Gumayusi’s breakout performance highlights a “problem” with T1
After the victory against AL in the quarterfinals of Worlds 2025, AD Carry Gumayusi earned his first MVP of the tournament with a dazzling display against the opponent, especially in the crucial game 4 and 5. Notably, in the extremely important game where T1 was pushed to the wall (game 4), Gumayusi utilized Kai’Sa exceptionally well, despite being labeled as someone who “doesn’t know how to play” this champion. However, from this point, fans realized that the issue does not lie with Gumayusi.
In fact, in game 4, right from the ban-pick phase, T1 showcased a much smoother team composition with champions that can dive into the enemy like Nocturne and Neeko. Additionally, they had Ornn for both tanking and initiating fights. These were essential prerequisites for Kai’Sa to have a solid foundation and deal damage or dive into the opponent during a team fight. Fans also made a “bitter” remark: “The win with Kai’Sa shows that it’s not that Gumayusi can’t play, but that only now does T1 know how to operate this champion.”
The last time T1 used Kai’Sa for Gumayusi was in the loss against Gen.G. At that time, they also had an aggressive jungle pick, but Doran’s Ambessa couldn’t tank as well as Ornn, and the ultimate used to initiate fights wasn’t always accurate. Meanwhile, Keria used Alistar, which is a champion good for engaging, but mostly targets single enemies, and Faker’s Aurora simply didn’t have any impact.
Similarly, in the match against HLE, T1 used three tanks that could initiate fights, and with Keria’s Neeko, they had four champions to initiate fights, but only Kai’Sa had damage. This contrasts with the match against AL, where damage was shared by Viktor and Nocturne, allowing Gumayusi to be more comfortable in engaging and he was no longer the primary target to be focused on.
T1 is showing improvement day by day
In the match against AL, T1 brought out many unusual champions that had never been used even in their domestic season. It’s clear that T1 is gradually improving. There are still some issues, but this is a good sign for the reigning World Champion.