T1’s Mistaken Choices in the Decisive Match
Recently, T1 faced defeat in their first match of the regional qualifiers after being beaten by Dplus KIA with a score of 2-3. This loss forces Faker and his teammates to play another match to cling to their last opportunity for the 2024 World Championship. In reality, this is a scenario no one anticipated, even though T1 has weakened significantly this Summer. However, this is also completely understandable as DK has shown they are clearly superior to T1 in their recent encounter. In fact, according to some analyses, T1 even appeared to be “self-destructive” with a perplexing draft that can be considered a mistake in the decisive match.
Specifically, in the decisive match, T1 allowed Oner to use Zyra – a champion that is quite difficult to operate despite having a very fast “jungle clear” ability. The reason is that Zyra’s skills are easy to dodge, and if the team composition fails to establish control, the opponents will almost never fall into Zyra’s traps. Moreover, Zyra’s ultimate only controls for a short period and is also easy to avoid. Interestingly, including the recent match against DK, Oner has only used this champion 4 times, but he has lost 3 of those matches.
T1 Faces Too Many Issues
Not only has the players’ performance and operational capacity dramatically declined, but T1 also shows that they have issues even within the coaching staff. While players are indeed consulted on champion picks, the coach’s role is equally important as they will disseminate strategies and provide feedback, even finalizing whether a player can use a certain champion or not. However, the introduction of perplexing choices throughout this time also indicates that T1 is quite confused even in their strategic approach.
T1 has only one opportunity left, and their remaining opponents, both KT Rolster and BNK FearX, are not easy names to face. But the problem can only be resolved by T1, and they need to act immediately if they do not want to continue the tradition of being “champions one year and home the next” as they did in the 2014 season.