The Community Debates the Reasons for T1’s Defeat
Perhaps even LPL fans or AL supporters could hardly believe that their team could secure such a dominant victory both in terms of the final score and the overall match when AL faced T1 in the EWC 2025 semifinals. However, reality showed that not only did AL perform well, but T1 also played below their usual standards, and the outcome was inevitable. Along with their underwhelming performance, numerous reasons have been highlighted by both experts and spectators.
According to commentator Wolf, it seems T1 lost their motivation, which led to performances that seemed to “disrespect the opponent.” The argument made by the renowned commentator from the LCK English channel points to T1’s champion picks in game 2 against MKOI and game 2 against AL as being very easy to execute. However, they did not play according to the champions they chose or their usual execution.
Many agree with the commentator’s perspective. If we overlook the fact that the EWC is a pure “money farming” tournament for teams, T1 can be said to have nearly achieved all their goals in the first half of the season, despite still being empty-handed. They performed well from the Road to MSI to the MSI finals afterward. And T1’s revenue has been sufficient.
Moreover, T1 is the team that played the most games in MSI 2025, and since the finals (which concluded early on July 13, according to Canada time), T1 had less than a day of rest before starting to move to Saudi Arabia to prepare for the EWC (according to the announcement image, T1 landed at EWC 2025 on the 15th).
However, for many AL fans, primarily the players of the team, they performed significantly better than T1. In both games, T1 had almost no standout plays that could surprise the AL players.
All Reasons for T1’s Defeat May Be Accurate
AL played better, that is undeniable. But the T1 players were also likely fatigued or lost their motivation to compete. However, whatever the reason, a defeat is still a defeat, and T1 must truly regroup their spirits and performance as the second phase of the LCK is about to begin.