With their defeat against Bilibili Gaming (BLG), T1 will now have to seek opportunities in the lower bracket at MSI 2024. Overall, T1 played a completely inferior game compared to BLG. Aside from a bright spot in game 2, T1 was unable to control the matches as they wished in the remaining games and had to accept a “conceded defeat.”
After the match ended, fans couldn’t help but raise questions about T1’s confusing picks. A notable example was the Twisted Fate pick in game 3, given that BLG would certainly try to swap lanes. Even after the match, viewers suggested that T1 had scrimmed with JDG and learned some confusing picks, which led to their defeat.
Looking back at the third game between BLG and T1, fans can see BLG’s intention to swap lanes was very clear from the banning/picking phase. Specifically, they picked Taliyah to easily roam and the Lucian – Nami duo is very strong in taking down towers early. Furthermore, picking Lucian – Nami after T1 picked Senna – Tahm Kench clearly indicated BLG’s lane swap strategy. Thus, a top lane champion that isn’t strong in a 1v2 situation like Twisted Fate was an unreasonable choice for T1.
When compared to the playoffs of the LPL Spring 2024, it is coincidental that JDG’s Flandre also had some very poor games with Twisted Fate. Moreover, Yagao had also used Veigar unsuccessfully in the playoffs. Perhaps for this reason, fans believe that T1 learned these confusing picks from JDG and ended up losing to BLG.
It is worth noting that JDG’s current lineup includes two Korean players, Kanavi and Ruler. They were teammates of Faker, Zeus, and Keria at the Asian Games in 2023. It is possible that due to their close relationship, T1 opted to practice with JDG upon arriving in Chengdu for MSI 2024.
Fairly speaking, T1 has shown a relatively disappointing performance from the drafting phase to their execution in the defeat against BLG. They will have a few days off to prepare for their lower bracket match against Team Liquid. Hopefully, the T1 team will make good use of this time to improve their strategies and player performance to regain their winning streak and the trust of their fans.