In the matchup against G2 Esports in the lower bracket of MSI 2024, T1 was rarely considered the underdog against the representative from LEC after a long time. However, this was based on reality, as T1 has shown how difficult they struggle with the lane swap meta. Meanwhile, G2, with a wide champion pool and unafraid of unpredictable bans and picks, performed significantly better in the previous matches. However, in the end, T1 was still the team smiling, with a score that surprised many: 3-0 for the LCK Spring 2024 runner-up.
However, in reality, if we look at the overall game, it can be said that Faker and his teammates performed significantly better. Except for the third game, which was somewhat awkward, T1 was almost the team leading the gameplay from start to finish. In fact, if T1 played more cautiously at the end of game 2 and G2 didn’t have a dominating Draven in the hands of Hans sama, they might not have needed Faker’s backdoor play to end the intense match.
Nevertheless, T1 may have had to sacrifice many things, especially regarding Faker’s position. Specifically, in a short clip right after their victory, Faker and his teammates moved into the waiting room, and the image of Faker continuously shaking his right arm did not escape the eyes of fans. Clearly, the news that Faker has not fully recovered from his injury seems to have been confirmed. Faker himself may occasionally have to endure pain to compete alongside his teammates at this year’s MSI. This might explain why he has not truly shown his “max ping” performances at the tournament in Chengdu.
Ahead of T1 are still 2 extremely strong opponents, perhaps the strongest that T1 could face. BLG has defeated T1 in their recent encounter. But if Faker and his teammates can focus completely and rectify mistakes during the match, they can certainly aim for a favorable outcome. Especially since recently, BLG has revealed many weaknesses after their loss to Gen.G in the upper bracket finals.