In recent days, the League of Legends community has been buzzing about DRX’s historic victory. However, we cannot overlook T1, who also performed exceptionally well at the World Championship 2022. On their journey to the finals, T1 overcame many champions, including EDG (World Champions 2021), JDG (LPL Summer Champions 2022), and RNG (MSI Champions 2022). In the finals, T1 only lost because DRX played better than them.
However, it cannot be denied that T1’s defeat was partly due to their own mistakes. Not banning Kingen’s Aatrox in the deciding match and the decline in form of key players were among the reasons. In the post-match press conference, Coach Bengi and Faker discussed the main reasons why T1 once again missed out on the World Championship title.
Specifically, Coach Bengi stated: “I believe we played too hastily in today’s match. As a coach, I also think I made poorer draft choices than the opponent. I was too slow to recognize the opponent’s strategy.” Faker also mentioned: “There were many games where we had a firm grip on victory but then made mistakes. I just want to say that DRX played more focused than we did, especially in the mid and late game.”
In the interview, Coach Bengi also revealed the reason why he and the team decided not to ban Kingen’s Aatrox in game 5, even though the DRX player had an outstanding performance with this champion in game 4.
Specifically, Bengi admitted: “At least, that’s what I envisioned. I thought that if we picked Varus early, DRX would counter with Azir and Renata. I did not expect Aatrox to be picked right away. I thought that champion would be picked in the fourth or fifth round. I also believed that the team could handle Aatrox even if the opponent picked it. We let Aatrox go to our opponents, and that was the biggest reason.”
It can be said that the complacency of Coach Bengi and T1 was the main reason for this team’s defeat against DRX. Nevertheless, this was also Bengi’s first World Championship in his new role. However, Coach Bengi and his players will need to learn from this experience and correct their mistakes immediately if they don’t want these errors to recur in the new season.