T1’s Critical Moment
Thus, T1 once again fell to Hanwha Life Esports, helping the team known as “Gen.G Orange” become the second team to achieve a perfect record against T1 this Summer 2024. In reality, this result isn’t too surprising as HLE is viewed as a slightly less formidable version compared to Gen.G. Moreover, the T1 players have not been able to maintain good form consistently. Consequently, this loss enables HLE to become the second team from the LCK to qualify for the 2024 World Championship, while T1 must compete for one of the two remaining slots in the upcoming regional qualifiers.
However, in reality, T1 in the match against HLE demonstrated that they had a genuine chance to defeat HLE. In fact, right from the first game, T1 made some surprising choices and managed to maintain a fairly balanced game state. Nevertheless, T1 could not avoid defeat in this match. The pivotal moment that led to T1’s downfall occurred during a team fight near the Dragon pit. In that situation, it was clear that T1 had a miscommunication moment when Faker and Zeus indicated to retreat due to the lack of objectives and skills. However, the remaining three players, especially Keria, tended to charge forward and attack. This disjointed play led to T1’s complete failure in that fight and, like a domino effect, pulled the entire match out of T1’s hands.
T1 Lags Behind HLE in Many Aspects
In reality, this match showed that T1 not only lost to HLE in-game situations but also fell short right from the draft phase. HLE executed many meta-appropriate champions exceptionally well, while T1 struggled to ban them all. Additionally, Faker was not suitable for the damage-dealing role. However, he couldn’t use Orianna as that champion is too easily countered. Oner’s Azir and Lillia were banned, leaving T1 with few options to counter HLE. As a result, in all four games, T1 had to concede numerous strong picks to HLE, such as Smolder and Jhin.
The loss has not completely ended T1’s hopes of qualifying for the 2024 World Championship, but it has dashed their aspirations to compete for the title with Gen.G. At this point, fans can only hope T1 will secure a victory against DK to quickly determine their spot in the 2024 World Championship.