On the afternoon of March 11 (Vietnam time), T1 secured a victory against Kwangdong Freecs, a team that has been experiencing a strong resurgence after a challenging start to the season. This match was part of the second round of LCK Spring 2022, and T1 officially became the team with the longest winning streak in LCK history (15 matches), surpassing the 14-match unbeaten record set by SKT T1 in Summer 2015.
Furthermore, if they win the last 3 matches against Fredit BRION and DRX, Liiv SANDBOX, T1 will become the first team in League of Legends history to go 100% undefeated in the group stage. For those who don’t know, Invictus Gaming had an 18-match unbeaten streak in the Spring 2018 group stage – the longest in League of Legends history to date. However, they lost in their opening match against the “Royal Legion” Royal Never Give Up.
At the same time, in this match, Faker set a new personal record: he has brought a total of 71 different champions to the mid lane in the LCK. Currently, League of Legends has 159 champions, including the newly released Renata. Thus, Faker has used nearly half of the existing champions in League of Legends in mid lane. Among these, there are quite a few “unconventional” picks like Master Yi, Taric, or Nidalee.
But despite setting new records with T1 for both the team and himself, Faker still believes that SKT T1 from Summer 2015 was the real peak. Specifically, in an interview with Kiku News after the win against KDF, Faker admitted: “Indeed, T1 now and SKT T1 back then have some similarities. For example, we both have long winning streaks and the atmosphere is very happy and relaxed. Everyone combines very well. But I think the main difference is that SKT T1 back then was dominant and superior, while now we have had a lot of luck, and in many ways, everything has gone more smoothly for us.”
Looking back at history, as Faker mentioned, SKT T1 in Summer 2015 was when all their players were at the peak of their careers. MaRin was a fantastic leader with exceptional situational awareness and game-changing Teleports. Bang and Wolf were an inseparable duo in the bot lane while the pairing of Bengi and Faker will forever be legendary.
It can be said that the SKT T1 team of Summer 2015 had virtually no weaknesses, and every time they played, victory came quite naturally. Even Easyhoon proved his talent before becoming a strategic substitute for Faker. The pinnacle of this roster was the championship title at Worlds 2015 after defeating KOO Tigers with stars like Smeb and GorillA…
T1 in Spring 2022 is still breaking every record and pushing every limit in their quest for titles in this tournament. The road ahead will be very challenging, and Faker and his teammates cannot be 100% sure of securing the championship. But at the moment, they are the “invincible” team of LCK Spring 2022 and are hopeful to become the first team in League of Legends history to go undefeated after the group stage concludes.