On May 1, MSI 2024 officially kicked off with thrilling matches in Group A of the Play-In stage. While FlyQuest had to struggle hard to come back and defeat PSG Talon, T1 showed complete dominance against Estral Esports. A win against FlyQuest in their next match will secure Faker and his teammates a spot in the Knockout stage of MSI 2024.
For an ambitious team like T1, their goal at MSI 2024 is clearly the championship, not just to get through the Play-In stage. Moreover, T1 has another significant goal: to defeat BLG. In fact, right after their victory over Estral Esports, stars from T1 like Faker and Oner all sent a “challenge letter” to the number one seed from the LPL region.
Not only T1, but perhaps the players from Gen.G also want to have a similar “revenge” against BLG. Remember at MSI 2023 a year ago, BLG eliminated both Gen.G and T1 from the lower bracket. In fact, this team even achieved overwhelming victories with scores like 3-0 (against Gen.G) and 3-1 (against T1). Thus, it is entirely understandable that T1 (and possibly Gen.G) want to defeat BLG at this year’s MSI.
Furthermore, BLG is currently the strongest representative of the LPL host region. If T1 can overcome this opponent, it will be a powerful affirmation of T1’s strength as well as their chance to claim the MSI 2024 title. Perhaps the T1 players understand this well, so they are very determined to defeat BLG at MSI 2024.
Fairly speaking, MSI in recent years has been seen as a “den of difficulties” for T1 in particular and LCK representatives in general. The last time an LCK representative won the MSI was back in 2017 with the achievements of SKT T1. Since then, LPL teams have dominated, with RNG winning the MSI three times (2018, 2021, 2022) and JDG also claiming this title in 2023. Coupled with MSI 2024 being held in the LPL region, BLG (and possibly TES) holds many advantages in this tournament.
Therefore, for T1 to “take revenge” against BLG and aim for the MSI 2024 championship, they need to put in a lot of effort in the upcoming time. In the immediate future, T1 must fully focus on overcoming FlyQuest in the upcoming match to secure an early ticket to the Knockout stage. Moreover, this will also give them more time to study strong opponents in pursuit of the prestigious MSI 2024 championship.