In the match on the afternoon of July 23 (Vietnam time), T1 faced a significantly weaker opponent, sitting at the bottom of the rankings: Fredit BRION (BRO). It can be said that BRO is the weakest opponent that T1 could encounter at this time. A crushing victory was what fans of this team and the League of Legends (LoL) community expected. However, the situation did not unfold as anticipated.
T1 faced many difficulties, and if it weren’t for the star moments from Faker and Zeus, T1 could have paid dearly. BRO played extremely evenly with Faker and his teammates. Not to mention that even in game 1, Zeus – the player currently ranked first in the best players of LCK Summer 2022, was also challenged by Morgan.
It’s not just in the match against BRO; even in previous matches, T1 has faced difficulties against “lower-tier” teams. In the matches against Kwangdong Freecs (KDF) or Hanwha Life Esports (HLE), T1 had to fight until game 3 to determine the victor. Additionally, in the first round of the group stage, KDF even defeated Faker and his teammates, ending T1’s unbeaten streak, despite KDF’s poor performance at that time.
Continuously facing challenges against weaker teams, what issues is T1 encountering?
T1’s Underestimation of Opponents
In the current T1 lineup, except for Faker, the rest are young players. Moreover, the team members have impressive accomplishments. Records are constantly being broken, new milestones are set, and the audience’s praise is more than enough to occasionally distract these young stars.
At the beginning of the 2022 season, many believed that Faker, with his calmness and experience, would be able to keep his teammates’ confidence in check. However, perhaps even Faker himself has struggled with this. In the recent match against BRO, after winning, Faker did not feel happy. Perhaps Faker realized that this victory brought too many issues for T1.
The Efforts of Teams Entering a Critical Phase
The LCK Summer 2022 is entering the second half of the group stage. This is the time when teams must show determination to secure a spot in the playoffs. For teams in the lower half of the standings, they must push themselves to improve their results. Among them, BRO is perhaps in the most precarious situation.
Moreover, T1 always attracts a lot of attention and high regard from rival teams. Recently, Peanut himself affirmed that being ranked first means nothing if T1 is not defeated. This shows that the determination of teams multiplies significantly when facing T1.
The Pressure of Maintaining Performance
One would think that after T1’s unbeaten streak ended, the players would perform more smoothly. But in reality, after the unbeaten streak is the performance in LCK Summer 2022 and the goal of winning the 2022 World Championship (Worlds 2022). This is because T1’s players failed at MSI 2022. Thus, they only have LCK Summer 2022 and the upcoming Worlds 2022 to claim a title.
For T1’s young players, the upcoming responsibilities are immense. The pressure is mounting as they approach the critical phase. It is not surprising that Gumayusi, Keria, or even Oner and Zeus sometimes drop in performance. This also affects the team’s performance, especially when T1 faces weaker teams. These are teams that, although rated lower, certainly do not carry as much burden as T1.
The most critical phases of the entire season are approaching. While T1 maintaining their current winning streak is good, Zeus, Oner, and even Faker cannot “carry the team” indefinitely. If T1 does not make timely changes, they could pay for it with their entire season.