It can be said that the LCK Spring 2024 is still a two-horse race between Gen.G and T1. After some losses at the end of the group stage, T1 was rated much lower than initially and they even almost lost their second-place position. However, an upset did not occur in the final matches and T1 still partially achieved their goals set for the group stage. But the playoffs will be a different journey and this is truly the most important phase, determining the entire season. However, ahead of the playoffs, T1 received some quite good news.
Specifically, in some recent observations, Riot has actually “nerfed” Smolder hard enough to make this champion much less effective compared to the period when it first appeared in professional League of Legends. Specifically, since the implementation of patch 14.6, Smolder has only achieved about 48% win rate. Meanwhile, this champion’s ban-pick rate is no longer overwhelmingly dominant (about 11% pick rate, around 40% ban rate out of more than 163k matches).
It can be said that Smolder has indeed shown to be less effective than before and this is exactly what T1 probably wishes for. Because T1 is one of the teams that often struggles when allowing the opponent to have Smolder. The power of this dragon champion is very hard to control and even if the early game is dominating (according to T1’s win lane – win game strategy), if Smolder is not “shut down” early in team fights, T1 still faces the risk of defeat. The recent match against Nongshim RedForce is a typical example.
Moreover, among the 4 representatives that have to play from the first round of playoffs, only HLE has previously defeated T1 this Spring. Therefore, regardless of the outcomes of the matchups, T1 can somewhat feel secure as they still face an opponent that is not too “difficult to chew”. And a victory at that point is not only to advance but also to prepare for the encounter with an opponent in the Winners’ Semifinals (most likely Gen.G).
The biggest obstacle for T1 right now is probably the psychological issue when facing Gen.G and the ongoing DDoS attacks affecting their practice matches and ranked games. But still, T1 must strive to overcome difficulties because only challenges can prove the mettle of a champion.