As we know, T1 has recently been competing on a grueling schedule. Specifically, within just a few hours, the team that just won the Esports World Cup 2024 had to fly over 8000 km from Saudi Arabia back to Korea, and then almost immediately face OKSavingsBank BRION. Faker himself admitted that he has never played such a dense schedule in over 10 years of his career. Meanwhile, the LCK organizers have been accused of disregarding T1, as the schedule for EWC 2024 was clearly set in advance, yet they still arranged such a tight schedule for T1, leaving the players with no time to rest.
Additionally, some viewers have found information about the total number of matches played by top teams since 2022 (when T1’s current roster debuted). In 2022, T1 played 144 games (second most in the world), in 2023 they played 152 games (still ranked second), but as of now in 2024, T1 has played 104 matches. Notably, this number is only from mid-January until now in mid-July. These figures make T1 the team with the most matches played in League of Legends currently.
Furthermore, the three players Gumayusi, Keria, and Zeus have played 403 matches since officially joining T1’s main roster. Oner has played slightly fewer matches than his three teammates with 401 matches due to one match he had to skip. Faker has played the least among the five, with 385 matches from 2022 until now. However, even with the lowest number, Faker still surpasses several colleagues in both LCK and LPL, such as Chovy (322 matches), Knight (364 matches), or Xiaohu (345 matches).
With such a packed schedule, along with the fact that almost every tournament progresses to the finals, T1 is proving to be very strong but also having to endure an extremely uncomfortable competition schedule. This may be a significant reason behind Faker’s ongoing injury.
At this point, the LCK Summer 2024 still has a long way to go, followed by the 2024 World Championship. The number of matches played by T1’s players will surely increase, and T1 fans have every right to be concerned about the physical condition and performance of their team members.