T1’s victory at the World Championship 2023 undoubtedly not only impacts the players of the T1 team but also changes the entire League of Legends scene. This is because no team has ever been underestimated like T1 this year at the World Championship, yet they managed to create such a miraculous journey. In fact, T1 has outperformed DRX 2022 by defeating all four LPL representatives, losing only one game in total. Meanwhile, DRX 2022 only faced three representatives and did not encounter JD Gaming.
Speaking of DRX 2022, we cannot forget the duo of Deft and BeryL. While Deft made his mark with a perfect “last dance” that helped him secure the only title he was missing, BeryL became the first Support in League of Legends history to win the World Championship with two different teams. In 2024, Deft will reunite with BeryL after a season apart. They will compete together once again under the banner of KT Rolster, the team that “kicked off” T1’s miraculous journey from fifth place in the Summer Split to the reigning World Champions.
Being the same age as Faker, but due to regulations in South Korea, Deft may only be able to play for one more season. However, in a recent interview, Deft expressed: “I am really happy for Min-seok (Keria – T1’s Support and Deft’s former teammate). Although it has been mentioned many times before, I want to say that I want to see ShowMaker win a championship. Playing together this year, it seems I have never seen him truly happy after a victory. Seeing T1’s joy after winning, I blame myself.”
As Deft shared, T1’s victory makes him want to reach the top once again. Of course, this is very challenging. Because even the KT team he is currently with does not have as many strong players as in 2023. Kiin has left, and the young player PerfecT will surely be hard to compare with his veteran predecessor.
However, Deft has reasons to be confident because when winning the championship, Kingen was also underestimated while Zeka was a young star. So who knows, with a formula somewhat similar to DRX, KT might create a miracle next season and challenging T1 is also a possible scenario.