Only a few days left, T1 will enter a crucial match against Hanwha Life Esports in the lower bracket finals of LCK SPRING 2024. This match will determine whether T1 still has a chance to compete for a spot at MSI 2024 as well as the LCK Spring Championship. In their most recent encounter, T1 suffered an unbelievable defeat with a score of 0-3. This result surprised everyone because HLE and T1 were viewed as evenly matched, yet Faker and his teammates faced such a crushing defeat.
One of the most noticeable facts is the clear disparity in the Bottom Lane position. While Viper performed excellently in the match against T1, especially playing the champion Zeri, Gumayusi struggled noticeably. Besides being unable to practice due to DDoS attacks, recently, the legend of SKT T1/T1 – Wolf pointed out a critical weakness of his younger teammate: the inability to play Zeri.
Accordingly, in a recent stream, Wolf candidly stated: “T1 should consider Zeri as non-existent. Zeri with Gumayusi is like Draven with Bang. There are always one or two champions that do not harmonize with the player. We once let Bang try to play Draven for a while, felt it was ineffective, and then dropped it. After a while, we might try again, but if there’s still no improvement, we will practice other champions and act as if Draven doesn’t exist. For me, that champion is Bard.”
A viewer recorded the segment of Wolf’s stream discussing how T1 should consider abandoning the champion Zeri altogether.
Wolf’s idea is actually reasonable, based on the theory of “play really well, to the point of being undefeated with champions you excel at, and ignore your shortcomings if you feel there’s no need to improve.” In reality, T1 could also ban Zeri and choose other ADC champions for Gumayusi. This is understandable and entirely applicable to avoid the player’s weaknesses while countering a strong option of the opponent.
However, despite this, the fact that Gumayusi does not play well with Zeri also highlights that this champion is a critical weakness for T1’s ADC. And perhaps, because he doesn’t truly master Zeri, Gumayusi also lacks the means to counter this champion when facing it from the opponent’s side, with the T1 – HLE match being a prime example.
Finding a way to counter a champion is sometimes simpler than trying to master that champion to force the opponent to respond. Therefore, Wolf’s approach may sound a bit unreasonable for a team with a diverse strategic lineup like T1, but it may well be a good option for T1 to consider to overcome HLE in the important upcoming match.