to new heights in Spring 2022. Since then, this playstyle has become a guiding principle for many teams looking to diversify their strategies and sources of damage. But perhaps no one expected that this playstyle was simply a requirement and that Keria himself did not want to revolve solely around ADC champions, even though he has proven to be quite skilled in that role.
However, this also shows one thing: T1’s bottom duo is incredibly talented as they can fully serve the team’s playstyle while still leaving their necessary mark in each match. Both Gumayusi and Keria are willing to “carry the team” and become the main sources of damage when the team needs it. Therefore, perhaps even if they are not really interested, Keria is still willing to make choices for the greater good.
In the upcoming playoffs, T1 will need to continue to leverage their familiar diverse playstyle. At this time, every player will need to focus and perform at their highest level. Not just to take revenge on Gen.G if they face them, but also to end their winless streak in domestic tournaments.