After the semifinals of the 2023 World Championship concluded, the two teams that secured spots in the final match were Weibo Gaming (WBG) and T1. In contrast, Bilibili Gaming (BLG) and JD Gaming (JDG) were eliminated, ending their hopes of winning the 2023 Worlds. For JDG, this defeat was even more disappointing for fans as they were very close to achieving a grand slam of titles.
After the match ended, many reasons were cited to explain JDG’s defeat. For instance, 369 and Knight did not perform well in this match, Kanavi made some critical mistakes in game 4, or T1 simply showed outstanding performance. However, from Ruler’s perspective, a “game-changing” pick from T1 was the main reason JDG faced defeat in the semifinals.
“I think Bard in Keria’s hands played a crucial role in the match. He could roam freely while the Support from JDG had to stay in lane with me. This created a significant experience gap between Gumayusi and me. T1 seemed to outperform us in developing gameplay from the Bot Lane. Furthermore, Keria utilized Bard’s ultimate very well and created a lot of discomfort, making it very hard for us to engage in fights,” Ruler shared with the media.
Indeed, looking back at the match between T1 and JDG, Bard’s influence in Keria’s hands was as significant as Ruler mentioned. Right in the first major team fight in game 1, the Cosmic Binding ultimate neutralized 3 members of JDG, leading to victory for T1. This discomfort continued to manifest in game 4 when Keria repeatedly caught isolated JDG members from afar with this skill.
Perhaps JDG was too impressed with Keria’s Senna, Ashe, or Renata Glasc in the match against LNG Esports and forgot about Bard. As a consequence, T1 punished this team as Bard played an overly important role in their victory over JDG. For this reason, Keria was voted as the MVP of the semifinals between JDG and T1.
With such an outstanding performance, WBG will certainly have to pay close attention to Bard in Keria’s hands. As for T1, this team is currently maintaining high performance in every position as even a Support player can lead to JDG’s “collapse”. If Bard continues to help Keria and T1 succeed in the finals, it would not be surprising if this champion wins the world championship skin this year.