Recently, the League of Legends community pointed out a very interesting statistic about the home teams of MSI and Worlds. Specifically, since 2015, no home team has been able to celebrate winning the MSI or Worlds championship. The last team to achieve this was Samsung White, featuring legends like Mata, Imp, and Dandy, when they won Worlds 2014 held in their home country, South Korea.
Among the aforementioned “away” championships, we can see that Korean teams have celebrated titles in China three times. These are the 2016 MSI title for SKT T1, the 2017 Worlds title for Samsung Galaxy, and the 2021 Worlds title for Damwon Gaming. The LPL representatives have only celebrated a major title on Korean soil once, at Worlds 2018 with the championship of Invictus Gaming.
And clearly, with the MSI 2022 Finals approaching, this historical call is against T1, the host of this tournament. Remember that T1’s opponent in the upcoming Finals not only possesses pure skill but RNG also has the cunning of a title conqueror. Recall that at MSI 2021, this team defeated a powerful DWG, the world champion, with their extremely annoying playstyle. It is clear that they have the “crazy” factor to take down T1 in the upcoming match.
As for T1, we must fairly assess that they have improved significantly since the Rumble Stage after defeating G2. The bottom lane duo of T1 has somewhat regained their confidence and no longer makes mistakes for opponents to exploit. However, T1’s upcoming opponent is RNG, and the duo of Gala and Ming still shows exceptional synergy along with their high performance. In response, Gumayusi and Keria need to play explosively in the upcoming match.
It can be said that the upcoming MSI 2022 Finals will certainly be very balanced and unpredictable. If T1’s young squad cannot withstand the pressure, they could very well become the next victims of the “curse” of not being able to win MSI or Worlds on home soil.