In less than a year since MSI 2022, T1 has reached 4 finals. At first glance, this is an impressive achievement. Moreover, in all 4 finals, T1 was rated higher than its opponents. In fact, during the 2022 World Championship, when facing DRX, almost no one thought that Faker and his teammates would fail.
But in the end, T1 lost all 4 of those finals. Broadly speaking, apart from the LCK Spring 2022 championship, T1 has come up empty in every other competition. This is simply unacceptable, especially when T1 can be considered to be peaking. Aside from Faker, the other players are at the highest point of their careers.
These consecutive losses in finals have led to T1 being underrated. According to LPL media, T1 is currently not a strong team, to put it bluntly, there are too many issues across all positions. First, Zeus and Oner are said to always drop in performance during crucial stages. Notably, the Top-Jungle duo was the main reason T1 lost to Gen.G in the recent final, especially in games 1 and 2.
Next, T1’s bot lane duo also has issues. As known, not long ago Gumayusi hinted that if T1 continued their poor performance, they might have to disband. After this statement, many fans felt that Gumayusi was too negative and criticized him. In fact, some people compared this to MSI 2022 when Gumayusi also experienced an inexplicable drop in performance at this tournament and referred to him as a “ticking time bomb”. His poor performance has made it difficult for T1 and led to their defeat against Royal Never Give Up.
Accompanying Gumayusi is Keria, who is considered one of the best Supports currently. However, according to LPL media, Keria’s continuous use of “unusual” champion picks in the bot lane has had the opposite effect. Not every patch allows for such flexibility, and this has reduced Keria’s ability to observe and control the entire map, a strength he had previously.
Finally, there’s Faker, as signs of aging have become evident in his performances. The “Demon King” often makes mistakes if the match drags on too long. A notable example was his puzzling play with Ahri in game 4 against Gen.G in the LCK Spring 2023 finals. Faker is still impressive, but even he sometimes feels fatigued.
According to the assessment from the LPL region, T1 is not as strong as fans perceive. Faker and his teammates still have a lot to improve if they do not want to leave another tournament empty-handed at the upcoming MSI 2023. Especially since the results of this tournament could significantly impact their qualification for the HANGZHOU ASIAD at the end of the year.