Two T1 Players Shine in Loss to HLE
In the match on September 14th (Vietnam time), T1 surprisingly suffered a clean sweep loss to HLE with a score of 0-3. This damaging defeat dropped T1 into the lower bracket, where they must face DK/BFX in a true do-or-die battle for the last LCK spot at the 2025 World Championship. Notably, T1’s loss highlighted numerous critical mistakes made by the entire team. However, two players received significant encouragement: Gumayusi and Doran.
In all three matches, Gumayusi did not lose his lane against Viper, regardless of using the champion Kai’Sa, who is a hyper carry alongside the strong duo of Lucian – Braum. In fact, based on his positioning and damage output, game 3 marked Gumayusi completely dominating Viper. It was also T1’s ADC who kept the team’s hopes alive in game 1 during HLE’s turret push.
The other standout was Doran. Throughout the three games, Doran also put in maximum effort. Especially in games 1 and 2, Doran’s Sion and Gwen were crucial for T1 to engage in favorable team fights. However, with the top lane meta’s damage being nerfed, T1 failed to play around their ADC, even after selecting a hyper carry for Gumayusi, leaving Doran feeling “powerless.”
This Star Duo Remains T1’s Backbone for Upcoming Important Matches
In the upcoming match, regardless of whether the opponent is DK or BFX, the duo of Gumayusi and Doran could still play a pivotal role. Both DK and BFX have very strong ADCs. Additionally, DK’s top laner Siwoo should not be underestimated.
In this context, perhaps Gumayusi’s brilliance against Diable/Aiming, or a moment of brilliance from Doran, will be the key factors helping T1 achieve victory, especially if they once again put themselves in challenging situations during the matches against HLE.