On April 1st (Vietnam time), Gen.G faced a defeat against T1 with a score of 1-3 in the winners’ bracket finals of the LCK Spring 2023 qualifiers. This result was not too surprising as T1 has been showing very high performance since the Group Stage. What amazed the audience was that Gen.G tested several new strategies in this crucial match against T1.
However, T1 seemed unfazed by the new strategies presented by Gen.G. New picks like Jarvan IV Top Lane with Aery Rune or the return of Olaf Jungle seemed to have been anticipated by T1. In the post-match interview, T1 players revealed a very simple way to grasp all the strategies Gen.G had prepared.
“Regarding picks like Jarvan IV Top Lane or Olaf Jungle, we had already prepared countermeasures. The night before, Oner and I checked Gen.G’s match history online. I noticed Doran had played a few games with Jarvan IV and Peanut continuously used Olaf. So I thought they would use these champions for the upcoming match, so we prepared in advance,” shared Zeus from T1.
Essentially, Gen.G’s special picks had a very clear strategic intention. Jarvan IV with Aery Rune can poke effectively and can lane well against Jayce. Meanwhile, Olaf is a very strong choice in a continuous skirmish early game. However, revealing these champions right before the official match day completely diminished Gen.G’s surprise factor.
Perhaps this is a valuable lesson for Gen.G and other teams remaining in the LCK Spring 2023 qualifiers. Training special strategies to surprise T1 is a good thing. However, teams need to find ways to “hide their cards” if they do not want T1 to read their strategies like in Gen.G’s case recently.