In LCK Spring 2024, T1 is showcasing an almost perfect peak performance. Faker and his teammates demonstrate their dominance, regardless of the opponent, since their loss to Gen.G on the opening day of the tournament. At this point, it can be said that they are showing the qualities of a championship contender for LCK Spring 2024 and clearly displaying a title ambition. They are even unhesitant in utilizing a wide variety of champions to find the best strategies for themselves. And it is likely that, as the group stage comes to a close, T1 will bring forth even more new playstyles.
T1’s excellent performance also brings significant benefits to LCK. After all, everyone understands that T1 is currently the most influential team in the League of Legends scene and is the reigning champion of the 2023 World Championship. T1’s matches, regardless of the opponent, will draw substantial attention. Therefore, according to a recent statistic on LCK ratings, all top 10 spots are from matches featuring T1. Notably, the matches where T1 faces OKSavingsBank BRION or DRX have even higher views than spotlight matches like Dplus KIA – KT Rolster or Gen.G – KT.
However, a significant issue has arisen: LCK is becoming overly dependent on T1. In fact, in two matches, one being a spotlight match and the other being T1’s complete domination, just extending one more game could allow the match where T1 dominates against a weaker opponent to surpass the views of the spotlight match. For example, the match T1 – KT lasted only 2 games, and had significantly lower views than the match T1 – Nongshim RedForce, which took Faker and his teammates 3 games to resolve.
Currently, T1 has a massive appeal, thanks to Faker and his teammates, especially after the 2023 World Championship. But one undeniable truth is that there will come a time when Faker retires or T1 loses its allure. The question arises: who will take on the role of attracting viewers? As mentioned earlier, matches featuring Gen.G, KT, or DK simultaneously do not hold the same appeal.
The question “Who will replace T1’s role in attracting viewers?” has been repeated for many years, but to this day, there is still no satisfactory answer. With Faker and the surrounding achievements, combined with effective media strategies, T1 has established an influence that is hard to replace overnight. And as the day when Faker leaves professional League of Legends draws closer, LCK may indeed be very worried because the appeal of the tournament will certainly be severely affected.