On May 13th, the highlight match of the upper bracket at MSI 2023 between Gen.G and T1 officially took place. True to being a classic matchup in the LCK region, Gen.G and T1 needed a fifth game to determine the outcome. In this match, Faker and his teammates were the better players in the decisive team fight to claim the ultimate victory.
After the match ended, fans and the media were curious about how T1 managed to win after being outplayed by Gen.G earlier. However, Faker’s response surprised viewers as he stated that winning or losing in a Bo5 match is quite normal. In fact, Faker even revealed that preparing to face Gen.G was easier than their previous match against MAD Lions (MAD).
“You know, in a BO5 match, winning or losing is quite normal. With a rival like Gen.G, we are very familiar, so we just need to stay calm. Meanwhile, we faced a lot of challenges in having to devise multiple plans and strategies when facing the previous opponent (MAD). Because we rarely clash with them” – Faker shared after the match.
Indeed, with changes in the competitive format of the LCK, Gen.G and T1 have faced each other many times this year. Additionally, the gameplay approach from both sides at MSI 2023 was not significantly different from the regional tournament. Therefore, it makes sense that T1 did not need to prepare unique strategies or champions when facing Gen.G.
With this victory, T1 will face one of the two strong representatives from the LPL (Bilibili Gaming and JD Gaming) in the upper bracket finals. Meanwhile, Gen.G still has a chance to rectify their mistakes in the lower bracket. However, this team needs to play very carefully if they want to meet T1 again in the future.