Faker has a fantastic match day as he recreates his past self
Entering the match against Bilibili Gaming, T1 was considered to be somewhat weaker. Although BLG had just lost to LNG Esports, they are still the reigning champions of the LPL Summer 2024. Meanwhile, T1 had only just begun to regain their winning feeling after obliterating their arguably easiest opponent in the 0-1 bracket: PaiN Gaming. However, on a day when T1 soared right from the drafting phase, they made the top seed of the LPL pay dearly. Notably, Faker even made a rare pick, Sylas, to face off against Knight.
This AP Fighter champion is making a comeback in the current meta but requires many factors to be effective. Although Sylas’s skill set allows for mobility and healing, he is not particularly tanky. Nevertheless, Faker operated Sylas extremely effectively, playing a crucial role in securing victory for T1.
However, this choice helped to recreate the image of Faker from days gone by. He is a player with an extremely wide champion pool, ready to bring out a completely new champion or one that has long been absent from his champion selection. Specifically, throughout 2024 so far, this is the first time Faker has used Sylas. Looking back to 2023, he only chose this champion a mere 3 times.
SofM Points Out Sylas’s Weakness in Faker’s Hands
It can be said that T1 won their first match because they played exceptionally well, but also because BLG did not perform well. In his co-stream, SofM pointed out a flaw in Faker’s rune choice. According to him, the Vikings Esports coach stated: “Faker chose Electrocute and Nimbus Cloak, which is really too safe, too focused on the laning phase. Faker could have opted for some more effective rune pages. At least to scale better, for example, Conqueror or Cosmic Insight.”
It can be understood that Faker values the laning phase highly and that Sylas will not serve as the main damage dealer in team fights and late game. Therefore, Faker’s task is to minimize the power and influence of Knight. In the previous match, Faker fulfilled his duties well.
Over the years, especially in 2023, Faker has become very familiar and proficient in the playmaking role. Therefore, he needs a good laning phase more than being a “huge” damage source when his younger teammates can handle that perfectly.