T1 Repeats the “Forgettable” Milestone After Exactly 1 Decade
Recently, T1 suffered a defeat against DK in a match that took an unexpected turn. This was not a match where DK dominated the T1 players; in fact, the stars of DK fluctuated from game to game. However, this only highlighted DK’s victory and deepened T1’s “pain”: the defending World Champion has been Reverse Swept for the second time in the team’s history (including the SKT T1 era), exactly 10 years apart.
Specifically, the first time T1 was Reverse Swept was in 2016, during the LCK Summer Playoffs against their familiar rival in “telecom battles”, KT. Notably, in both instances, SKT T1/T1 was highly regarded and had previously defeated their opponents numerous times. For those who don’t know, that loss to KT also ended SKT T1’s Golden Road aspirations that year. Prior to that, this team had won both the LCK Spring and MSI in the same year.
And in the match against DK, T1 has reestablished this “embarrassing” achievement. Notably, DK currently has a roster similar to KT in the year they caused the “earthquake”: a lineup mixing young players with experienced names, most of whom have not achieved much but have made the League of Legends community remember their names.
T1 Can Only Blame Themselves
While praising DK, it must be pointed out that T1 also had the opportunity to end the match but did not demonstrate that they were truly superior to their opponents, compounded by a degree of complacency. The lack of focus, on a day when DK players performed at 200% effort, T1’s defeat may be surprising but is not entirely inexplicable.