Despite facing numerous challenges and mistakes in the early stages, the 2-1 victory against Afreeca in the LCK Summer 2020 relieved T1 fans. Hopefully, this will mark the beginning of a winning streak, leading T1 into “phase 2” after their usual “stumbling” start of the season.
There are many things to discuss about this BO3 series, from the baffling mistakes of the bot lane duo in game 1, Teddy’s “demonic transformation” in game 2, to Faker’s S+ worthy Azir performance, and the “overzealous” death when diving under Effort’s turret. However, in this article, let’s focus on the final mic check that led to T1’s overall victory.
If you think that a top-tier team like T1 would have absolute unity among its members, you… are mistaken. Even in this final moment, the team was split into two factions—some urging to hit the Nexus to end the game, while others charged in with “follow me, brothers” to dive into the enemy’s health bar to secure kills.
Mic check cut:
Effort: End game, end game, end game.
Faker: But who is hitting who?
Effort: Someone hit the Nexus. Let’s end the game, prepare to end it now.
Faker: Hit the enemies, follow me.
Effort: (Still trying) Someone hit the Nexus. End the game, let’s finish it.
Faker (after poking at Mordekaiser in the health bar): Ahhh, my damage today is really solid.
Remember, T1’s previous playstyle was to wipe out the enemy before ending the game, but since Effort joined, they suddenly split into two distinct schools of thought. At this moment, Effort was being eliminated and couldn’t hit the Nexus himself, so he continuously urged the team to target turrets to end the game quickly. Just listening to Effort’s determined voice shows how passionate he is about taking down turrets.
Unfortunately for Effort, Faker adheres to the opposite philosophy, believing that the enemy must be completely wiped out before they can turn to hit the Nexus. Evidence of this is that even though Mordekaiser was hiding at the edge of the health bar, a frustrated Faker still poked at him and even boldly stepped in to secure a wipe, insisting that as long as there are enemies, they must be killed. Naturally, as the team captain, Faker’s call made other members also “hurry” into the health bar to assist the damage, but unfortunately, they were not successful.
Effort was also the only member of T1 to fall in the second game due to an overly ambitious turret dive; otherwise, T1 would have achieved a “perfect game” in legendary status. This shows that this young man often acts independently, with no one able to keep up with him.
Some fan comments:
– The script remains the same; some want to hit the Nexus while others want to kill enemies, and of course, we must follow the captain.
– It’s still the familiar scene of two extremes; teamwork goes underground every time they end the game.
– In game 2, Effort loved the turrets so much, but the turrets didn’t love him back and ended up killing him. Even after dying in game 2, his love for turrets remained as vast as the ocean. This love is truly admirable.
– In the past, SKT had to wipe out the enemy before ending the game. Now with Effort, there are two factions: one for killing and the other for hitting the Nexus.
– There remains an endless passion for hitting the Nexus from Effort.
– Effort has a passion for destroying turrets even though he is a support, always desperately crying out.
Indeed, T1’s mic checks have never disappointed us, from team fights to the end of the game. However, we hope that in upcoming matches, T1 will maintain their performance and not make fans’ hearts “ache” like this again.