Recently, T1 had no trouble at all overcoming Kwangdong Freecs. Gone is the momentum of the “dark horse” team from the first round of the LCK Spring 2024 group stage, as KDF faced a T1 that is currently too powerful. Not to mention, T1 displayed maximum seriousness, even though their draft picks still felt very bold and risky. Such as the combo of 2 ADCs in the bottom lane in game 1 or letting Smolder be used by Bull in game 2. However, T1 still demonstrated absolute destruction in both games, achieving victory with relative ease. The total time for both games was under 1 hour and 30 minutes, including breaks and drafting time.
However, a characteristic that KDF has executed, as well as many teams have performed in recent matches against T1: the thorough “gank” of Zeus. According to many assessments, with his rising form, along with always having strong champions like Aatrox, Jax… Zeus is truly the most dangerous ticking time bomb of T1. Therefore, locking him down and limiting his power growth is seen as a principle for victory. Moreover, T1’s recent opponents (KT Rolster, OKSavingsBank BRION, and even KDF recently) all have very notable top laners (PerfecT, Morgan, DuDu).
However, after many victories and performances from Zeus as well as the entire T1 team, it seems that being continuously targeted by opponents might also be a “strategy” that T1 wants to implement. Specifically, everyone can clearly see that Zeus is being ganked time and time again in the early game. However, this inadvertently “releases” pressure from other lanes, especially the bottom lane – an area currently considered the weakest in a team due to Riot’s adjustments.
Additionally, Zeus has an advantage that inadvertently serves this playstyle well: his ability to farm and regain an advantage very quickly. In fact, even when constantly ganked, during crucial moments, Zeus knows how to maximize his contributions to T1. A prime example is the recent match against KDF, where he effectively utilized Hextech Gates to position himself behind the enemy team. From there, his Ultimate and Q abilities became unstoppable.
Moreover, Zeus being ganked also allows Gumayusi and Keria to freely apply pressure on the opponents’ bottom lane. This is a very useful strategic factor, as teams are prioritizing strong late-game ADC champions like Smolder, Varus… Being heavily pressured in the early stages will make it difficult for these ADCs to stack their passives and grow stronger. For instance, Bull’s Smolder was completely “crippled” when he had not even reached 60 minion kills after 10 minutes.
Of course, allowing opponents to continuously gank Zeus’s position could pose difficulties for T1 if they face strong names like Gen.G. Nevertheless, T1 is currently very successful in controlling everything, and Gen.G may need to reconsider if they plan to exploit Zeus’s position in the upcoming match this weekend.