Only a few days left until the World Championship (Worlds) 2023 officially kicks off. Naturally, the two major regions, LPL and LCK, with 8 representatives, will be highly regarded in the Swiss round. Among them, names like JD Gaming (JDG) and Gen.G are seen as the strongest contenders for the championship. However, we cannot overlook teams like T1, Bilibili Gaming, and KT Rolster… who are always ready to challenge and create the most thrilling matches in the League of Legends scene.
Recently, Korean media released the results of the Top 20 players deemed the strongest to participate in Worlds 2023. Accordingly, the entire roster of JDG and Gen.G made the list, with Ruler ranked first and Chovy right behind in second place. This is completely reasonable as both are the core of their respective teams. Moreover, Ruler is currently in excellent form, while Chovy just secured his third consecutive LCK championship.
However, what surprised League of Legends fans is that T1 only contributed 2 names to this list: Keria and Zeus. Meanwhile, the player who consistently maintained the highest performance, Gumayusi, is absent. More importantly, Faker also “fell off” despite his undeniable importance to T1. Even LNG Esports, a team that only truly “woke up” close to the playoffs, contributed 4 names.
Subsequent rankings
Of course, it is difficult to evaluate concepts like influence or “spiritual leadership.” But it is clear that Faker has demonstrated his importance to the T1 lineup. Meanwhile, Gumayusi’s absence could be explained by a misstep in the final against Gen.G. However, it seems harsh for LCK fans to disregard Gumayusi based solely on this.
Of course, all rankings or evaluations are ultimately for reference only. The performance at Worlds 2023 will be what truly matters. And it is very likely that when expectations are low, T1 will be truly fearsome, just as they ended the LCK Summer 2023 group stage in 5th place, only to later dominate DK, KT, and reach the finals.