One of the factors contributing to T1’s strength in gameplay at T1 in LCK Spring 2024 is undoubtedly the wide champion pool of its players. This is also a crucial factor that helped T1 achieve an extremely long winning streak in the LCK Spring 2022, with Keria and Gumayusi elevating the AD Carry-Support playstyle to new heights, creating a meta that many teams adopted at that time. Now, T1’s renowned gameplay is showing signs of returning, even stronger than before.
In this season, the T1 bot duo is not creating any new meta but actively performing combinations to produce the strongest bot duos possible. This may involve familiar champion pairs such as Lucian – Nami, or a highly favored duo in ranked play like Caitlyn – Lux. Even champions like Sion and Ornn have been and are being used in the Support role more often alongside Senna. Given the nature of the group stage matches, T1 only needs to secure the maximum points possible to qualify for the playoffs, which is more than enough.
Moreover, with their easy victory over OKBRO recently, the T1 bot duo also set a record for using the most different bot champion pairs in LCK Spring 2024 so far. Specifically, the duo of Gumayusi – Keria has used a total of 11 different champion pairs throughout the 6 matches played in the group stage of this spring season. Among them, the Lucian – Nami pair was used the most with 3 games. This combo is also very familiar from the 2022 season. Subsequently, both champions received “nerfs” from Riot and temporarily disappeared from the professional scene for a while.
It can be said that T1’s champion choices this season are not only experimental but also depend on who their opponents are. Against strong teams like Gen.G, KT Rolster, or Hanwha Life Esports, T1 still experiments but with more familiar or comfortable champions (Senna, Jhin, Draven, Bard). Meanwhile, against significantly weaker teams, they may opt for “unusual” choices like Sion or Ornn as Support.
The diversity of champion selections thus diversifies gameplay and is a prerequisite for helping T1 ascend to glory in LCK Spring 2022 and Worlds 2023. In the current season, many fans are certainly hoping for past achievements to repeat, especially since the formula remains unchanged while the players have gained more experience and composure.