Entering the LCK Summer 2021 Finals, DWG KIA was clearly the favored team compared to T1. The disparity in performance quickly became evident as DK surged ahead with a 2-0 lead, thanks to the standout performances of Khan and Canyon.
However, T1 also showed they were no pushovers, making a strong comeback in the next two games. They found a way to counter DK’s “camping” strategy in the top lane, and as a result, Canna became the key player in narrowing the score to 1-2, bringing hope for a comeback as T1 got off to a great start in game 4.
It seemed that with what had transpired in the early stages of game 4, T1 would at least force DWG KIA into a fifth game, but much to the dismay of T1 fans, their captain – Faker, made a fatal mistake that ruined all their hard work.
At the 31st minute, with T1 temporarily leading DK in gold and towers, they seemed to have a plan to push deep into the mid lane to set up control over the dragon area, as their fourth dragon would appear in 5 minutes.
However, hastiness, or one might say “carelessness,” caused T1 to lose everything. Faker’s Ryze used his ultimate, Realm Warp, to teleport behind DK’s formation to pressure and take down the second mid tower. The problem was they brought too few minions, and T1’s formation was split as Canna failed to move in time. DK, of course, wasn’t inexperienced, and in an instant, they launched a counterattack, isolating and taking down Canna before chasing down the four T1 members who were caught with their backs turned to the enemy’s cannon.
The consequences of this mistake led to T1 losing complete control over vision and minion waves in the enemy’s half, and then Faker made another mistake with a rather “questionable” play. He hid in a bush and intended to use Flash to dodge Jayce’s combo from Khan, but executed it too slowly, Flashing directly into… the enemy formation.
All advantages that T1 had were nearly wiped out after one usage of Faker’s ultimate, and even scarier, with the consecutive kills obtained, ShowMaker and Khan became powerful again. And although they later secured the Dragon Soul, at this point, the LeBlanc in ShowMaker’s hands was too strong, and DK’s mid lane easily stormed into the dragon pit and swept all four T1 members, wiping out the opponents before rushing to destroy the Nexus. DWG KIA officially crowned the champions of LCK Summer 2021.
With this victory, DWG KIA has officially become the number one seed from LCK at the 2021 World Championship. Meanwhile, T1 will have to determine their seed ranking at the regional qualifiers. Being only able to contest for the third or fourth seed greatly increases T1’s risk of falling into a “group of death” at the upcoming World Championship.