In the seventh week of the LCK Spring 2022 group stage, the spotlight match will be the showdown between Gen.G Esports and T1. This is seen as a match that will determine whether T1 can reach and even break the record of 14 unbeaten matches set by SKT T1 in Summer 2015. This is also a highly anticipated match, especially since in the first round, Gen.G suffered too many losses due to Covid-19, to the point where the team had only two healthy members left during their match against T1, namely Chovy and Ruler.
ADC Ruler was also eagerly looking forward to the rematch with Faker and his teammates. Specifically, in a recent interview after defeating DRX, Ruler stated that he “really likes to ‘shut down’ unbeaten streaks” and wanted to defeat T1 – the team that was extending its unbeaten streak to 12 right before this match. This is also the longest unbeaten streak in the current four Major tournaments, and perhaps no one can match it, especially since Weibo Gaming’s SofM with an 8-match unbeaten streak was also ‘shut down’ by Royal Never Give Up.
But “man proposes, God disposes”; just a few hours ago, Gen.G received bad news when ADC Ruler tested positive for Covid-19, becoming the fourth member out of Gen.G’s five main players to have to take a break due to the virus. Notably, with just a few hours left until Gen.G’s showdown with T1, the absence of Ruler can be seen as a significant loss, taking away nearly 50% of the team’s strength.
Additionally, Gen.G is also facing another headache. Their ADC in the Challengers team, Peyz, is only 16 years old (born on December 5, 2005) and is therefore not old enough to compete in the LCK according to regulations. It is very likely that, once again, Chovy will be the “chosen one” to fill in for Ruler as ADC. If this actually happens, Chovy could become the first player in LCK Spring 2022 to play all three lanes (Chovy is a midlaner, and when Gen.G had too many Covid-19 cases, the former Hanwha Life Esports star even moved to play top lane).
Indeed, Covid-19 is causing too much damage to the LCK teams at this point. Although T1 has somewhat been “lucky” so far with no reported cases, the team’s fans are not too thrilled. Along with losing the chance to watch a thrilling match, they also hope that when playoffs come, T1 will remain safe and sound.