In many past tournaments, T1 has always been the unfortunate losing team. To be specific, in MSI 2023, they had to exit early in the losers’ bracket, but T1 reached the finals in every other tournament. However, since MSI 2022, the title has never smiled upon Faker and his teammates. Many reasons have been given, such as the players’ competitive mindset, opponents being too strong, and one of those reasons is that T1 rarely gets to play on patches where their favorite champions are truly strong.
Of course, for a sufficiently skilled player, they must adapt to every patch that Riot brings. However, no one can deny that if they get to play on a patch that suits them, players will be able to showcase even more of their capabilities. Thus, an unfavorable patch can make it difficult for players. Regardless of their talent, they cannot grasp all the pros and cons of a champion, even if that champion is meta and frequently used. Not to mention the variables that may occur during a match.
Recently, Riot decided to release patch 13.19. This will also be the version used for the World Championship (Worlds) 2023. As soon as the information was released, the T1 fan community was overjoyed. While in patch 13.18, only a few champions favored by T1 players received buffs (Caitlyn, Thresh), in patch 13.19, almost all the buffed champions are favored by T1, including: Jhin, Lissandra, Lee Sin, Galio, Syndra (along with Gangplank, Nunu, Pyke, Twitch, and Ziggs).
In fact, many T1 fans even asserted that T1 should disband if they cannot win the championship with this patch. Even the most loyal fans of T1 expressed great confidence: “This is our Worlds patch. If we can’t win the championship, disband and let these players choose teams that can win titles. Riot has done everything to ‘help’ us already.” This opinion received considerable agreement.
Of course, these are just humorous opinions as the patch for Worlds 2023 is very favorable for the champion pool of T1 players. But whether or not they win the title depends on the players’ performance, as well as their form and focus if they reach the final match.