Right after the match between GAM Esports and Fnatic, the League of Legends community eagerly awaited the “LCK derby” between two familiar rivals: T1 and Gen.G – two teams with a long-standing rivalry in the LoL scene. Of course, Gen.G was still considered the stronger team as they were showing good form. Meanwhile, T1 had not really hit their peak on their debut day, barely overcoming Team Liquid.
However, T1 managed to assert some dominance in the early game until Gen.G restructured their team and began to leverage their strengths. Notably, Chovy had an outstanding performance that helped Gen.G gain complete control of the match. Chovy and Doran also created two extremely strong side lanes for Gen.G. T1 couldn’t withstand the pressure and ultimately had to accept defeat against Gen.G once again this season.
In matches where both teams are evenly matched, even the smallest mistake can lead to defeat. However, T1’s most critical mistake did not occur during the game but before it even started. Specifically, as noted by SofM during a co-stream, T1 made overly greedy draft choices: “They had enough conditions to win but still chose Aatrox without controlling the game. The team already had damage from the Bot Lane yet chose Aatrox instead of a tank.”
SofM’s assessment was echoed by commentator LS, who believes T1 had many options other than Aatrox. In reality, Aatrox for Zeus wasn’t necessarily a bad choice, as this player has been performing quite well with Aatrox recently. However, it was clear that T1 did not have a more stable lineup compared to Gen.G, as no one could withstand the damage that Gen.G brought (from Akali, Rumble, Xayah, and Kha’Zix). Meanwhile, Aatrox did not synergize well with Orianna and Jarvan IV.
It can be seen that T1 had an unreasonably chosen draft while Gen.G mostly relied on their familiar champion picks, executing more smoothly. This defeat for T1 isn’t a disaster, and they still have plenty of chances to advance in the 2023 World Championship. But surely, Faker and his teammates will need to reevaluate their drafting and execution if they truly want to compete for the title at this year’s Worlds.