Yesterday – May 15th, the final matches of the MSI 2022 Play-In Stage officially concluded with not many surprises. T1, at the top of Group A, continued to demonstrate absolute dominance with 3 victories, finishing the Play-In stage unbeaten, just like G2 and RNG. Meanwhile, VCS representative SGB also defeated direct competitors DFM and AZE to secure the last spot in the Rumble Stage.
It’s unclear whether it was intentional or accidental, but the interviewer for Faker after the Play-In concluded was his former teammate Bang. Perhaps because he knows the “Chairman” too well, Bang immediately posed the hottest questions regarding the fiery encounters coming up between T1 and G2, RNG. On the side of “Chairman” Faker, he appeared extremely confident about defeating both of these heavyweights in the upcoming Rumble Stage.
Question: It seems there is a contrast in the current T1 lineup as your teammates don’t have much international experience.
T1 Faker: Some of them come from other teams, while the rest have been trained through T1’s system. I think they’ve adjusted extremely well, not just at last year’s World Championship but also at this MSI.
Question: Do you have any plans for facing G2 and RNG? Especially with G2, as this is a “revenge” match, right?
T1 Faker: Even though we lost to G2 a few years ago, T1 now is a completely different team. As long as we prepare carefully, I believe T1 will take down G2 without any issues. With RNG, it’s been a while since we faced them. However, our plan hasn’t changed at all.
Not only currently but even from the moment G2 and T1 were confirmed to attend MSI 2022, the matchup between these two teams has become a hot topic. Besides the form factor, the past and somewhat the “grudge” between these two teams has drawn attention to them. Perhaps no one can forget the “Super team” SKT T1 being defeated by G2 Esports at the MSI 2019 Semifinals using Pyke Top.
In fact, G2 Esports was also the team that defeated SKT T1 once again at the 2019 World Championship Semifinals, causing the “Super team” of LCK to officially disband. Following that, this team had to “tear down and rebuild” their lineup, resulting in a strong T1 roster with extremely young players at this time. As for G2, they have also changed a lot since that 2019 year, so the upcoming clash between T1 and G2 “new” promises to be very fascinating.
