Since returning with the EWC 2024 championship, T1 has shown relatively disappointing performance at LCK Summer 2024. They faced 3 consecutive losses against HLE (twice) and particularly against the underdog team named FOX. It was only when they reunited with KT on July 26 that T1 managed to end this unfortunate losing streak.
Immediately after defeating KT, a flurry of questions regarding the 3-match losing streak was posed to T1 by the media. It is important to note that with the EWC 2024 championship, T1 had high expectations to create a “two-horse race” with Gen.G upon returning to the LCK. However, the last 3 losses nearly obliterated this hope. In response to this issue, T1’s jungler star – Oner revealed that Ivern and Yasuo were the champions that have “harmed” the team in recent times.
“After we returned from EWC 2024, the two champions Ivern and Yasuo unexpectedly appeared in the meta as extremely strong picks and confused us. We knew this, but the entire team could not find a good enough countermeasure against those champions. Unfortunately, this has led to our recent losses,” Oner shared after the victory against KT.
Indeed, since the implementation of version 14.13 in tournaments, Ivern has emerged as an extremely powerful jungler. With the popularity of many marksman compositions, Ivern proves to be highly suitable as he provides shield creation and effectively protects the main damage dealers. Meanwhile, Yasuo is a case where T1 likely made things difficult for themselves. This is because they used this character effectively at EWC 2024 but failed to find a good enough countermeasure, causing T1 difficulties in the ban/pick phase.
Nevertheless, T1 has likely found some solutions of their own with the recent victory against KT. Remember in the third game against KT, T1 allowed the opponent to use Ivern and opted for an aggressive lane composition with Nidalee capable of strong attacks to counter. As a result, T1 completely took control of the game and limited Ivern’s nuisances, leading to victory. Regarding Yasuo, this could be a character that is too unique and depends on the specific situations of each match, so T1 does not necessarily have to place too much emphasis on countering this character.
Fairly speaking, T1’s recent losses indicate that the team has moments of extremely low performance. However, this also serves as an opportunity for T1 to recognize their mistakes and improve them in the future. This could help T1 regain their winning streak in the coming weeks, starting with the victory against KT.